Thursday, Thursday,Feb. Feb.18, 19, 2010 2009
YOU SPEAK, WE LISTEN
Radnor, Pa.
CABRINI COLLEGE
Pacemaker Winner Vol VolLI, L,Issue Issue17 17
www.theloquitur.com
NOR’EASTER HITS CABRINI The campus experienced the two blizzards of 2010 last week. Although the college was closed the staff worked around the clock to plow the snow and keep the cafeteria open for students. RACHAEL RENZ/ASST. NEWS EDITOR
SEE FEATURES PAGE 8
MEGAN KUTULIS/DEPUTY EDITOR
Dr. Michelle Filling’s class ECG 100 On Their Own: Youth in America has been studying the realities that students, who age out of the foster care system, must face.
Foster care system ignores
college-aged students jen wozniak managing editor
jlw729@cabrini.edu
NICK GULDIN/ASST. SPORTS EDITOR
Professors help students save on textbook costs noelle westFall staFF writer
nw66@cabrini.edu
Every semester some students dread the cost of their new textbooks. With books costing up to $1,050 a year, several professors at Cabrini decided to find another way for students to gain the knowledge they need from a book without the hefty price tag. Using Flat World Knowledge online books, Dr. Eric Malm and Dr. Lisa Delgado, assistant professors of business administration, have helped students save their money and not sacrifice the course book. Their textbooks cost nothing online, although students can choose to also purchase a print copy of the book for around $25. This way the students are able to find which learning method works best for them. “Last spring I was thinking of how I wanted to offer a lower-cost textbook so-
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At 18 years old, you find yourself completely on your own- no place to call home, no family to spend the holidays with, nobody to turn to for help or support, no drivers license and no way to pay for college or housing. This is what happens to about 1,600 teenagers in Pennsylvania each year when they “age out” of the foster care system without a permanent family. Many youth who age out face many problems without a family to support them. The Pew Charitable Trust report titled “Kids Are Waiting: Fix Foster Care Now,” says, the need for a family doesn’t end when a child turns 18. It says, “Aging out of foster care without a permanent family means no one to walk you down the aisle when you get married, no one to cheer you on during your successes or comfort you during hard times, no one to be a grandparent to your children or celebrate the holidays with.” Students of Dr. Michelle Filling, assistant professor of English, learned the reality of foster children and the foster care system through taking ECG 100: From Dreams to Action this past fall semester, as well as now through the class called On Their Own: Youth in America. Students start by learning about family, education, race, class and gender issues, which then leads into learning about foster care. Members of the Youth Advisory Board, comprised of youth who aged out of the foster care system, come to campus and share their personal stories with students. “As dramatic as their stories are, they all have a positive outlook on life, which is surprising,” Filling said. “The YAB students don’t want you to feel sorry for them; they just want to share their experiences so others can see what made them who they are.” Rachel Buttaro, junior English major and Filling’s classroom coach, said, “I had
always imagined that people in the foster care program were with shelter and a family to care for them, but this stereotype I had engrained in my mind was proved wrong after listening to the Youth Advisory Board and hearing each of their life stories.” While some youth do remain close with previous foster care families, the majority are left completely on their own at age 18. Some had foster families when they aged-out, but since the family no longer receives funds from the government, most youth will no longer live there or receive money or support. In their 2009 report, Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children explains that “foster care is meant to be a temporary intervention to assure the safety and well-being of a child.” Although most enter foster care due to abuse or neglect, the removal from home is a dramatic experience for children. In addition, children are often moved among numerous foster families, which separates children from new friends and siblings and often forces children to change schools, which can sometimes put children behind a grade if they move around too much. “A lot of emotional scarring happens when you don’t have a stable home and the right people around to support you,” Filling said. “To be jostled around is a lot of stress on a child or teenager.” The ultimate goal of foster care is adoption. However, the older a child is when they enter foster care the less likely adoption becomes, since most families want young children rather than teenagers. The Pew Charitable Trust report states that of foster youth who age out of the system, 25 percent will be in prison within the first two years after they leave the system, over 20 percent will become homeless at some time and only 58 percent receive a high school degree by age 19, compared to the national average of 87 percent. Only three percent will receive a four-year college degree.
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