Monday, Oct. 20, 2003 | 10:59 a.m.
Foster care facts
Krystal, a 17-year-old honor student at Boulder City High and resident of the St. Jude's Ranch for Children, remembers the abuse and neglect she suffered in her parents' home and knows the pitfalls of being in the real world.
As she prepares to graduate, she faces the reality that 125 foster children face each year in Nevada: "aging out" of the system and finding herself on her own, technically an adult.
"I'm terrified to go out on my own. I've been out there and I've seen that the world can be a cruel place," said Krystal, who came to St. Jude's with her two younger sisters a week before Thanksgiving in 1995.
But Krystal, who plans to go to the University of Nevada, Las Vegas in the fall, also has a hope that has not been afforded to foster care kids in the past.
St. Jude's plans to open by December its 6,400-square-foot, 14-unit Santa Francesca Independent Living Center specifically for teens like Krystal who are too old for foster care. It's the first transitional home of its kind in the state
"Although they are technically adults at 18, so many children in foster care are not ready for the challenges of adulthood," said Tom Criste, executive vice president and chief operating officer of St. Jude's, which overlooks Lake Mead in west Boulder City. "They lack the independent skills of life.
"Santa Francesca will provide the children with a program modeled after St. Jude's Teaching Family Model that will better prepare them for life on their own."
Southern Nevadans can get their first look at the facility on Sunday at St. Jude's 36th annual Fall Festival open house. The festivities begin with a 9 a.m. mass in the chapel, followed by a pancake breakfast from 10 a.m. to noon and tours of Santa Francesca, a campus home and the antique auto museum.
Those who are selected to live in the Santa Francesca house will have a staff supervisor and stricter rules than most private sector apartments. They will share chores such as shopping and cooking in the facility's kitchen, must maintain a job and will have to pay a fraction of private sector rent.
Local officials are hailing Santa Francesca as big first step in the right direction.
"Generally what we did in the past was just hope for the best," said Ken Meyer, independent living coordinator for the state's Division of Child and Family Services, which oversees the 1,400 children in foster care in Nevada.
"Fifteen years ago when kids aged out of the system, we'd take them and their plastic trash bags filled with clothes to a shelter and say good luck, because there was nothing else we could do."
In the last five to seven years, child care officials have worked with private and public entities to find suitable alternatives.
Today, Meyer said, the Center for Independent Living on Las Vegas Boulevard serves as a temporary shelter for homeless youths, Street Teen runs a day sanctuary on Tropicana Avenue that helps place teens in housing, and the Nevada Partnership for Homeless Youth uses state money to help older teens.
"My hat is off to St. Jude's for what they are doing to address this situation, " Meyer said. "It is a great first step."
In his courtroom Family Court Judge Gerald Hardcastle often sees the problems youths face after they age out of foster care. He said that while Santa Francesca is a start, there still is a lot more that needs to be done.
"What makes Santa Francesca a good start is that once they are approved, young people can stay there about three years and gradually learn the skills necessary to be on their own instead of having it thrown in their face all at once," Hardcastle said.
"But realistically we have a long way to go to address this problem."
Hardcastle said there is a need to address "a broader picture," such as vocational planning, job interview training and other skills that are slated to be offered at Santa Francesca.
"We have to remember that we are dealing with fragile kids to begin with -- kids who were abused and neglected, some of whom have not made peace with their parents and cannot go back home," Hardcastle said. "Yet at age 18, they must deal with the problems of being an adult with nowhere to turn."
The Child Trends research center in Washington, D.C., says that 19,000 children a year age out of the nation's foster care system that cares for 500,000 children -- which is eight of every 1,000 children in the United States.
The organization, in its report released this year called "Youth who Age Out of Foster Care: Troubled Lives, Troubling Prospects," says independent living programs "constitute the most common approach to addressing the difficulties facing young adults as they age out of foster care.
"Through these programs, young people leaving foster care receive a variety of services that may include help in completing education and finding a job (and) instruction in basic skills needed to live on their own -- money management, hygiene, housekeeping and nutrition," the report says.
For Krystal, giving up a little freedom to remain in the same structured lifestyle she has known for the last eight years is worth it to get that kind of support.
"Everybody has to follow rules -- there is nothing wrong with that," said Krystal, who works part time as a secretary for an engineering firm in Boulder City.
"I would like to stay here during my first and second year of college then think about going out on my own. By then I'll be a lot more ready than I am now."
Krystal, who was born at University Medical Center and has lived in Southern Nevada all of her life, said when she was 9, neither her mother nor father worked and as a result the family was constantly on the move.
She said there were times when they were at a home for such a short time she would not even get enrolled in school.
"I just want to be able to do better for when I have children some day," she said.
Santa Francesca did not start off as an independent living center. It was being built as an inn and retreat for St. Jude's visitors. But the money for that project ran out.
"When we thought about changing direction and making it an independent living center, U.S. Homes donated the $600,000 worth of materials and manpower to convert the building to meet our needs," Criste said.
But, with just 14 units, getting into Santa Francesca will not be easy.
"This is not a shelter for the homeless or for drug addicts or a place for kids who want to party hearty," Criste said. "We will be looking for young people who have a certain maturity, who will benefit from the support. They have to step up to a higher level of responsibility and accountability."
While having been a foster care child at St. Jude's will not be a requirement to get into Santa Francesca, Criste admits that because of the type of life skills training children receive there, St. Jude's alumni are the type of people St. Jude's officials want as Santa Francesca residents.
Criste said each applicant will be scrutinized and, because they are 18 and will be living among the 43 minor residents of St Jude's, each will undergo criminal background checks. Those who have graduated from high school or are working toward their GEDs will be given higher consideration, Criste said.
While the rents have not yet been determined, Criste said a sliding scale will be used to compute the contribution by each resident. He said, "someone earning $600, might pay about $60 a month."
Santa Francecsca residents also can qualify for state money available in Assembly Bill 94 that was passed in 2001.
Under Assembly Bill 94, a teen receives $3,000 the first year if the youth has a high school diploma or $2,250 if the youth does not. The second year, the youth receives $2,000 in state assistance and the third year the youth gets $1,500.
Meyer said that while there is a need for Santa Francesca and places like it, not all of the 125 kids who leave foster care need or even want independent living center homes.
"Some have developed a bond with their foster parents and are allowed to stay in their homes even when the money stops coming" from the state, Meyer said.
Also there are those who can't wait to get out of the structured lifestyle, get a job and get their own apartment so they can live as they want.
Even if that may be a mistake, that's fine, Hardcastle says.
"Let them make their mistakes, that's part of life," the judge said, "But for those who do make mistakes, we need a strong support system standing by to help them. Santa Francesca will be a part of that support system."
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