http://www.kansan.com/news/2010/mar/24/stories-system/?news
Stories from the system
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Matt's story
Matt Hudson never had much consistency in his life. For most of his childhood, he lived in Maine with his parents. But when his parents got divorced, Matt and his father began bouncing around the map: from Oklahoma to Iowa and Louisiana, finally settling in Humboldt.
Contributed Photo
Matt Hudson, who graduated from the University in 2009, grew up in Maine. But after his parents' divorce he moved between Oklahoma, Iowa, Louisiana and Kansas. He entered the foster system when he was 14 and moved from Humboldt to Pittsburg, and eventually back to Humboldt.
A few years later, at the age of 14, Matt went into foster care because of a physically abusive relationship with his father. He stayed in a few temporary homes in different parts of Kansas. Just before he was to begin his freshman year of high school, Matt was placed with a long-term foster family in Pittsburg. But after some time there, Matt realized he wanted to return to Humboldt.
With the help of his caseworker, Matt was able to move to a foster family in Humboldt the summer before his sophomore year. However, after only a few months Matt found he was incompatible with the family and again began looking for another home.
He asked a friend whose parents had a foster child license if they would let him join their home. Seeing the chance to help a friend, the family took him in.
It was during his time at Humboldt High School that Matt really began to get involved with his own education, taking part in forensics and debate, scholar’s bowl and journalism activities.
He also began advocating on behalf of other foster children. He joined the Kansas Youth Advisory Council, which advocates on a number of foster care-related issues.
Matt eventually became president of the group, and its longest acting member ever. He helped improve the state’s process of sibling visitations, caseworker meetings and transferring high school credits.
Matt said he decided to attend the University because he had a lot of friends who were going there and he used a tuition waiver from the Foster Child Education Assistance program to afford it. He is now studying law at Washburn University in Topeka.
Christie's story
Christie Jones went into foster care in the ninth grade because of her mother’s neglect and drug abuse. For her first permanent placement in the foster care system, Christie joined a family in Lawrence that also cared for another foster child as well as a biological child with special needs.
“The problem was I was coming into an already chaotic household,” Christie said. “It was definitely a better alternative than where I had come from, but I knew I deserved better than that.”
So, when she turned 16, Christie asked one of her good friends if she could join her family in Lenexa.
“I basically just told them I wanted to be happy and said, ‘You guys seem like a pretty good family. Do you think I could come live with you?’”
It was there that Christie first began focusing on her education and looking into some of the programs and scholarships that would be available to her.
“No one in my family had gone to college, so it wasn’t a common discussion growing up,” Christie said. “But this family really encouraged me to pursue my education.”
However, just before her senior year, the family told Christie that they would be moving out of Kansas. Knowing about the tuition waiver and other programs for foster children in Kansas, Christie moved in with her maternal grandmother in De Soto.
By the end of her senior year, Christie had graduated second in her class from De Soto High School, received multiple scholarship offers and been accepted to the University under the tuition waiver program.
“KU was really a place to settle down, maintain relationships and grow as an individual.” Christie said.
— Edited by Katie Blankenau
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