The Foster Care “Aging Out” Series – Introduction To Spring!

Aging out of foster care can be difficult to say the least. Not only do you have to deal with growing into being a young adult, but you also have to manage a new load of responsibilities on top of the ones you previously had. There are documents you need to have, finances you have to get in order and, in some cases, catching up that you need to do in order to be “On TrAcK wItH yOuR pEers”. Don’t worry! This series has your back! Adulthood is hard, coming out of foster care can make it harder, so I’m starting this series on my blog called Aging Out to make things a little easier.

What is the Aging Out Series?

In short, the Aging Out series is an online collective resource of information for people aging out of the foster care system.

This blog series will also be helpful for you if you don’t have parents or adults in your life who are willing to help you become an adult. My job is to make this as simple as possible for you so feel free to give me feedback or if you already have experience in adulting, feel free to share so that others can learn from you.

This series is based around practical knowledge about life and general life skills needed to succeed. I’m going to break all this information down into seasons (I know that might sound weird but walk with me!), I’m starting this in March which is the beginning of spring. Spring is the season of beginnings, it’s the best time to start planting seeds that will eventually lead to a great harvest! With that in mind, all of my posts during this season will be about starting out your journey into adulthood.

Some of the things I’m going to post about this season are…

• How to get a birth certificate and social security card
• How to get a passport and ID card
• Opening up a bank account
• How to get a credit card and build a good score
• How to gain housing
• Getting a car/finding transportation

And more!

Why Was This Series Created?

I’m a former foster youth, I didn’t age out of the system, but I entered it when I was younger, and it was an unforgettable experience. Truly. I wasn’t in foster care for long, but what I did experience was enough to last a lifetime to say the least. Although I have no idea what it’s like to age out of the system, the statistics alone makes the process seem pretty bleak (and that’s not counting the stories that I’ve been told or ones I’ve read about).

When I was doing research into the foster care system in an attempt to make sense of my own experiences, I came across the topic of aging out of the system. I started looking on the internet for any resources or information regarding the options available for people in that situation and the information was scattered all over the place. I was able to find one collective source on a transitional plan titled “Foster Care Transition Toolkit”, it seems useful, but it also hasn’t been updated since 2016. It’s 2024, I’m almost positive that there’s new information and resources available for people, and thus, this series was born.

What to Expect Going Forward

I plan on making consistent update on this series on a weekly basis. I will upload at least 2 times a week on Tuesdays and Thursdays at noon.

Please feel free to reach out to me here or in the comment section down below! I’d love to hear your suggestions regarding what you’d like me to write about, or, you can just say hello.

Until next time!