After his 18th birthday, Nathen Schmitz packed his things, left the Thornton area, and moved to Lakewood and into his first apartment. It was a big step, but it wasn’t the first time he had been on his own.
“I’ve been in foster care ever since I was 12,” Schmitz said. “I moved a few months ago after I graduated high school because I’m ready to do my own thing and get emancipated from the system.”
Creating a stable life that is completely independent and free of the foster care system by the time he turns 21 is Schmitz’s primary goal. That’s why he joined the in 2015. He wanted a way out.
“I’m not trying to be a statistic,” Schmitz said. “I have plans.”
The federally funded Chafee Foster Care Independence Program was created almost 20 years ago to help foster kids ages 16-21 leave the foster care system and live without relying on assistance programs.
“We have kids who are in law school and kids who went through medical school and kids in Washington, D.C., now,” said Susan Adams, Chafee program coordinator for the Adams County Human Services Department. “These kids go on to do wonderful, amazing things with a little support and encouragement.”
The program’s Adams County division can serve about 45 foster children and homeless youths at a time. Chafee case workers help foster kids find schools or vocational programs, financial aid, housing, employment and whatever else they need to live on their own by the time they turn 21 and must leave the system — though Adams admits she’ll stay in contact with young adults well into their 30s to make sure their lives are running smoothly.
Recently, the local Chafee chapter began working with Adams County employees to beef up the weekly life skills development classes offered to youths in the program.
“We identify eligible kids and start them with services at 14 or 15 and start bringing them into this type of life skills training situation at 16 and up,” Adams said. “Once they leave care we continue to support them as long as they need.”
On a recent Wednesday, about 15 foster kids arrived at Adams County’s fleet management facility at 4955 E. 74th Ave. in Commerce City to learn how to change a car tire, check the engine oil and other basic car maintenance and car buying tips.
“The program is so much better and more useful than sitting in school,” Schmitz said. “We learn how to write out checks, how to do our taxes, how to manage debt and all kinds of useful things.
“I did this so I can learn different skills to move on, to learn to live on my own and pay my own bills, pay my own rent and manage my own finances,” Schmitz said.
National reports from the University of Chicago and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on life after foster care show that skill deficits and improper societal acclimation of foster kids lead to wide gaps in employment and a tendency toward criminal activity after emancipation.
“In foster care, we have some real issues with what happens after you age out of the system,” Adams County commissioner Chez Tedesco said. “Unfortunately, a lot of them end up incarcerated or on county services for a very long time after they leave.”
A study of 926 youths who aged out of foster care between 1999 and 2004 found that more than one-third of them were arrested for a felony or misdemeanor crime within three years of leaving foster care, and a 2010 study found that nearly 60 percent of young men who had been in foster care had been convicted of a crime, compared with 10 percent of those who had never been in foster care.
Another study by the Covenant House Institute said at least 25 percent of former foster children become homeless within two to four years after aging out of the system. Other sources estimate that number is as high as 45 percent.
“We need to provide them an avenue to be successful,” Tedesco said. “The county doesn’t want to take care of them for the rest of their lives, and they don’t want the county to take care of them for the rest of their lives. They want to learn skills, be useful and create and raise their own families. They’ve got a lot to offer. We just have to give them the resources to achieve what they want.”
Tedesco was born into the Denver foster care system and went from home to home until he was adopted by a Northglenn family at age 5. He said he understands the added challenges of learning to make it on your own when you came into the world alone.
“But I turned it around,” Tedesco said. “After school I went into the military and spent six years as a boiler technician. I turned that into a skill. When I got out I became a boiler operator, then a plant operator and eventually a master mechanic, welder and fabricator for a company that I worked for for 28 years. Then I became a county commissioner.”
Officials hope county workers can pass along useful skills to the young men and women leaving the foster care system.
“We also use the animal shelter to teach them about responsible pet ownership, and we’ve worked with the workforce development center to help get them employed,” Adams said. “Now we’re reaching into more hands-on skills training and we’re seeing great results.”
For the last couple of years Schmitz has been absorbing all that training, figuring out ways to make it on his own, what he might like to do for a career and how to achieve his goals.
“I’m planning to go to Job Corps to learn to be a diesel mechanic, and then I want to get a degree and then hopefully go to Spartan College and work on planes,” Schmitz said. “I’m going to do all of that, and being part of this has been very good at getting me on the right path to get there.”