FOSTERING HIS TRANSITION
In a decade of navigating San Jose through group homes, foster homes and at times, homelessness, Alex Bates focused much of his attention and energy to just making it to the next day, week, and month.
It’s small wonder that Alex went into survival mode — learning to adapt on the fly and attaining skills that helped him adjust to living on his own, and complete high school amid circumstances most of his classmates could never understand.
But then Alex turned 18, and the foster system that at times comprised his only semblance of structure began slipping from his reach.
So what’s next? It’s a question pushed on thousands of young adults like Alex who are abruptly left to figure out adulthood with few or no reliable examples to follow.
“Growing up, I never thought about what I wanted to be,” said Alex, now 20. “Other kids, they already knew. But I always had to worry about where I was going to stay at, going from group home to group home, even when I was little.”
Long overdue for a break, Alex finally got one when his social worker referred him to First Place for Youth, an Oakland-based nonprofit that serves young people aging out of foster supervision and seeks to give them a safety net as they transition into adulthood.
“We’re working to get young people to a point where they can go out in the world on their own,” said Sheigla Averill, the organization’s development director.
Alex recognizes, and appreciates, the ground he has to make up. “I’ve had to grow up really quick. I’ve been having to pay bills, and I’m still trying to get a car,” he said. “I was homeless when they accepted me, and it changed my life. They’ve helped get me back on my feet, back in school. I have freedom.”