zlacker

Just to play devils advocate…

Foster children are not a protected class under the law.

Perhaps foster kids could or even should be a protected class, however unlike most protected classes that have faced historical systematic discrimination codified in law, the general hardships of foster children are not based in unjust laws.

I have worked in Dependency law (ie with children that have been abused, abandoned and neglected) which deals a lot with foster kids.

I favor programs that provide funding for foster kids like this and provide assistance when they “age out” of care, but it is a broad brushstroke and doesn’t take into consideration individual situations as you suggest. In other words foster children are not all alike nor are their situations. Some live in group homes and they are just a number or a check for foster parents, some live in loving and supportive homes, even sometimes in the homes of relatives when parental rights were lost but they are still considered foster children. Some become foster kids at 17 and others are born into it. There is everything in between.

It is about the equivalent in terms of diversity of situations as being a minority/protected class that has historically been discriminated against.

>>throwa+(OP)
Oh no! Some young adults might have an easier time attending college even when their lives weren't as shitty as others.

Squint and we might start looking like college tuitions in Europe.

>>ttfkam+82
You missed the part where I say I support the program and programs like this for foster kids that age out, I just don’t agree that the program is narrowly tailored to individual situations.

Trust me here in Florida there are many parents who put their kids in foster care at 17 so they qualify for governmental housing allowances.

I’m all for free college tuition, for all. I want an educated society, I want better paying jobs resulting in higher taxes, and I don’t want government guaranteed loans resulting in unaffordable tuition and life long debt.

I don’t think your comment adds much.

>>throwa+(OP)
> Foster children are not a protected class under the law.

It seems like California is leaving themselves open to a 14th Amendment Equal Protection violation claim, doesn't it?

>>ttfkam+82
> SOME young adults might have an easier time attending college even when their lives weren't as shitty as others.

Seems like the opposite of universally accessible higher education regardless of background.

>>throwa+(OP)
There's another unique aspect to this particular case--if the children "aged out" without being adopted, then they don't have functioning parents to pay for the massive costs of college, which is what the current financial aid and pricing model relies on. Even if the kids had a good childhood, they aren't going to have the financial resources to pay for college themselves.

And even if they have an almost adopted type of situation with their final foster parents, those parents still shouldn't have to pay all the college costs. They may not have even had the children placed with them long enough to save for that.

>>ttfkam+82
No secret that society is a metaphorical group of crabs in a bucket at times:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crab_mentality

>>morphe+87
That’s just it, some foster parents might actually be very wealthy, some might have had the children all their lives, some nearly destitute and use foster care as a paycheck, and some kids might have gone into foster care a few months before graduating high school and aging out. This was my entire point in response to the parent comment, I like the program, just want to highlight that foster care isn’t as much of a individualize circumstance as they may believe, it’s just as diverse a experience as growing up a minority.

I mentioned in another reply, in Florida we have programs that offer financial assistance to kids that age out and continue their education. I support the programs, but there are things that should be acknowledged like it resulting in foster kids not getting adopted that otherwise would as financial strategy, or kids going into foster care right before aging out to qualify for the program.