CYPRESS : Class Readies Foster Youths for Adult Life

As a room at Cypress College began to fill one night with foster children approaching their 18th birthdays, Tiffany Smartt sat apart, remembering how it was for her.

Smartt, a graduate of this special program, had learned the living skills necessary to begin life on her own when she left the foster-care system. For three years, Cypress College has been offering this special class for foster children to help them prepare for “emancipation” as they reach the legal age of adulthood.

Information on everything from how to balance a checkbook to finding a place to live is taught during the six-week Independent Living Skills Course.

“What we want to do is help facilitate these kids move out into the real world,” said program director Barbara Anderson. “I would like them to leave feeling that there are resources to help. Most of us leave home with a safety net. These kids don’t.”

Working in conjunction with the Orange County Social Services Department, the youths start taking the classes as early as 16. Since its beginning in 1988, about 290 foster children and 340 foster parents have gone through the program. Funding is provided from both state and federal sources.

Smartt, now a sophomore at Cal State Fullerton, said she had entered the foster-care system at age 16 and did everything she could to get out. In June, 1989, after going to every group home facility in Orange County at least once, she was given her last option. She chose to live in San Diego for a while, before coming back to where she grew up.

“I was blessed to find these resources, but it is sad that some people don’t know that they are out there.” Through the classes, she learned how to write a resume and present herself in an interview. But most important, instructors helped her find ways to pay for college, thus giving her a source of income.

Today she shares an apartment in Fullerton, riding the bus more than an hour to get to school. Someday, the English and speech major, who is on a full scholarship, would like to teach.

But not all are success stories.

“It is a business. When they turn 18 they are cut off from the system,” said Susanne Clarke of Orange County Social Services.

Most come from abusive homes and are at high risk of becoming homeless when they are emancipated. Housing is the main issue, particularly in Orange County where rents are some of the highest in the country, Anderson said. One solution is getting them into college, which is the program’s ultimate goal.

The six-week class culminates with a tour of Cypress College during the annual Senior Day.