CHARLESTON, W.Va. – The bad news is that West Virginia has a high rate of unemployed youth not in school. The good news is there are things that can be done about it.

A new report by the Annie E. Casey Foundation found close to a quarter of West Virginians between 16 and 24 are neither employed nor in school.

But there are groups that say they've had some success slowing the rise in that number. Emily Schoen is director of strategic relationships and corporate communications for The Education Alliance, which mentors at risk-youth to keep them in school. She says the alliance sees improvements, including small, but steady increases in attendance.

"We found that, yes it can really help them in their academics and their behavior and of course performance. But the biggest thing is that it helps them in their individual lives and understanding why they're in school."

The Casey Foundation report found disconnected youth face serious problems in their lives. But The Education Alliance says it plans to mentor upwards of 500 young people at a time.

The West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy says the situation of disconnected youth gets at a problem with the state's economy. Sean O'Leary, a policy analyst with the center, says the decline in the number of good-paying blue-collar jobs makes it more important to have an educated workforce, because that improves the business climate. But he says the recession has tended to squeeze young people out of work and made some of them feel hopeless about education.

"When there's four unemployed people for every job opening, employers are going to take the worker who's educated, who has some skills, who has some experience. That just leaves no opportunity for young people who are just starting out in the workforce."

Mentoring can help with that, according to Schoen, who's a mentor herself. She says that it helps young people develop resilience and stick with education, even when it's tough.

"They realize you have to study; you have to take that time. Sometimes the classes you dislike the most are what you really need to spend the most time on."





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National Foster Care Month in May celebrates Ohioans who care for children in times of crisis, and as the calendar turns, the focus shifts to an important objective.

June is National Reunification Month, which highlights bringing families back together.

Heather Mason, a foster parent in Lancaster, explained foster children need safety and stability.

"These kids need people besides them," Mason asserted. "They're just normal teenagers going through things and want normalcy. And we definitely try to help them with that."

Melanie Allen, director of Sandusky County Job and Family Services, said foster parents can help support visitation and mentor the children in their care.

"We believe in putting these children back home in a better type of setting," Allen emphasized. "We really have a great set of foster parents who can model and coach parents."

In 2021 about 4,500 Ohio children in the foster care system were successfully reunified with their birthparents.

Mason typically fosters teenagers, and acknowledged unfortunately reunification can be difficult. However, she tries to open up as many avenues as possible to help nurture relationships with biological families.

"One of our kiddos, her mom was in and out of drug rehab programs, and so we helped get her clothes, and foster that relationship between mom and daughter and try to show them that it can be different," Mason recounted.

Allen explained there are more kids coming into care with significant mental and behavioral health needs. But she added there are not enough treatment-level foster homes to help ease the transition from a group or residential placement.

"We have a very difficult time getting them to step down and get into a homelike setting," Mason noted. "And there's a huge need for that in order to improve their own outcomes when they do leave care, reunify home, or even emancipate to become successful."

About 12,000 of the children in the child welfare system in March were in family-based settings, with a quarter in treatment-level foster homes. Roughly 2,000 other youth were in congregate care, but advocates say more could be in treatment-level foster care if there were enough qualified individuals to take older children with behavioral challenges and work toward family reunification.

Michigan is taking steps to improve the child welfare system for National Foster Care Month.

In Michigan, nearly a quarter of young people who are in foster care at age 17 experience homelessness by the time they turn 19, and it jumps to about a third by 21. And unemployment rates for former foster youths are 2.5 times higher than the general youth population.

Demetrius Starling, executive director of the state's Children's Services Agency, said things such as wraparound and mental-health services have not always been available to families and kids in a timely manner.

"We're looking at permanency, we're looking at ways to wrap services around our families and communities and keep kids safely at home if at all possible," Starling explained. "But also, we're really looking to make sure that we keep siblings placed in foster care together, and also limit the time that children are spending in foster homes."

The steps build on reforms that have been in progress for more than a decade, after a national advocacy group filed a class-action lawsuit in 2006 alleging constitutional and federal law violations regarding permanency of foster placements, lack of proper medical and dental care and few supports for those aging out of the system. Since then, there have been multiple consent decrees to make improvements.

Starling added National Foster Care Month is also a time to encourage individuals and families to consider fostering a child.

"Michigan right now has approximately 10,500 children in foster care at any given time," Starling reported. "So we truly need foster families to keep these children safe, and to care for them until they can be returned to their family, which of course is our priority."

He noted people who are interested can call one of the state's foster-care navigators, at 855-MICH-KIDS. He said navigators are experienced in connecting potential foster families with the right agency and any guidance they may need.

May is National Foster Care Month, and groups that serve foster youths and families say improvements are needed for outcomes and to reduce disparities for those aging out of care.

Roughly 40% of youths who age out will experience homelessness within a year, and about half of foster children in the Commonwealth identify as Black or Latino. The median income for former foster youths up to age 26 is less than $9,000 a year.

Shaheer Mustafa is the CEO of HopeWell, which provides comprehensive foster-care services to families and young people throughout the system. He said the point of transition from foster care to adulthood is key.

"Our brains aren't even fully developed until we're in our late 20s, arguably even into our 30s," said Mustafa. "So we need to listen to young people, and we need to give them latitude to kind of experiment and make mistakes. And unfortunately, our system doesn't really allow for that."

Mustafa said Massachusetts does have what's known as extended foster care, but there are many hoops to jump through, and more accessible supports are needed. There are more than 9,500 kids and teens in foster care in the Commonwealth.

Mustafa pointed to data showing a quarter of young people who have experienced foster care will be incarcerated, more than half will drop out of high school and fewer than 5% earn a postsecondary degree.

He said the support network for young people aging out of care needs to be broader than just the child welfare system.

"In a place like Massachusetts," said Mustafa, "where we have really arguably the world's epicenter for postsecondary institutions, we do not have campus-based supports - specifically for youths who have aged out of foster care."

He added that HopeWell has a program called My First Place, which offers former foster youths rent-free apartments while they identify, plan for and work to achieve their long-term goals.