Behind the Mission: October Celebrates the Impact of Many Youth Voices Becoming One

October 13, 2021

The following letter by Tyler Wrenn is a team effort, designed and signed off by teen-agers and young adults in foster care throughout the state. This month is about elevating the voices of youth with lived foster-care experience. Join us to ensure youth have a seat at the table. Visit www.YouthVoiceNation.org to sign the Youth Voice Pledge today and change the way the world sees foster youth!

Who are the young people who exit the foster care system? Do they have knowledge, skills, and abilities to successfully live in and engage in their communities? Why do we care? How can you help? Why is Foster Youth Voice Day significant? These are all great questions, and I will try to answer them because I am a youth who has experienced foster care. We need continued support to become successful adults.

We are 18 to 23 years old who need the same support and resources that all young people need. There are over 2,500 of us across the state of Florida. We need financial assistance, life skills, housing, education and employment. But our journey to adulthood can be a steeper climb because we do not have parents to help us along the way. We need caring professionals, supportive adults and positive role models to guide and equip us with the tools needed to take advantage of opportunities and help us thrive.

We all live in community. And caring about community means caring about all people. Without the needed support, many of us who have a steeper climb will find ourselves more vulnerable to experience unemployment, homelessness, and incarceration. And there is a real societal cost to our missteps and failure. It is estimated that for every youth who leaves foster care, taxpayers will spend $300,000 each year for our inability to successfully contribute to communities. Young people with lived experience in foster care do want to be successful—so much so that we have created local youth councils to advocate for changes in the child welfare system, especially for our brothers and sisters who come behind us.

My name is Tyler Wrenn. I am one of the youth leaders for our local council, Circuit 19 Emerging Leaders on the Treasure Coast, supported by the lead child welfare agency Communities Connected for Kids. We are focused on improving homes for teenagers in the system of care, teenagers having a voice/choice in their placement, educational advocacy and support for children in care and support for foster and adoptive families. We are part of the One Voice IMPAACT (OVI) statewide network of youth councils supported by Selfless Love Foundation and Florida Coalition for Children.