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Young adults in foster care look for state help during pandemic

For those in the foster system, hard young lives usually lead to harder adult lives.

INDIANAPOLIS (WTHR) - At just 22 years old, Joshua Christian has already had a challenging road, entering the foster care system when he was two and going in and out of 18 homes.

“It was not easy, it was actually quite tough and many times scary and lonely,” said Christian.

But today, Christian literally defies the odds. He will graduate this year from college, something accomplished by less than four percent of people who age out of foster care.

Hard young lives usually lead to harder adult lives.

“Many of them become homeless," said Christian. "Many of them become involved in the criminal justice system. We already historically have very low rates of employment."

Now he’s asking state leaders for help.

He created a video, sharing voices from the foster system, young adults whose difficulties have been compounded by a pandemic.

“With the COVID-19, it just makes the process 10 times worse,” said Christian. “We’re seeing foster children have to leave dorms, and if you’re a foster kid and you haven’t been adopted, you may not have a place to go.”

He’s hoping for more funding for foster organizations and a moratorium on aging out of the system through the pandemic and 6 months after.

“It’s to really hear the voices of young people,” said Christian.

He plans to send the video to the governor in the coming days.

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