Baltimore Womens’s Giving Circle

Shantel Randolph used her own experience as a former foster child to help found FYI and provide support services for youths aging out of the foster care system.

FYI has become a significant force in foster care advocacy in less than two years.

Alone No More

In 2006, Rhonda Lipkin and Shantel Randolph discovered they shared a passion. Lipkin, who works for the Public Justice Center, and Randolph, a former foster child whom Lipkin had asked to speak at a Full Circle meeting, both longed to help young people who’d grown up in Maryland’s foster care system.

One problem concerned them most—the plight of foster youth who would soon turn 18 and age out of the system. These kids, suddenly alone and on their own, without a family or network, often still in high school, face serious challenges during this critical period of transition to adulthood. Many face unemployment, substance abuse, unwanted pregnancy, and inadequate healthcare. Only half will finish high school, half will spend time in jail, and many will become homeless.

Working together, Lipkin and Randolph hatched an idea to found Foster Youth, Inc. (FYI), an organization to support and advocate for young people aging out of the system. For initial funding, the women applied for a Circle grant and an Open Society Institute (OSI) Fellowship. Circle member Christie Coe paid a spring 2007 site visit to FYI and was so impressed that she immediately volunteered to assist FYI with fundraising and development regardless of the Circle’s ultimate decision on funding. FYI did receive a start-up grant from the Circle in May 2007 and FYI was launched. Randolph, Coe and other volunteers spent an intense summer preparing for the new school year. Together, they applied for other grants, built a fundraising strategy, initiated FYI’s first private donor campaign and organized FYI’s first Annual Sibling Picnic. The OSI Fellowship followed in November and allowed Randolph to work full time for FYI.

FYI has become a significant force in foster care advocacy in less than two years. Under the theory that those who have lived within the system know best how to improve it, FYI advocates are mainly foster kids and former foster youth. Founded by students at Baltimore Freedom Academy, FYI holds annual orientation sessions there, and has begun meeting with social workers and students at other schools to introduce FYI and encourage the formation of new chapters. FYI holds annual workshops for Legal Aid lawyers on how to better represent child clients, and with Legal Aid social workers to present a foster youth group home “Bill of Rights.” FYI has advocated on Capitol Hill for “kinship care” for foster kids. Their first newsletter, “Preparing for College,” was issued in February 2008. FYI was the focus of a “Justice for Breakfast” program at the Public Justice Center, and has been featured on WYPR. Future plans include a second newsletter on “Siblings”, continuing workshops with lawyers, judges and social workers, outreach to more schools, and a workshop for foster youth at Maryland’s Independent Living Conference.

“To say that the Women’s Giving Circle made a difference for FYI and a growing number of foster youth would be a significant understatement,” say Lipkin and Randolph. “FYI will forever be indebted to the generous women of the Circle.”

Website: FYI can be found on the web site of the Public Justice Center www.publicjustice.org