COUNTYWIDE : Foundation Offers Foster Youths a Hand

Sonya has high hopes of attending college after graduating from high school in June and has set a career goal to become an interior decorator.

“My dreams will come true because I’m determined they will,” she said.

But in the meantime, Sonya, 17, who comes from a broken home and has not lived with her family for five years, needs a job to help her attain her goals and live on her own.

“Right now jobs are scarce for people. We need all the help we can get,” said Sonya, whose full name is not being used to protect her.

She lives in a group home in Orange that is operated by Olive Crest, an Anaheim agency that places youths with foster families or in residential group homes.

But Sonya said Sunshine for Children Foundation could help open doors for job opportunities in interior design.

“Our purpose is to put her in a job and prepare her to get that job,” said Donald MacAllister, president of the Sunshine for Children Foundation in Laguna Hills, a nonprofit organization he founded in 1989.

And through the foundation’s Can Do Project, the goal is to place 30 foster youths in jobs this year, MacAllister said.

MacAllister, who has placed two teen-agers in jobs at the foundation’s offices, said the goal is to place youths in jobs in which they have an interest or career goal.

“It’s not just about getting a job,” he said. “It’s getting them a job in what they love to do, because the chances of them sticking in the job is much higher.”

Since 1989, MacAllister has orchestrated social and recreational activities, outings such as boat rides, barbecues and whale watching, for more than 4,300 Southern California foster youth.

Now MacAllister, 30, who lived in foster care from age 14 to 18, wants to help these youths become successful and productive once they leave the “system.” These youths are taken from their families usually because of physical or sexual abuse, neglect or abandonment and placed in foster or group homes.

In Orange County, he said, there are an estimated 3,000 foster youths, with about 600 between the ages of 16 and 18.

“We want to help young people move from dependence to independence, and we feel employment and special (skills) development is the key to that,” he said.

MacAllister said that often when these youths leave the foster care system as they become adults, they have no family to turn to, no financial and emotional support and no job.

“Over half the kids who leave the foster care system are failing,” he said. “They’re unemployed, homeless, destitute or incarcerated. There’s a lack of transition to prepare youth for independence.”

MacAllister said the federal government spends billions of dollars each year for foster care. But when these youths turn 18, many aren’t making it in society and continue to remain on public assistance as adults.

“Basically, we want to help them make it on their own, and we know the only way that can happen is through gainful employment,” he said.

Amy Cridge, house manager for Olive Crest’s Orange group home, said that it is often traumatic and stressful for youths to leave the foster care system. But she said the Can Do Project can help them get prepared.

“There are all kinds of turning points in their lives,” Cridge said. “And this could be one of them to get them a job in something they like to do.”

MacAllister said he needs to attract Orange County employers to provide the job opportunities and be mentors to the youth.

As an incentive, MacAllister said, participating businesses could be eligible for federal and state tax credits for employing a youth.

MacAllister said that while a youth is employed, his organization will also provide follow-up assistance.

“It’s a support system, so they know somebody cares instead of just sticking them in the job,” he said.

Prospective employers can reach the Sunshine for Children Foundation at (714) 587-9500.