Together We Can Foundation

The Together We Can Foundation
Terry S. Jenkins, Ph.D
President

Did you know that more than half the children in our nation’s foster care system will drop out of school before completing their high school education? Within four years of leaving foster care, national statistics tell us that 25 percent will become homeless and more than 80 percent will not be able to support themselves.

A new nonprofit organization in Virginia Beach has been developed to meet the needs of our children in the foster care system. The Together We Can Foundation, incorporated in Virginia about a year ago, has a specific mission – to help foster care children and youth to succeed academically and to develop the independent living skills they will need as they transition into adulthood. At any given time, there are more than 275 children in the Virginia Beach foster care system. They range in age from infancy to 21 and live in foster homes throughout our community.

Children and youth in the foster care system face enormous challenges. As victims of abuse and/or neglect from their biological families, children are placed into foster homes by the Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court. The Department of Human Services has responsibility to provide oversight services for these children while they are in foster care. Depending upon the family’s situation, some children will be able to return home while others will remain in the system waiting for adoption. Those who cannot return home and who are not adopted remain in the foster care system until they become adults.

Unfortunately youth in the foster care system often do not fare well. When they are placed in a foster care home, this may require transfer to a new school and separation from their brothers and sisters. This major life change is very difficult for a young person to manage while trying to adjust to living with a new family. It is not surprising that many do not do well academically.

The Together We Can Foundation wants to help change these negative outcomes for Virginia Beach youth and is interested in partnering with the Virginia Beach school system. What can we do?

•	Recruit mentors to work with foster care children. Mentors can be tutors to prevent children from losing academic ground while they are in the foster care system. Mentors can also be a source of guidance and support to youth struggling to regain normalcy in their lives.
•	Meet the needs of children who need special assistance from their teachers and guidance counselors as they cope with the many stresses in their lives.
•	Encourage foster care kids to remain strong and resilient despite their current challenges. We need to help them imagine a better future and make sure they pursue higher education or vocational training. Financial assistance is available from multiple sources to help them with higher education costs.
•	Help with housing options they may need after completing their high school education. Although funds are limited, the Together We Can Foundation is working to find ways to help prevent homelessness.

But mostly what we can do is help them realize that they can succeed! The Foundation Board of Directors is available to provide presentations to community groups about the foster care system and how we can help these children lead successful, and, ultimately, independent lives. For further information about the Together We Can Foundation, call Dr. Terry Jenkins at 301-2382 and visit our website at www.twcfoundation.org.

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Thank you to Terry Jenkins, president of the Together We Can Foundatio, for submitting this article. We hope you found it not only interesting but heartening.

Jenkins is the former director of the Department of Human Services for the city of Virginia Beach, a position she held for four years until her retirement in 2008. She was originally hired by the city in 1977 to supervise and implement a three-year continuing education grant designed to improve the gerontological skills of professionals working in human services, acute health care, and long term care. The position was made permanent at the end of the grant and she stayed on in that position until1985, when she was appointed to the position of supervisor for Older Adult Services. In1988 she was named Director of Mental Health Services and nine years later (1997), she was appointed director of the Community Services Board, a position she held until 2004 when all of the city’s human services programs were consolidated and she was named director of the new Department of Human Services.

Jenkins holds a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from Radford University, an MS in gerontology from Virginia Commonwealth University, a Master’s degree in public administration from Old Dominion University, and a Ph.D. in Psychology from Virginia Commonwealth University.