Sedella with her older sister
19-year old Sedella
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (KTHV) -- What happens when a child in state foster care turns 18 and "ages out" of the system without ever being adopted?
It happens to many children up for adoption, including 19-year old Sedella White.
"Forever, I didn't think it was possible," says White, "that parents leave kids."
Yet Sedella and her 5 siblings were placed in state care almost a decade ago.
Several of her brothers and sisters were adopted, but Sedella never found a permanent home.
However, she did learn that the state of Arkansas steps in to help teens like her.
When she turned 18, she was given two options: go out into the world on her own. Or stay in the state's transitional services system.
THV's Dawn Scott reveals more about this extension of Arkansas' foster care system, which offers children help until they are 21, tonight in a THV Extra on the "THV 10:00 Difference."