Foster care issues voiced

With tears streaming down his face, former Massachusetts foster youth Mark Burton recited a litany of neglect, abuse and displacement he suffered as a foster child to legislators at a State House meeting yesterday.

The event focused on the need to create permanent relationships for foster children, and to encourage public-private collaborations to achieve educational and job opportunities for youths.

The meeting, featuring addresses by former foster children, parents and Massachusetts government officials, was hosted by Casey Family Services, a national family outreach and assistance organization, which provides tuition assistance, counseling and life-skills training to foster children.

Detailing his experiences of frequently bouncing from family to family, Burton praised the support of Casey Family Services for helping him overcome his personal traumas and losses.

Burton entreated the audience to reach out to struggling young people.

‘Everyone in this room is here because they care,’ he said. ‘This is something that every one of you can do something to change. All you have to do is try.’

Alan Casad, Casey’s regional director, described the worsening plight of teenagers in Massachusetts and nationwide. He highlighted the difficulties of permanently placing foster children. They often end up lost in the bureaucracy of social services, he said.

Without consistent and positive relationships with adults and mentors, he said, children often repeatedly end up in trouble.

Emphasizing the challenges of preparing young people for independence, Casad noted that of the 2,781 Massachusetts youths in foster care, 40 percent will not complete high school, 30 percent of boys will end up incarcerated and 50 percent of girls will have children out of wedlock.

For those struggling through foster care, the future often holds only more emotional strife and economic adversity amounting in ‘costs of millions for the state of Massachusetts and an incalculable cost of human life,’ Casad said.

Massachusetts Senator Susan Tucker (D-Lawrence) encouraged measures to expand and develop the capacity for state social services to recruit long-term stable families.

With the state’s social services at the mercy of massive budget cuts, each speaker reiterated the need for public involvement and contributions from the community.

Deputy Commissioner of the Department of Social Services Susan Getman urged people to take action.

‘You can think of it like stone soup, started by a single stone and ending in a stew that can feed a village,’ she said. ‘The solution to this problem lies in people stepping up and putting their dollar on the table.’