FCAA: Foster Care Alumni of America

Foster Care Alumni of America (FCAA) is a relatively new national non-profit organization hoping to transform the lives of children, youth and adults who share the foster care experience by connecting us into a well-supported and organized community and ensuring we become a powerful, collective voice of change for both individuals and the whole foster care system.�

Foster Care Alumni of America is a 501c-3, non-profit organization that brings together the knowledge, experience, and strength of alumni of foster care in the U.S. in order to improve the lives of all people in and from foster care. At FCAA we believe that the firsthand knowledge alumni have of the foster care system gives us an expertise that can be a powerful tool for improving foster care policies and practices.�

At FCAA the voices of alumni join with that of other child welfare experts in order to enhance research, planning and implementation of approaches in today's foster care system. FCAA provides alumni and our allies with a way to share our experiences and enrich the lives of the nearly 519,000 children and youth in care right now.

A review of child welfare data and various social work textbooks indicates that there are roughly 12 million American adults who experienced foster care at some point in their childhood. The foster care system currently provides service to nearly 800,000 children per year-with approximately 519,000 children and youth living within foster care at any given point in time. The alumni group is estimated to be growing at a rate exceeding one-quarter million (250,000) per year.

The U.S. spends $22 billion dollars ($5 billion from the Federal government and the balance from state/county governments) to provide services for children and youth in foster care. This averages out to $40,000 per child.

120,000 children and youth a year have had TPR (terminate parental rights) occur and are eligible for adoption but continue to remain in the system due to lack of adoptive families�

Averages of 20,000 youths are aging out of the system per year.�

I, the writer of this article, am one of the estimated twelve million alumni of the foster care system. I entered the system upon the day of my birth. I would remain in the system until I aged out at eighteen. During those years I experienced fifteen moves. I lived in two institutions during my first year of life. Over the next ten years I would experience eleven foster homes. The next seven plus years I lived in an orphanage for boys. At eighteen I experienced my fifteenth move; that was to the streets as an adult out on my own whether I was ready or not.�

The history of FCAA is closely tied to the history of the national alumni movement - in fact, FCAA is a direct result of the growing alumni movement.�

The first phase of the organized national alumni movement came in 1999 when Casey Family Programs began extensive interviews with over 1800 alumni of the foster care system from across the country for the National Alumni Study. As researchers talked with alumni, they heard over and over "I want to DO SOMETHING to improve foster care. How can I get involved?" Recognizing that alumni brought passion, insight, and expertise that could only be gained by living in foster care, Casey Family Programs created the Alumni Relations department in 2000.�

During its first two years, the Alumni Relations department made connections with 1400 alumni from all over the United States. The department found that alumni were active in work on behalf of people in and from foster care in various ways:�

• Some were foster parents, kinship caregivers and adoptive parents.
• Some were social workers, researchers, legal professionals and advocates.
• Some alumni were participating in foster care program development, legislative advocacy, training for care providers and professionals and speaking publicly about their experiences.
• A great number of alumni were having severe problems making it on their own and could end up as a statistical failure of the system.�

With support from Casey, alumni began to meet one another and work together. From their first meetings, we found incredible strength in each other - a feeling of belonging and kinship that so many of us had grown up without ever knowing. It was discovered that we share a culture - the culture of foster care - that gives us an understanding of each other across the ages, across geography, across ethnicities. Our shared culture and experiences form the basis for a community of alumni with a common voice. Bringing together efforts of individual alumni, the alumni movement was born!�

As the alumni movement came to life, two overriding needs were identified:�

1. To create an organized, supportive and independent community where our shared culture was celebrated and our shared agenda to improve the lives of people in and from foster care could be developed and put into action.�

2. To build our skills, knowledge base, resources and energy as a group that enables us to be powerful and build meaning full and effective partnerships with each other and with our allies who share our mission.�

Casey Family Programs listened to our voices and responded to our needs. In 2004 Casey Family Programs made a significant investment in the alumni movement by generously supporting the creation of Foster Care Alumni of America. In development since that time, FCAA is now beginning to found chapters across the country, to build our membership and to harness the power of alumni and allies to make real change. We are at a momentous place with the alumni movement. Alumni who have been working in isolation are finding one another and we are becoming increasingly connected and resourceful. We are working to diversify our support, with the goal of making a sustainable, member-supported organization that will be a constant source of support, information, inspiration, and action into the future. We are just beginning the real work and we are so glad to say we're all in this together.�

Foster Care Alumni of America was created in direct response to the growing number of people, who have experienced, or are currently experiencing, the foster care system. It is the only national organization that provides opportunities for alumni to use our experiences living in the foster care system to change the lives of children and youth in foster care, as well as the foster care system itself, for the better. We believe our experience is our expertise. We have lived in the foster care system. Our views, opinions, and perspectives are vital to improving the practices, policies, and approaches of today's foster care system.

