Fostering education

In addition, he and others emphasize, it's not just the child-welfare agencies that need to make the effort. Courtney has heard principals complain about having to deal with the foster kids in their schools. "The education system needs to embrace these children," he says. "Once you get that attitudinal change, then these systems start to work together."

Despite all the hurdles, of course, some kids do succeed. Real, a tall, articulate senior at South Shore, with a big smile and infectious enthusiasm, is justifiably proud of his accomplishments. When he entered the child-welfare system three years ago, his parents had sunk into drug abuse and he had missed a year of school. "At first, it was hard to catch on," he says, "but I grasped it really quickly."

Today, Real is sixth in his class, maintains a 3.8 GPA, and has been accepted at six colleges; he's applying for a scholarship available to state wards. He went to Mexico on a class trip last year and is going to Spain in a few weeks. Eventually, he hopes to become a biology teacher or a physical therapist.

"It was a big change from being in a family with my mom and my dad, and it took me a little while to adjust," he says matter of factly. Placement with a cousin helped, he says. His four younger siblings live nearby.

Daphane, who hopes to graduate with Real this spring, hasn't had the same academic success, but she overflows with optimism. Like Real, she was placed with relatives - first her grandparents, and now with a sister - when she went into foster care nine years ago.

Her grades aren't good - last year she failed almost every class - but she hopes to attend college and eventually become an actress.

Her greatest recent accomplishment: being voted prettiest smile in the senior class.

But, charming as the smile is, she knows it won't get her to college unless she buckles down. Ms. Patrick, the STRIVE worker, has been reminding her to complete her applications and to take the ACTs.

The foster care experience, says Patrick, "plays out differently in every kid. Some kids say, 'My mom's not there for me, so no one's going to be there for me,' and they act out. Other kids hold it all in and try to excel."

Jose is one of those who acts out. The reason for his most recent suspension: He hit a teacher (or, as he puts it, "A teacher touched me and I touched him back.") The act may ultimately get him expelled.

His caseworker and the STRIVE workers are doing what they can - getting him into a leadership program, encouraging his poetry - but Jose, like many foster kids, is balancing on the edge, and they often remind him how much education matters to his future. Jose, his caseworker says often, has been through more than any kid should have to experience, "but he's really a good kid."

When I was in the system for the first year
That was the time of my tears
The time I wasn't used to waking up without my mother
The time I was waking up with the mothers of others
I knew what was going on
They were making my mother disappear with no wands
But it was wrong for them to let me grow up without her
They just didn't want me to get hurt
I learned that in my third year
And that was the time of my fears
When I was exposed to all the violence, gangs, drugs, and guns
Everything down the drain without the fun
Because of this I'm street-wise
Not weak-minded
I sometimes can tell by looking into someone's eyes
What happened in their lives
And how a person acts
You can tell if the person's whack
In the last foster home they put me in
They made me feel so down and dim
Like on my fifteenth birthday it was fake
I didn't even get a cake
I mean everybody forgot about J-O-S-E
Man, I hated being me
Now that I'm about to be 16 on June 18th
I look at everyone as a team
If DCFS didn't make their move with me
I probably would have ended up smoking weed
Or would have ended up in jail
With no kind of bail
So I'm glad DCFS do what they do
If I could I would like to say thank you

- Jose, a foster student

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