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Life after foster care can be harsh
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Lova recalls her childhood
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Program makes transition to adulthood easier
December 15, 1998
Web posted at: 12:34 p.m. EST (1734 GMT)
LOS ANGELES (CNN) -- Orphaned as a little girl, Maria Lova already was at a disadvantage as her young life kept spiraling downhill. The former foster child, now 22, could have become a statistic. But as Lova prepares for the holidays -- and the rest of her life -- a program to help young adults with no families make the transition to independence seems to be working.
Lova survived rape, sexual molestation and the murder of her older brother -- all before her 18th birthday, the age when foster care must end and thousands of young people are forced to make a life of their own, whether or not they are ready for it.
In Los Angeles County alone, the Department of Children and Family Services found 45 percent of the young adults who leave group or foster homes each year wind up homeless.
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Hines describes some of the ways the
Penny Lane program helps young peopleRELATED AUDIO|
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For some of them the solution is Penny Lane, a government-funded program in Los Angeles County that provides transitional housing and job training to the former wards of the court.
Lova is among about 20 young people who live in two converted apartment buildings in suburban Los Angeles where they can phase themselves into adulthood, says Ingrid Hines of the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Without the program, Lova says the abuse she suffered earlier in her life might have continued.
Instead, she's learning to save money and live on a budget. She's studying cosmetology and has landed a job at Universal Studios.
"Once they get a job," says Hines, "we ask them to pay $200 a month." The money is kept in a separate account "so that when it's time for them to move on, we have some money to help them get an apartment."
But for Lova, the experience has provided something that money can't buy -- hope. "I'm going to buy a Christmas tree and some decorations and have myself a merry little white Christmas," she says.
Correspondent Jennifer Auther contributed to this report.