For Youth

If you are a teen growing up in kinship care, foster care, or a group home, there are a lot of things you want to know before you turn 18. Like how to connect with teens that have made it through foster care, how you can pay for education after high school and how to live in Milwaukee independently? See our resources below and our Frequently Asked Questions page.

Connect with foster youth all over America:

• FYI3.com - FYI 3 is foster youth involved, informed and independent. It is a comprehensive, youth-oriented site with information, advice, interactive features and a useful glossary of foster care terms.
• Foster Club - this website is the home of the Foster Club All-Stars, surveys, blogs, everything about aging out of foster care. You can find articles, contests, and message boards for youth.
• Orphan.org  - stories, poetry, photographs and other writings by Orphan Foundation of America Scholarship recipients. Their goal is to help orphans and foster youth as they transition from foster care to young adulthood, with particular emphasis on helping these young men and women attend college or vocational school.
• Youth Communication - A resource for Youth - in care and after care. Each issue covers issues that youth in care deal with all the time like mental health, money woes, jobs, and navigating the foster care system.
• The Mockingbird Society is dedicated to improving the safety, quality of life and future of the children and adolescents living in the foster care/group home system nationwide. They publish the newspaper The Mockingbird Times, which is written by youth in care.
• National Foster Youth Advisory Council (NFYAC) is a diverse national group of current and former foster youth and adult supporters from several states who have had direct experience with the child welfare systems. The council's purpose is to provide a voice for and make a difference in the lives of youth currently in care and support their successful transitions into adulthood.
• Thirteen.org - Using aging out to help foster children in the community. The three areas that Thirteen focuses on, for youth leaving care, are education, employment and connection to caring adults.

Foster youth doing for themselves – Advocacy:

• California Youth Connection - The California Youth Connection is a statewide organization by and for youth in foster care who are committed to creating positive change in foster care.
• fyi3.com - A Bill of Rights for foster youth from the Foster Club.

Alumni of foster care (youth who have aged out of foster care)

• Alumni of Foster Care - Casey is proud to partner with alumni in our work to improve the foster care system. We also encourage you to connect with each other to share your stories and ideas.
• Foster Club - Learn about the experiences of famous people who were foster youth.
• Youth Communication - A resource for Youth in care and after care.

Milwaukee County Resources

• Lad Lake - has the primary contract with the Bureau of Milwaukee Child Welfare to provide independent living services to teens who will be aging out of foster care in Milwaukee County.  As part of this contract, Lad Lake accepts and evaluates applications for Education and Training Voucher (ETV) scholarship funds. 
• Foster Youth Independent Center of Milwaukee (FYI Center)  - The FYI Center is dedicated to providing emancipated youth, youth aging out of the foster care system and their respective families with programs and services that help them transition from custodial care to living independently in their communities.