Foster Care to Success Foundation: Continuing to Care

Children in the foster care system need a lot of help. Many of them go from one foster home to the other and have to re-adjust to a new environment every so often. This lack of stability in their lives makes it difficult for them to live normal lives as adults. The worst part is that once they turn 18, they are removed from the system and are expected to live life on their own as responsible adults. This is where the Foster Care to Success Foundation comes into play.

The foundation was founded by Joseph Rivers in 1981. Having lived in an orphanage for most of his life, he understood what it was like to “age out” without a family or organization to support him. The group started small with a handful of foster care graduates helping teens who were near legal age by preparing them for what they should expect once they are considered adults and are no longer supported by the foster care system. Using the basement of a Washington DC community center as a meeting place, Rivers, the foster care veterans, and a handful of volunteers met with these foster children and helped them with their basic needs such as housing, transportation, and employment opportunities as soon as they turned 18. Rivers passed away in 1990, but the foundation continued to grow under the new executive director Eileen McCaffrey.

Today, Foster Care to Success does more than just prepare foster kids for adulthood and provide them with their basic needs once they reach legal age. Aside from employment opportunities, they also provide scholarship grants, book money, stipends, and emergency money for deserving foster kids. They have also influenced the government’s public policy and that of other child welfare organizations on how they treat foster youth nearing adulthood.