Madison nonprofit opens home for former foster kids

A long-awaited residential program in north Madison will soon open its doors to young people aging out of foster care.

The house is one of many programs run by the Madison nonprofit Urban Triage.

Youth Housing Program Coordinator Aisha Gray said the program will help meet a gap in services for youth ages 18-21 after they age out of Wisconsin’s foster care system at 18. 

“If they’re getting out of their foster care home, and now they’re 18 and they’re going to be homeless all of a sudden,” Gray said. “That’s an issue.”

Nationally, about 20,000 young people age out of foster care each year, according to the National Foster Youth Institute. Afterwards, many are at risk of homelessness and have trouble finding jobs. 

Gray said the transition makes former foster kids particularly vulnerable. 

“They don’t have the additional family support, sometimes they don’t have close friends,” Gray said. “And sometimes the relationships that they built with foster parents don’t extend beyond the time that they’re in the foster care system.”

She hopes Urban Triage’s new home will help. The program has room for seven former foster kids to live in the house rent-free for up to two years before finding a place of their own. They’ll get help with meals, budgeting and job training.

“This gives them an opportunity to be able to have some stability,” Gray said.

Dane County Human Services helped fund the effort. 

Gray said Dane county social workers have already referred people to live in the house. She expects three rooms to fill in the coming weeks.

“(We) want to be able to give everybody a fair shot,” Gray said. “That’s the reason I’m here.”