A Future of Their Own

How one Central program propels former foster youth forward

Written by Sarah Neese

The prospect of attending college can be daunting for any adolescent. As a teenager or young adult, juggling decisions regarding how to pay for school and where to live, while also choosing a career path, can feel overwhelming. For those in foster care, however, college can seem too far out of reach.

“GENERALLY, STUDENTS IN HIGH SCHOOL HAVE families; they have parents who are getting them ready for college,” said Taylor McClellan, an outreach specialist with Central’s Fostering Student Success program. “They already have a plan, and they already have someone there guiding them and holding their hand along the way. With foster youth, there’s a lot of instability; there’s a lot of inconsistency. On top of that, they have all of this trauma that they’ve endured.

“Being a teenager is hard enough already. I can’t imagine being a teenager in foster care. You don’t have that family support. You don’t have that person in your life all the time, holding your hand and guiding you and telling you what to do.”

McClellan and her cohort are working to change that.

The Fostering Student Success initiative began after staff members of the UCO Center for Counseling and Well-Being noticed that former foster youth students seemed to be falling through the cracks.

“We encountered former foster youth who were never enrolled in Oklahoma’s Promise, students who showed up in our office distressed because they were challenged by navigating the bookstore, students who were disconnected and distrusting of helpers on campus,” said Julia Reed, senior director for the UCO Center for Counseling and Well-Being and one of the facilitators of the program.

And so, with the help of Central’s Division of Student Affairs, as well as financial support in the form of grants from the Arnall Family Foundation and Eckerd Connects, Fostering Student Success kicked off, aiming to help reverse the trend of foster youth who graduate high school without plans to pursue higher education.

“Our primary goal is to support students in not only accessing higher education or career pathways, but to successfully navigate their higher education experience so that they can graduate,” Reed said.

The first step in supporting these students is starting while they are still in high school. McClellan focuses on educating foster youth on available resources like Oklahoma’s Promise, scholarships and technology stipends.

“My goal is to get them that exposure, let them know that there are resources out there, help them understand the college application process, understand why your GPA is important, why it’s important to prepare for the ACT and have proper test-taking skills,” McClellan said.

“There are a lot of barriers for foster youth in general, and I think being a teenager just adds onto it. They’re trying to figure out their identity and I think they’re so much in survival mode, they’re not thinking about long-term planning. That’s why I think education is important. I think it can really change their life.”

Although the program lives at Central, participants are offered resources to any college, institution or career tech, allowing them to find the path that works best for them.

“They’re going to make their own decisions, and that’s the power that they have,” she said. “They have the power of choice. They have the power to choose their future, and that’s the one thing that I really want to talk to them about and prepare them for.”

Reed wants to ensure that these students are provided with an additional layer of support and connection.

“Both the high school and college program have had some creative and exciting support,” she said. “Eckerd was able to provide trunks for students to use in their dorms and is also working to provide laptops and backpacks for students in our programs.

“We have had community members at local churches provide meals, school supplies, welcome and finals baskets and financial support to remove barriers for students. When the programs can align around purpose and mission, we have community partners who make sure students arrive with what they need.”

Since the program’s inception, students have been accepted to and attended Langston University, Rose State College and Oklahoma City Community College, in addition to Central.

However, support doesn’t end at high school graduation. McClellan works to connect students with campus resource officers at their respective schools, designated to help former foster youth; and, in the cases of students who attend UCO, Fostering Student Success guides them along the way.

“On the college side, we work to make weekly contacts with every enrolled student who has checked ‘ward of the court’ on their FAFSA,” Reed said. “We also monitor enrollment and follow up with students who have not yet enrolled in courses.”

Throughout their time at Central, the program offers students access to food and housing resources, connections to other programs on campus and therapeutic services, through the Center for Counseling and Well-Being, if needed.

While providing much needed support for the students in the program, including 40 current high school students, both Reed and McClellan are determined to do more.

“On the high school side, our goals are to engage at least 106 high school youth. On the college side, our goals are to make sure we identify every former foster youth enrolled at UCO,” Reed said.

“I’m hoping that this will expand across the state,” McClellan added. “I really think this is needed, even in secluded, isolated areas of Oklahoma. There are thousands of youth in foster care, and there are so many teens out there who do not get adopted, who have just given up on everything.

“I want them to be able to make positive choices… to encourage them to break the cycle. From whatever background they’ve come from, whatever they’ve experienced, I want them to know that their future can be different. Their future is up to them.” ON