Hope & Courage

Two women helping foster teens navigate ‘confusing’ system
By Jenifer Gee Journal Staff Writer

Two weeks after Lee Anna Miller turned 18, she was living in a tent. Today, she’s proud to be living in a studio apartment in Loomis and working at a job she loves. Miller, now 24, is a youth coordinator for Whole Person Learning, which contracts with Placer County’s Adult System of Care.  “I still feel lucky to come to work,” Miller said of the job she’s held since October 2007.

 
She helps transition age youth, which includes ages 14 to 24. They could be struggling to navigate the foster system, searching for a job, trying to fill out college applications or even looking for something as simple as needing a place to wash their clothes.

Miller said her service is a way to keep teens out of the county’s system and a way for them to learn from “someone who’s been there done that.”  “I’m basically just back-up,” Miller said. “I walk behind them. I want them to do it on their own.”
 

Miller and Tammy Cherry, youth coordinator for United Advocates, which contracts with the county’s Children System of Care, are working together to help improve services for transition-age youth. Their mission as part of a youth advisory group is to help young teens and adults make the move into adulthood thorough employment, education and more.

“So many times the youth in the system tend to be very helpless in advocating for themselves,” Cherry said. Both Cherry, 22, and Miller grew up in the foster care system.  Cherry’s experience was varied. At one point a staff member screamed in her face.  It was at that point she located a phone number for an ombudsman for the system, reported the incident and later that staffer was fired.

Cherry’s attitude to take matters into her own hands pushed her to become self-sufficient by the time she exited the foster care system. Despite a few setbacks as a young adult, Cherry persevered, was hired at her current job and now lives with her husband and 1-year-old daughter.

Cherry and Miller are leading a Youth Transition Action Team. The team meets once a month and is open to any youth who has ideas about how to improve services available to them. 

“The process can be very confusing,” Cherry said. “By meeting with them, we can show them what the process looks like and how they can get their voice heard.”  Currently the group, which usually has about 10 to 20 attendees at each meeting, is planning a battle of the bands night for early next year.

The youth have divided themselves into committees and are taking on tasks such as advertising and publicity, talking to vendors, finding sponsorships and more. The event will include information booths were teens can learn about different resources that can help them. Cherry and Miller said they hope to recruit professionals to help guide the teens along the process.

Ultimately, Cherry and Miller said they want to see a center geared toward transition-age youth built in the county.  The center would be a hub for free activities and where teens could find the help they need.

“We want a youth center designed by youth for youth,” Cherry said. The Journal's Jenifer Gee can be reached at jeniferg@goldcountrymedia.com  or post a comment.

To learn more about a youth meeting that helps transition-age teens navigate the county systems, or to attend a meeting, call Tammy Cherry at (530) 886-2867 or e-mail tcherry@placer.ca.gov.