After living in foster care for six years, 19-year-old Kaitlin Jackson has begun her journey to help other youth who are in the same system.

“50 percent of foster care youth end up homeless, or in jail. 70 percent of the women who age-out of the system end up pregnant and less than one percent go to college and graduate. It’s heartbreaking for me,” said Jackson. “Just because they are in foster care doesn’t mean they can’t overcome their situation and be successful.”

Jackson is in the one-percent category of those who “attend college” and will start next fall at the University of Montana to study either nursing or social work. Either way, she plans on getting certified to become a foster parent.

“Oftentimes, nobody wants to take in teenagers who are in the foster system. People want the younger kids which is sad and my goal will be to take in the kids who don’t have placements,” she said.

Jackson has been on the Montana Youth Advisory Board through the Chafee Program for a year and was recognized at the Prevent Child Abuse and Neglect Conference in Missoula on April 23. Along with other individuals who were honored for their efforts to support Montana children and families, she was given the “Youth Achievement of the Year” award. An award for “foster or adoptive youth who exhibit a drive to be successful and makes positive changes in their life.”

As vice-president of the board, Jackson is working on several issues older foster care youth face. One big problem is when they “age-out” of the system and they lose their support. “I have a friend who is graduating from high school and she has no idea what she’s going to do. She can’t live at the group home anymore and has no place to go,” she said. “I’m lucky, I have my grandparents and am living with them right now.”

Her grandparents are Duane and Donna Simons in St. Regis who she has lived with off and on for the past six years. She has been in several group homes and with foster care parents over those same years and has attended seven high schools. Last year she graduated from Frenchtown after spending part of her senior year at Big Sky in Missoula. Attending several schools is fairly common for foster care youth.

Her problems began after her parents divorced and she went to live with her dad. Dealing with depression and other issues, she attempted suicide and her father refused to get her help. That’s when Child Protective Services stepped in and removed her from her home due to “medical neglect”. She was only supposed to be gone for six months but it turned into six years.

While in the system, she saw kids who were over medicated and said doctors have a tendency to prescribe medication rather than look at why the kids are acting out, often increasing the dosage if they continue to act out. This happened to her when she was given 900 milligrams of a medication when her body weight and height should have topped out at 800 milligrams, “I was a walking zombie,” she said.

Sibling placement is another issue which is a problem because oftentimes they are separated and not allowed to communicate with each other she stated. It’s important to try and keep them together or at least keep them in contact with one another. Jackson has two brothers, ages 10 and 18 who were not placed in foster care and still live with her dad. She doesn’t have much contact with her older brother but has maintained a close relationship with her younger sibling.

“There’s really no one watching out for them, especially as they get older. They don’t really want to tell their friends they are in foster care especially in high school because it’s a brutal environment. So they don’t have any real connections and feel alone. People didn’t know I was in foster care until I started to speak out about it,” she said. Being on the Youth Advisory Board gave her an instant connection to the other kids in the system, “we were close within a few hours of meeting each other. It was nice to be around other kids who have had similar experiences.”

Other problems foster youth face are things like trying to take drivers education in order to get a license. Currently, they need approval from their social workers and though they can receive a stipend to pay for driver’s education the process can be difficult and expensive. Jackson contacted the Oregon Chafee Program to find out about their program to see if they could implement a better system here in Montana.

Another pilot program she is participating in is help getting into college. The Chafee Program is using grant funds to help her register for school, as well as help with housing expenses. They chose her to participate because they feel she has a good chance of succeeding.

“I really appreciate the help I’ve gotten from my Chafee councilor, Andrea Graham,” she stated. As well as the support she has received from both sets of grandparents, who live in St. Regis and Alex and Ardy Jackson who live in Stevensville. Though her grandfather, Alex, passed away a few years ago, she was very close to him.

“I don’t know where I would be without them. They cry with me, they laugh with me. They are the ones I have to thank because they are there for me,” she said.

The Montana Chafee Foster Care Independence Program is a part of the Child and Family Services Division of the Department of Public Health and Human Services. The services offered through the program are intended to help Montana foster youth get the life skills they need to make a successful transition into adulthood.

To be eligible for this program, youth must be between the ages of 14 and 21, currently in foster care, are likely to “age-out” of the system, has aged out or has achieved guardianship or adoption after the age of 16. The program offers a wide-variety of services including life skills training; transitional living plans; assistance with continuing education; and stipends for help pay for transitional living costs.