OMAHA, Neb. -- Some 24,000 teenagers in foster care across the nation officially become adults each year; in Nebraska it happens on their 19th birthday.

They are expected to move out and start their lives on their own, yet many do not have a reliable support system. They face many challenges, including finding a job and a place to live.

Aaron Weaver, central access navigator for Nebraska Children's Project Everlast in Omaha, said the holiday season can be especially hard.

"A lot of young people don't have any contact with biological family and were never adopted," Weaver explained. "They might not have a place to go during the holiday season. People who are in dorms oftentimes are asked to leave and may not have a place to go for the holiday season as well."

Studies have found within two to four years after leaving foster care, 40% of young adults experienced homelessness or were incarcerated, 46% did not graduate from high school, and more than half were unemployed.

Weaver pointed out support and resources are available through NebraskaChildren.org, where staff can help connect youth to specific programs by county.

Many young people who have aged out of foster care lack basic life skills, such as how to do laundry or cook dinner for themselves.

Weaver noted adult volunteers can make a big difference, just by being a reliable voice on the telephone or making time to meet up for coffee.

"A lot of studies show that if a young person has one supportive adult in their life for more than a year, so is consistently there to support them for a year or more, that their outcomes are greatly, greatly improved," Weaver outlined.

Anyone interested in becoming a mentor, or helping foster youths in other ways, can sign up through NebraskaChildren.org.

As the holidays draw near, Weaver encouraged young people to check the site for events near them, and to consider creating their own family gathering with friends.

"You determine who is in your life, and you determine who your supports are," Weaver remarked. "And you can choose who you love and who you let love you. And make sure that it's people that are healthy."

Backers of legislation awaiting Gov. Tom Wolf's signature said it would improve the odds of success for teens transitioning out of foster care.

More than 5,500 children in foster care in Pennsylvania are age 14 or older, and House Bill 1866 outlines the steps county child-welfare agencies must take to help them make a smooth transition to adulthood with support from caregivers or family members.

Kari King, president and CEO of Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children, said it is important to spell out the details.

"And it really tries to make much clearer what those county offices need to do to better support these youths," King explained. "Some of those provisions are working with the youth on what's called a permanency plan. So, really working with that child to say, you know, 'What are your goals? What do you want to see as kind of the outcome?' "

The bill passed in October with bipartisan support. After the governor signs the measure, it will take effect in 60 days. King added the bill was introduced by state Rep. Karen Boback, R-Luzerne County. It requires counties do more to improve their data collection and document family-finding efforts, increase teens' opportunities for permanency and help them maintain supportive adult connections.

King noted the end goal is to prevent homelessness when a young person ages out of the foster-care system. She emphasized they let policymakers know not having adequate planning and support services to ease the transition often means a poor outcome, which for some, has had lifelong effects.

"Something that we've really raised is that 37% report that they don't have stable housing, and 25% don't have either a GED or a high school diploma," King reported.

King added transition-age youth often struggle as a result of being in foster care, so it is important they have supportive connections, and child-welfare agencies document their own steps and provide the information to the young person in transition to adulthood.

October is National Bullying Prevention Awareness Month and experts are reminding Marylanders to be aware of the patterns within bullying.

The National Center for Education Statistics said one in five students reports being bullied. With the rise of online interaction among students cyberbullying has come to the forefront as a problem, but experts say there is frequently an offline component to bullying.

Maryland criminalized cyberbullying in 2013 and strengthened the law in 2019, increasing the penalties, and reducing the burden on victims in proving bullying is happening.

Jan Helson, co-founder and board chair of the Global Game Changers Children's Education Initiative, a nonprofit focused on social-emotional learning, said building confidence and empathy are key in helping to prevent bullying.

"If you build a child's core where they feel confident about themselves and who they are, and have empathy for others, then it helps to avoid bullying in the first place," Helson asserted.

Students who are bullied are at a higher risk for depression, anxiety and sleep problems, along with lower academic achievement and dropping out of school.

Research suggests school-based anti-bullying programs decrease bullying by 20%. No matter the approach, Helson emphasized it is important for students to remain in dialogue with parents and teachers.

"Whether it's a teacher communicating with students, or whether it's a parent communicating is to really stress the importance of opening up that dialogue and providing your child a safe space and looking for those signs, whether they are the victim or the bully," Helson outlined. "Parents have to be open-minded to both sides of that."

Helson explained the root cause of bullying often is the bully's own insecurity, and noted it is helpful to consider the inner life of the bully.

"What is it about their background? I think having children understand and have empathy that maybe that bully has something going on in their life that they have no control over," Helson advised. "It's a way of them feeling like they have control of something, making them feel bigger than others."

She added empathy for the bully does not mean accepting their behavior, but giving students insight into the lives of others may help break down the barriers with bullies.

Youth advocates are working to ensure all children and teens in foster care in Ohio know their rights, and know what to do if those rights are violated.

The Foster Youth Bill of Rights came to fruition about a year ago, and is designed to ensure foster youths have a voice regarding their care and decisions made about their lives.

Jenny Stotts, Ohio Youth Ombudsman, will be in their corner if their rights are violated.

"It really comes down to quality of life, safety, well-being," Stotts outlined. "Support to help a young person while they're in foster care, while they're in a placement to be safe, to have access to normalcy, to be in an environment that's conducive to their healing."

Stotts noted the Ohio Youth Ombudsman Office listens to concerns from youths, investigates, and sometimes issues recommendations to address the immediate situation and other times facilitates a dialogue with the agency to move forward in a positive direction.

Deanna Jones, a foster youth advocate in Columbus, is a former foster child and former caseworker and said there are a variety of issues which can arise from youth rights' violations in foster-care homes and residential placements. Jones explained foster youths often do not feel they have the right to privacy or a choice in their medical care.

"If I'm telling you that this doctor is not helping me, there wasn't even a conversation back then," Jones recounted. "Whereas now, a child can say, 'Listen, this is what I need, I have a right to say what I need. I have a right to show up to meetings and to be able to give my input,' and that's extremely important."

Jones added the Foster Youth Bill of Rights is like a guiding principle for children and teens in care, and their foster families, to ensure they are working together to ensure the best possible outcomes.

"We're already in situations, as foster youths, we didn't ask to be in, in homes, we didn't get a vote in most of the time," Jones pointed out. "And we're coming with everything in our background, usually not positive things. And before you know it this child is just getting passed along, this narrative following them is getting passed along. And they're not able to really have their needs met."