Print

Email story

Comment

Letter to the editor

Ex-foster teens have friends to depend on

Gulf Coast Jewish Family Services offers a "bridge" to help them be strong adults.

By CURTIS KRUEGER, Times Staff Writer
Published January 17, 2008

ADVERTISEMENT [Cherie Diez | Times] Shavaria Webb, 18, lives at a group home and will get a home at the duplexes and nonresident "life coach" access.

ST. PETERSBURG - Malisa Kaminsky grew up in foster care and lived in 78 homes.

Shavaria Webb has spent her teenage years in the system.

Now that Malisa and Shavaria have turned 18, they are adults on the brink of independence, trying to learn how to make it on their own.

They face a tough road. Nationwide, teenagers who get too old for foster care face even more challenges than other young people who are getting ready to live on their own.

Most foster teens were removed from their parents' homes years earlier because of abuse or neglect.

They often ran away repeatedly. They usually cannot turn to a mom or dad for help with rent or even for emotional support. Within a couple of years, high numbers become unemployed or even homeless.

That's why Gulf Coast Community Care, an agency that does foster care work in Pinellas County, is launching a program to try to help teens make this transition.

Gulf Coast intends to buy four duplexes for teenagers in St. Petersburg in the next couple of months, and it also plans to arrange for a life coach to offer the teens guidance.

"I think it's an awesome idea," said Kaminski, who turned 18 last month.

Teenagers will pay rent, but on a sliding scale tailored to their income. They will go to school and learn the skills of living independently.

Their life coach would not live at the home but would be accessible around the clock, said Michael Bernstein, president and chief executive officer of Gulf Coast Jewish Family Services.

A $500,000 donation from the Raymund Family Foundation is making the program possible, Bernstein said.

Steve Raymund, chairman of the board of Tech Data Corp., said he hopes the program "is going to save some kids' lives and give them a chance at a good future, which otherwise wouldn't be possible."

Florida already has an "independent living program" for Florida teenagers who are making the transition. It provides living expenses for youths who are 16 and 17 and additional assistance for young people who are 18 to 23.

The new program is designed to provide extra help.

Webb currently stays at Brookwood, which is described as "a therapeutic group home for teen girls" in St. Petersburg.

As for the prospect of trying to make it on her own in her own apartment, "it's kind of scary," she says. But she likes the idea of getting to stay in one of the new housing units and getting support from the life coach. She said that could make her "more responsible."

It also might help her achieve her long-term goal. Eventually, she said, she wants to get her high school diploma, continue her schooling and become a caseworker like those who have worked with her. "I want to be able to help people that have been through the same things I've been through. ... I can help them out and understand them."

[Last modified January 17, 2008, 00:01:49]