Protecting Youth by Encouraging Independence

An example would be where a 14-year- old child currently has living accommodations via the foster care system, but when the child ages out, the child could be homeless if preparation is not made in advance. Making a life plan is virtually impossible for almost any teenager, but working with an Angel, the child can learn how to make a plan, ready to enact, for when they age out of the system.

Age-Out Angels will recruit an army of volunteers, properly vetted and trained, to:

1. Engage current and future age-outs on a one-to-one basis

2. Guide them as mentor and friend toward realizing their potential as productive members of society

Age-Out Angels is designed to link youth in the foster care system to one of our volunteer Angels as early as age 14. This will enable both the Angel and the youth to establish a relationship, foster trust, and prepare for life after foster care.

Once that link has been established, the volunteer Angel will conduct needs-assessment based on our 9 Success Diagnostics, and then assist the youth to access the specific services that will help them advance toward a positive outcome.

The Angel then continues to work with the emancipated youth to make sure they have food, clothing, and any other of the 9 Success Diagnostics that will keep them stable and on course. For the Angel, the experience is more like a mentor or friend than a parent, because the child will never live with an Angel. If they live with an Angel, they will never learn how to live on their own.

Mentor, friend, call it what you will, there is only one word that covers it all...Angel.