A NEED TO HELP The recent economic crisis has left many people financial insecure and without jobs. Individual states are facing extremely terrible deficits and have started to develop budget solutions. California is no exception with its $25 billion-plus deficit. California may also have one of the most difficult deficits to start mending. Newly elected California Governor Jerry Brown has recently proposed a budget proposal that would cut funding to welfare and healthcare. Needless to say these cuts would make life much more difficult for groups of citizens that are already in financially unstable conditions. One of these often forgotten groups is foster care children. Foster care children are fully dependent on the state for many different kinds of support, including financial. This is one of the groups that would seriously feel the implications of California budget cuts. These children are extremely vulnerable due to their lack of experience and voice in the political system. Therefore, it is the responsibility for non-profits like Monit Land Company Foundation and Olive Crest to assist these disadvantaged youth. Within this group of foster care youth is a subgroup that has always been in an even more dramatically unfortunate situation. This group consists of youth aged 18-21 who faces the hardships of aging out of the foster care system. These budget cuts would put these youth at an even greater disadvantage. The foster care system is meant to be a temporary solution for children; however, it is not possible for the state to secure a permanent home or support system for all 500,000 children that are in the foster care system nationally. In 2007, 29,000 of these youth aged out of the system, and had spent an average of five years in the foster care system (Starks). Even though many foster children are eventually placed, these about 29,000 emancipated foster
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