{"id":300350,"date":"2023-10-19T08:40:29","date_gmt":"2023-10-19T13:40:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=300350"},"modified":"2023-10-18T14:23:59","modified_gmt":"2023-10-18T19:23:59","slug":"florida-couple-nonprofit-teens-foster-care","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/florida-couple-nonprofit-teens-foster-care\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida couple runs nonprofit for teens aging out of foster care"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Turning 18 is a milestone for any child. Adulthood is on the horizon, and with it, adult responsibilities. But children who have spent their lives in the foster care system and will soon age out may be ill-prepared to face the steep challenges ahead of them. Cindy Tilley and David Tyler, a husband and wife team, are the founders of an organization for these children in this stage of life: Forgotten Angels<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Forgotten Angels is a non-profit dedicated to a portion of at-risk older children and young adults who frequently age out of foster care but still require help and a safe place to land while they figure out their new lives. According to the National Foster Youth Institute (NYFI<\/a>), 20% of the youth who age out of foster care have no place to go \u2013 they are homeless at the age of 18. With 23,000 aging out nationally every year, that\u2019s a huge number of youth who simply need roofs over their heads. Half also struggle to gain employment before the age of 24. And having not grown up in a typical home, many have yet to learn basic life skills.<\/p>\n

“They just throw you out into the real world,” Jason Cook told Fox 13<\/a>. Jason\u2019s foster care arrangement ended suddenly on his 18th birthday. “They just say you\u2019re an adult now.”<\/p>\n

“A lot of the kids that we get that are coming out of foster care, or they’re at risk, or they’ve been homeless, they don’t have their high school diploma, their GED, their driver’s license, they don’t have any of these things,” Tilley said, according to ABC Action News<\/a>. “So it’s so important that they end up in a place like Forgotten Angels because you have to move them forward in a positive way, or they’re going to be out there on the streets homeless. And that’s no place for kids to be.”<\/p>\n

Forgotten Angels helps those new to adulthood with their education, employment, and financial literacy. They also help them build credit, find a job, purchase a vehicle, and navigate the tough new requirements of adulthood. The organization\u2019s property sits on about 12 acres near Valrico, Florida. According to the organization\u2019s website<\/a>, the children who come to them get their own tiny home on the property to tend.<\/p>\n

Residents stay as long as they need to while they learn these life skills. “It\u2019s on a case-by-case basis,” said Tyler. “Whatever their needs are, we provide whatever we can do to move them forward, we do.”<\/p>\n