Aging out of foster care is often a bitter end to a difficult childhood. Foster children typically enter young adulthood with no career experience and little family support.

In contrast, fortunate adults do not “age out” of their family’s care system. They remain connected to their family of origin. When they attended college, they do so with the support of parents. When they require a place to regroup and recoup because life teaches difficult lessons, they may crash at home and lick their wounds. Fathers, mothers, sisters, grandparents, family friends, church family and others support us as we wander into and through adulthood.

Children who age out of foster care have a very different experience of early adulthood. The outcomes of former foster youth during their transition into adulthood are disheartening. One study found that 37% of foster youth aged 17–20 had not completed a high school degree or received a GED. The Child Welfare League of America reports that as many as 36% of foster youth who have aged out of the child welfare system become homeless, 56% become unemployed, and 27% of male former foster youth are jailed.

In addition to our Life Skills Training Center and Transitional Living Program, the Allen Career Center is one of our efforts to help foster care children avoid homelessness, unemployment and prison.

The John H. Allen Vocational Training and Career Center offers youth opportunities to receive cutting-edge training in four areas of concentration: Barbering, NCCER Carpentry, State-issued G.E.D. and NCCER Welding. Highly-certified Career and Technical Educators instruct job readiness classes, computer-aided remediation of core skills (math, reading, grammar), and coordinate an active intern program with community business and industry leaders. These avenues give students opportunities to use their skills in a real workplace which offers more realistic goals for immediate of future employment. Often, teens are able to complete their training as they “age out” of the foster care system and are immediately employed by the construction firms who have partnered with us to serve as internship sites.

Compared to the positive outcomes for our residents who now enter young adulthood with career skills and independent living resources in their tool kits, our Plaque Ceremony tomorrow is a small way to say, “Thank You!”, to a group of individuals who supported the construction and furnishing of the Allen Career Center.