I use the words of we and our in the above few paragraphs as I joined FCAA in the fall of
2006. I am working on starting a chapter here in my community.�

The mission of Foster Care Alumni of America is to connect the alumni community and to transform policy and practice, ensuring opportunity for people in and from foster care.�

The inseparable dual nature of our mission is represented in our tagline: Connecting today...Transforming tomorrow.
Our vision is to ensure a high quality of life for those in and from foster care through the collective voice of alumni. We intend to erase the differences in opportunities and outcomes that exist for people in and from foster care compared to those who have not experienced foster care.�

We believe that opportunities to improve outcomes for alumni of foster care continue beyond age 18 (typical emancipation age) or even age 25 (typically considered the upper end of transition age) and that a significant way to improve the quality of life for alumni is to provide opportunities for us to connect with each other, reducing isolation and increasing the likelihood of permanent family and community.�

The following are the results of a study conducted in 2004 by the Casey Family Programs National Center for Resource Family Support with young adults ages 18-24 and 2.5-4 years after aging out of the system show the dire need for this organization::

33% will experience homelessness 12-18 months after leaving foster care. Three of ten of the nation's homeless are former foster children
27% of the males and 10% of the females had been incarcerated (80 percent of prison inmates have been through the foster care system) National Association of Social Workers
33% were receiving public assistance
37% had not finished high school
10% obtain at least one year of college
2% obtain a Bachelor's degree or higher
51% were unemployed
84% became a parent
40% experience alcohol or drug abuse
37% have some type of mental disorder due to experiences within the foster care system
30% have no health insurance
Former foster youth have a higher rate of suicide than the regular youth population

We also believe that alumni of foster care possess an expertise about foster care that is not available anywhere else. Alumni bring the perspective of having lived in foster care and being part of the culture of foster care-the shared experience that comes from being in foster care. We believe this perspective and expertise, and our presence and voice are essential for influencing public will, creating the best public policy, and continually improving foster care practice.�

Core Values
At FCAA we base all of our planning and decision-making on the following core organizational values:

URGENCY

We understand the pressing importance of improving the foster care system-as a whole and for each individual child. We draw on this urgency to fuel our inspiration and passion for supporting the well-being of people in and from foster care.

INNOVATION

We value new ideas and creativity in improving the lives of people who share the foster care experience, and we promote the multiple areas of perspective and expertise brought by our members and our allies.

INTEGRITY AND ACCOUNTABILITY

Our organization constantly follows the highest ethical standards and is accountable to alumni and our allies for meeting our mission with integrity. Additionally, we hold those who are responsible for practice and policy in child welfare to the highest standards and support them in meeting those standards.

DIVERSITY

We appreciate and honor our differences and do not tolerate discrimination of any kind. We value multiple perspectives and create a culture where our differences are an asset.

COLLABORATION

We cannot accomplish our mission alone. We support connections and collaboration within the alumni community and with other individuals and organizations by building meaningful and effective partnerships. We maintain our autonomy from child welfare organizations in order to promote true collaboration.

HOPE

We consistently function with hopefulness and optimism about people in and from foster care, as well as the system itself. We bring the love we have for people who share the foster care experience to inspire and motivate our efforts every day.

The FCAA motto best sums things up: Connect Today…Transform Tomorrow!

Connect Today

We estimate that there are twelve million adults who have spent time living in foster care in the United States. As alumni of the foster care system, we have a unique expertise and knowledge that can be gained in no other way than having that experience. As alumni connect with each other, we find that we share a culture-the culture of foster care-that draws us together and ignites our passions. Through FCAA, we are able to be part of a vibrant and active community where isolation no longer needs to be a hallmark of our culture and where we can find friends, role models, even an extended family of people who share a common experience. We are currently building avenues for making these connections- by developing chapters in local areas and nationally through our website.�

Transform Tomorrow�

At FCAA we believe that alumni perspectives about policy and practice should directly affect current approaches in the foster care system. Together, alumni of foster care and our allies - the countless social workers, teachers, foster parents and others who share our mission to improve the lives of people in and from care - can make a real difference. We encourage both alumni and our allies to share their experiences, to recommend changes, and to get involved on any level that they can. As FCAA grows, we will develop specific campaigns and activities to transform the future.�

Fellow foster care alumni please join us as we strive to build a powerful and interactive community of resources, information and opportunities. A work in progress, FCAA aspires to empower our members to connect today, transform tomorrow. Your input will determine our future.�

Visit our web site to learn how to join us as well as how you as an alumnus of the foster care system can participate in improving the lives of those living within the system today or helping those who have already become alumnus but are living their lives in isolation and need our support so they can become good, productive citizens.