Ark. Foster Kids "Aging Out" And On Their Own

Many foster kids turn 18 without ever finding a permanent home, and that can have devastating consequences. The term being used is "aging out" of the system, and every year hundreds of kids leave the care of the state to tackle life on their own. At least one advocacy group fears many aren't prepared.

Tonika Carroll is beating the odds, working on a college degree, despite growing up without her mom and dad.

"Because of the things I went through in life, I suffered from it. But at the same time I overcame it because of the push I had from my grandmother," says Carroll.

At five-months-old DHS removed Carroll from her drug-addicted parents. As an African American child with a heart condition, Carroll fell into two groups DHS spokeperson Julie Munsell says are difficult to place, others include children 14 and older. "We go out and look for minority homes, and that can be very challenging," says Munsell.

Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families Operations and Legal Director Jennifer Ferguson says many hard to place kids are "aging out", or turning 18 without ever being permanently placed with a family. "They're the ones that are much more likely to be homeless, to be parents at an early age, most of them lack a high school education and most of them when they age out are more likely to be involved in criminal activity," explains Ferguson.

In 2006 more than 200 Arkansas children "aged out" of the welfare system and less than 60 of them had their caregivers rights terminated, which has to be done before adoption.

?Because it's so low that causes concern, because the case isn't being worked enough to even see if that child can be placed in an adoptive home," says Ferguson.

"The mission is to get that child back with the family. If the family can't sustain them then you start looking at other options," says Munsell.

For Carroll the other option was a home with a foster grandma.

Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families says more services are needed to help the kids who never get families, because the more help they get, the more likely they'll gain the skills to help themselves.

Over the past five years about 1000 kids left the system without ever finding permanent homes.

For more information about becoming a foster parent click on the link below the pictures.