Brooklyn Foster Kids Ask Mayor For A 'Fair Shot' In City Budget

DOWNTOWN, BROOKLYN — When 23-year-old Dylan Tatom entered the foster care system in New York City as a teenager, she soon found herself in nine different foster homes in just seven years.

The idea of graduating from high school, let alone keeping up with her studies, started to seem like it was a "far-fetched dream" she couldn't achieve, Tatom said. As she fell behind, Tatom was put on a list of students who weren't going to graduate in time.

That is, until she was matched with a one-on-one coach through nonprofit HeartShare St. Vincent's American Dream Program.

"I was given access to a coach whose primary focus was strengthening my support system," Tatom told the crowd at a Thursday morning rally. "Currently, I attend John Jay College of Criminal Justice and have the goal of becoming an attorney — this is a dream that is no longer far-fetched.

Tatom was one of several former foster children who shared their stories to a crowd gathered outside Brooklyn Borough Hall to demand that the city put $50 million in its upcoming 2020 budget to support the 4,000 middle-and-high-school aged children in the foster care system, including the 600 to 700 that age out each year.

The rally, led by a coalition called Fair Futures New York, called on Mayor Bill de Blasio to use the $50 million to ensure every foster child has access to a one-on-one coach from middle school until they are 26 years old.

Advocates said the coaching has been proven to reverse the statistics that surround New York City foster children. Now, only 22 percent will graduate high school by 21, 12 percent will higher education and only 3 percent will graduate from a four-year college.

With the coaching programs used by HeartShare and other foster agencies, 90 percent will get their high school diploma by 21. Each person that shared their story Thursday explained how the program helped them not only get into, but be successful in college.

"That should show you what support does — it gives us the opportunity to turn a negative situation into something positive that not only helps ourselves but changes the world around us," said Melody Ceneno, a former foster child who started Foster Care Unplugged. "$50 million is nothing in comparison to what the evidence shows."

Ceneno, who entered foster care when she was 3 years old, explained that foster youth are in "survival mode" until they age out of the system, often leaving them to deal with the residual effects only when they turn 21 years old.

In Brooklyn, advocates said, Brownsville, East New York, East Flatbush, and Bedford Stuyvesant are among the city's neighborhoods with the most foster care placements. The majority of those foster youth in Brooklyn come from Black and Latino communities.

Activists focused on the argument that the funding is not only the "morally right thing to do" but also a smart investment for the city. In other words, children who were in foster care can give more back to the community when they are successful and often choose service jobs because of their experiences growing up, advocates said.

Former foster youth sharing their stories included Danny Dontiea Washington, who said his coach gave him the confidence to turn a bullying and harassment situation at his school SUNY Plattsburg into an opportunity for activism. Washington helped stage a sit-in that led to a change in the code of student conduct.

Another student, Crystal Montgomery, shared her story of spending eight years in the foster care system only to work four part-time jobs and become temporarily homeless once she got into college. Now, with the help of her support system, Montgomery will graduate next Wednesday from Columbia University' s School of Social Work, she said.

"This is not a journey I could not have done by myself," she said.

The advocates and foster youth were joined Thursday by several politicians, including Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, Assembly Member Jo Anne Simon and Public Advocate Jumaane Williams. All three contended that the "abysmal statistics" are easily fixable with the coalition's proposal.

"As a city we are failing our kids and our children," Williams said. "It's not a question of if it will work, it's a question of if we fund it things will change."