Our view: Program helps foster children toward college

Foster children who dream of going to college should not read the statistics stacked up against them. Their dreams may die in the harsh reality of these numbers. Consider these statistics compiled last year in Washington’s Legislature:

“Only 34 percent of foster students graduate from high school within four years, compared with 70 percent of the general population.

“Only 20 percent of teenagers in foster care enroll in college, compared with 60 percent of the general population.

“Less than 2 percent of former foster children hold bachelor’s degrees, compared with 28 percent of Washington state residents.

“Foster children typically “age out” of the system at 18. Within two years, 27 percent of those men and 10 percent of women will be incarcerated.

Societies are judged on how they treat the least among them, and these stark statistics have not escaped the notice of state educators and leaders. There are innovative programs in place to encourage foster students to dream of college and then get on the practical path toward that dream.

One of these state programs, College Bound Scholarship, targets seventh- and eighth-grade students who pledge to keep up their grades and avoid trouble with the law. If they keep the pledge, they are eligible for help with tuition, fees and books when college rolls around.

The state-funded College Bound Scholarship program is based on parents’ income, but foster children in seventh or eighth grade get an automatic in, regardless of the income of their biological or foster parents. Information about the program has gone out in the media and through state Web sites. Schools know about it, for sure. And the state’s foster care system has staffers devoted to helping foster kids and their families connect with educational resources.

But for the word to really spread, others need to join in this cause and get the information to foster families throughout Eastern Washington. Do your children go to middle school with adolescents in foster care? Do you live in the same neighborhood or go to church or play on sports teams with foster families?

Spread the message that middle-school foster kids can beat the odds. They can get good grades, stay out of trouble, graduate from high school on time, enroll in college and stay there. Spread the message that Washington’s 7,000 foster care children are not our throwaways, but our great hope for a different future.