Each year, a group of young people who have been in foster care comes to Tallahassee to lobby during the legislative session. They’re called Florida Youth SHINE, they’ve been around since 2005, and they’re still helping to reform Florida’s foster care system.
There are about 350 members of Youth SHINE now, in 11 chapters around the state. Roughly 30 of them came to Tallahassee this year, and they visited lawmakers in groups to talk about the two bills they’re backing.
“Right now we lead the charge in keeping siblings together," said Dominique Rosario. "However, there’s really no clear path on how siblings that maybe are not in care or aged out of care can continue their relationships with those that are still within the system.”
Rosario was with the group lobbying Orlando Democratic Rep. Anna Eskamani. One of their bills would allow visitations between youth in state care and their siblings who have left state care. Or the other way around.
“And so what we’re asking for in this bill is just to have a clear pathway for those siblings that aren’t in care, or maybe they are in care and their sibling is not," said Rosario, "to be able to visit with each other, have that relationship and maintain those connections. Because when we sever them, that is so detrimental to the youth’s outcomes.”
Eskamani said she gets it, that she grew even closer to her brother and sister after their mom died when she was 13.
“And so to have that sibling you can talk to…and each other, too," said Eskamani. "That’s why Florida Youth SHINE is so important, to have the connectivity [These are my siblings.] Yeah, I was going to say, I was going to say.”
That was Tee Lamore, saying the members of Youth SHINE are like her brothers and sisters.
Another Youth SHINE member, Skyler Cross, agrees. Besides Youth SHINE, he also has three siblings. He says all four of them went into foster care when he was 12.
“Three of us were in one place, and the other was in a different home, and we all kind of just kept getting separated from there," he said. "It was pretty bad. I mean, once you already lose, like, your parents and your family, and then you start to lose, like, your siblings, it’s just pretty rough.”
The other bill Youth SHINE is backing is a federal housing voucher. Currently, there’s a program that helps former foster youth with rental assistance for up to 3 years. But it’s only available in 11 of Florida’s 100+ housing authorities. This bill would would make it statewide.
According to the National Alliance to End Homelessness, between 31 percent and 46 percent of youth exiting foster care experience homelessness by age 26.
Youth SHINE member Sean Ford is doing all right now. He’s in college and has his own apartment. But he recalls a childhood of homeless shelters and couch surfing.
“It really started to affect how I, like, looked out on the world, because it’s usually, like…as a kid you look forward to things, driving, this and that," said Ford. "But the only thing I could look forward to was, ‘Where am I going to go? What am I going to do? Where am I going to stay? And that’s very mentally taxing for someone that young, ‘cause I’m like…when this is happening, I’m like, 12, 13, 14, 15…”
The Youth SHINE advocates also visited the Florida Senate chamber, where Brandon Harris of the president’s office showed them how to propose a bill, debate a bill and vote on a bill. And then Senate President Ben Albritton stepped onto the dais and took over the presiding. Afterward, he posed for pictures with all of them.
Albritton has been involved with many of the same historical reforms that Youth SHINE has: The option of extending foster care from age 18 to age 21, and the normalcy bill, known as “Let Children Be Children,” which replaced a restrictive system of permissions with a “reasonable prudent parent” standard.
Previously, many rules had prevented children in out-of-home care from leading normal lives and participating in everyday activities with their peers.
In 2014, Albritton sponsored the “Keys to Independence Act,” which paid the costs of driver education, licensure and insurance so that youth in foster care could learn to drive. And in 2019, he sponsored “A Year is a Long Time in the Life of a Child,” a measure designed to reduce the amount of time children spend in foster care.
Albritton says he’s always advocated for kids because they’re the future.
“You know, and when you really step back and you think about kids who may have been through an abusive home life or had some kind of trauma in their life, it is absolutely the role of the state of Florida to step in for those children and try -- best we can -- to help bring healing and to move away from that trauma, to give 'em hope, right?" said Albritton. "That’s it.”
Both the House and Senate will take up the housing voucher bills in committee on Monday. The sibling visitation bills have yet to be agendaed.
