Less than a year into community college, Elizabeth Clews felt like she had reached a breaking point. After five years in the foster care system, the 20-year-old felt like she was completely on her own, balancing a full course load, her 6-month-old son Ezra, and the retail job at Levi’s keeping them both afloat.
“I was so excited when I heard about this bill, because I just knew how much this could have helped me,” said Clews, who, at age 28, is now getting her bachelor’s degree in history at UC Santa Cruz. “I would have already graduated by now, and I would have already started my career. I could have saved a lot of time, a lot of frustration, and a lot of heartache.”
It also happened to Clews. After her mother lost custody when Clews was 15, the teenager attended 15 schools in just three years, running away from many. She struggled. And like many foster kids, it showed. “If you can go to a young person who has lost everything … and , I know this seems insurmountable, but when you get to 18, here’s something that’s possible for you — that gives them agency and control in a world where everything’s been taken from them,” said Ashby.
“These two things really go hand in hand,” said Debbie Raucher, the director of education at John Burton Advocates for Youth, a San Francisco-based nonprofit. “Now, we’re getting into real, significant change.”