Colorado foster parents: “None of my 41 kids have graduated”
New changes are coming to Colorado’s foster care system following legislative reform aimed to help with staggeringly low high school graduation rates.
The Colorado Dept. of Education reports in 2017 one in four foster kids graduated from high school in four years.
That’s worse than homeless students of whom 56 percent graduate on time.
“I believe it, it’s not surprising,” said Carla and John Londo.
The two have been foster parents to 52 kids over the past 25 years.
“It’s that magic of turning 18, they go back to find mom, and drop out of school,” Carla Londo said.
Of the 52 foster kids they had, only 11 graduated high school.
“We did adopt 11, but the 41 other kids did not graduate,” she said.
The Department Chair for Counseling and Human Services at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs Joe Wehrman, explains there are many layers to the solution.
“Finding ways to have an experience where they have an adult figure, some bonded attachment in their life, that they can draw on for support,” he said.
Wehrman said the mental support is a key element for kids to be successful in and out of school.
The bills were created with help from both foster parents and former foster kids who went through the system. All changes are expected to take effect in August.
