We have all heard that the foster care system doesn’t work very well for kids. We all hope we don’t hear of them later because they’re in trouble with the law. Yet most of us haven’t thought about the fact that turning 18 has been turning them out of whatever homes they’re in, and that most of them have ended up homeless. That’s about 5,000 kids a year in California.

San Francisco Chronicle’s Chip Johnson recently wrote about them, and about a program that is run by a nonprofit group called First Place for Youth, operating on a combination of individual and corporate donations, foundation and government grants, and rental income paid by the kids once they have decent jobs. It was founded ten years ago, and has a successful track record.

It targets people aged 16 to 23 in foster-care, and a staff of professionals offers them help by means of tutoring, helping to define education and employment goals, learning interpersonal skills and effective communication, understanding nutrition and exercise needs, managing money, finding affordable housing, and getting access to health care. The most pressing need of those turning 18 is housing, and first place is able to offer them a financial subsidy; they are helped to find an affordable place to rent, and the subsidy is gradually reduced over two years. The young parents among them are helped with access to child-care, and social workers on staff provide direct referrals to further services when needed.

First Place has recently been able to open the First Steps Center on Telegraph Avenue in Oakland which has more space and will allow expansion of its services. In summarizing its chief points of impact on the kids’ lives, it is able to say that, over the time it has been operating, 79% of the kids have gotten jobs at an average of $8.73 an hour; 96% stayed out of the justice system; 73% got a high school diploma; 70% enrolled in post-secondary education; 100% of those who are parents retained custody of their kids; and 100% secured some form of health care. Aren’t those statistics we’d like to see for the rest of the population?