Happy 18th Birthday! Get your ass out of my house — you are aging out. Foster kids kicked out with nothing.

The other day while I was sitting in the therapist’s office, I read a Q&A section where some lady wrote:

“I can’t believe foster kids are kicked out of their foster homes when they turn 18?  How can foster parents do that?  I almost don’t believe it happens.  Aren’t they like their own kids?”

I did not have an opportunity to read the response, because my therapist called me, but I figured I could write a much better response than any other person…so here goes my response:

Dear Non-Believer –

It happens.  It happens to many foster kids.  It happened to me.   After being in foster care for most of my childhood, the day I turned 18, they kicked me out.   My worker came and we sat at the kitchen table.  I had stuff already packed in a backpack.  That was it…one large backpack.  I had stolen a couple towels and a knife from my foster parents, because I knew I had no-where to go and  that I needed the knife for safety and the towels for drying off and keeping warm.  Otherwise, I had some clothes, some trinkets, $63, and a stuffed bear.