Foster children change homes an average of four to six times every two years, and oftentimes move with nothing but a trash bag of clothes and hope for care, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
A Buda nonprofit CEO and mother, Susan Ramirez, started Austin Angels with the hope of changing local lives. Now, Austin Angels is a national organization serving 21 chapters around the country while still calling Hays County home.
ustin Angels matches volunteers, whether they be an individual or a group, with a foster family in an effort to provide support to both the child and the foster family. Ramirez said children move foster homes so frequently because 60% of foster families are often overwhelmed and decide to stop fostering within two years.
The lack of support and a steady home can be seen in the foster care statistics Ramirez is fighting. Kinship House is an Oregon-based support system for foster children and provides data about foster children after they have aged-out of care.
One in five U.S. foster children who reach the age of 18 and have aged out of their state’s care end up homeless within a year, and less than 3% of them will earn a college degree. More than 30% are arrested some time during their life, all according to Kinship House’s research.