There are over 25,000 children in the foster care system in Los Angeles County alone. Many of these children are unable to read or have significant, often undetected reading difficulties. Often the learning and self-management skills that enable an individual to take responsibility for their own learning have not yet been developed. This places these children at even greater risk of experiencing failure.
Frequent moves and time away from school only add to the emotional barriers the children in foster care already experience. Without intervention, many of these children experience increasing challenges both personally and academically. The opportunity to attend college is not even a consideration. Ultimately, career and life goals are neither set nor ever met.
The establishment of a mentor/tutor relationship extends the support needed for these children and adolescents. The relationship provides them the critical component of someone who can assist them in achieving the next step in setting and making their learning goals a reality. A successful mentor/tutor relationship is one that provides the child with time, involvement, and guidance in addition to offering assistance with homework and learning skills.
A research based program is currently under development as well as establishing collaborative relationships with local colleges and universities. A database of mentor/tutors is also developing from these collaborative networks. Our goal is to match youth (ages 10-19) in foster care with local college and university students. Each mentor/tutor will commit to studying with the youth and assisting in homework. They will also participate in mutually agreed upon activities and those in which there are opportunities to establish a mentoring relationship. The schedule is flexible, accommodating individual availability, for an agreed upon time of a minimum of approximately one year.
Letters of Support: