Connections Homes to provide mentors for DFW youth aging out of foster care

More Texas youth aging out of the foster care system may receive more support with the help of a new mentorship program coming to the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

Connections Homes, a faith-based organization located in Atlanta, is expanding its services to provide mentors to youth in their late teens and early 20s, who are aging out of the system.

Pam Parish, founder and CEO, created the organization after her family adopted seven children.

“We recognized what was happening with these young adults who were aging out,” Parish said.

According to The Anne E. Casey Foundation, 16% of children in Texas’ foster care system were 18 or older in 2018. The foundation stated only 73% of those who were in the foster care system in Texas received a high school diploma or GED by the age of 21 compared to 90% of the state’s general population.

Connections Homes is currently looking for partners and mentor families in Tarrant County to help provide support.

Why do youth need mentors?

Connections Homes chose to expand to the DFW area because of having a relationship with Buckner International and other organizations. It also recognized the risks a young adult may have when navigating a major metropolitan area by themselves, Parish said.

According to the organization, 1,200 youth age out of the foster care system in Texas each year. One in four foster children will experience homelessness within four years of aging out of the system on average, the National Foster Youth Institute stated.

Parish said youth are also at risk for sex trafficking and “survival crimes.” The organization hopes to lower these risks for youth through its mentor program.

Many of Connections Homes’ mentors help youth similar in the way parents teach their own child on various subjects.

“These kids need that too,” Parish said.

A mentor may explain how to get a driver’s license, teach how to cook, or give advice on finding a job.

“We believe there are many families out there willing to share their lives in big and small ways through sharing a meal, taking a phone call or celebrating a birthday with these kids who just need someone to show interest in them,” Janna Gardner, the executive director of Connections Homes Texas, said in a statement.

Those interested in becoming a mentor or partner for Connections Homes, can visit the organization’s website: connectionshomes.org/texas/.