Ohio mulling extending foster child maximum age to 21

When Tasha Jones turned 18, she didn’t get a birthday party. She got her emancipation papers and a slap of reality.

She had just aged out of foster care after being shuttled through 12 different homes.

“I wasn’t listened to. I was ignored, and then I guess you could say at the end – I was abandoned,” said Jones, who is now 19. “If it wasn’t for the A Place 4 Me program, I would still be homeless.”

A Place 4 Me is community initiative in Cuyahoga County that provides housing for aged-out foster children.

Pat Sciaretta, director of social services at the Rescue Mission of the Mahoning Valley, has seen the same thing.

“The foster parent has told them they’re 18 now, and they need to get out. And they became homeless,” Sciaretta said. “They basically go from friend’s house to friend’s house and stay there for a while, until they’re asked to leave. We’re basically the last resort for them here at the mission.”

Both programs may see fewer aged-out foster youths coming to their doors if a bill that passed the Ohio House makes it to the governor’s desk.

House Bill 50 extends foster care to age 21. Twenty states already have done this. Ohio representatives passed the bill May 8 with a vote of 28-3. The measure is now before the Senate.

This is a good idea, said Rachel Ketterman, children services administrator at Columbiana County Department of Job and Family Services.

“I don’t think any kid is ready for the real world at 18” Ketterman said. “Financial assistance will be needed if it’s extended.”

Rep. Dorothy Pelanda, R-Marysville, a primary sponsor of the bill, estimates

“Within 10 years, the state will benefit $1.8 million for every dollar spent.” Read why, as well as one woman's opinion of trying to reunite children with their parents after she was shuttled to 36 foster families, in Thursday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.