Foster Youth Need Stimulus Payments Too

“It’s not controversial. Give young people the cash and trust them to make the decisions they need to make for their lives and their priorities. That’s my message,” said Aysha Schomburg, the Biden Administration’s top child welfare official during a town hall hosted by the national nonprofit Think of Us last week. Schomburg was responding to questions about the slow pace many states are taking to distribute $400 million in federal funds to foster youth. Those funds, allocated through the Consolidated Appropriations Act, are directed toward COVID relief for older and former foster youth, a population pushed even closer to the financial edge by the pandemic.

Schomburg’s message of urgency is the same one members of Fostering Advocates Arizona (FAAZ), carried to the Department of Child Safety when they met with Director Mike Faust early last week. FAAZ’s young adult leaders, all with experience living in foster care, delivered recommendations to the agency for distributing close to $12 million in relief funds to current and former foster youth ages 14 through 26. The comprehensive set of recommendations addresses all aspects of implementation and provides early feedback on DCS’s application process for targeted, need based supports. (Apply here!)

FAAZ’s #1 Recommendation:

Provide a one-time $500 stimulus payment to all youth ages 18 through 26 who aged out of foster care!

A one-time, $500 stimulus check for young people who have aged out of care gets cash in the hands of young people quickly and allows them to decide what they need most. Here’s how some FAAZ members would use a $500 stimulus payment.

Watch our video below!

Are you a young person between the ages of 18 and 27 in Arizona with experience in foster care? Tell us what you would do with a $500 stimulus check!

Allies please help spread the word!

Make a Video:
Please take a 5-30 second video to tell people what you would use a $500 COVID relief payment for. Film yourself TikTok style (vertical selfie). When your video is ready, post it on social media, tag Fostering Advocates Arizona with hashtag #fundfosteryouth.

Handles:
Instagram: @fosteringadvocatesarizona
Twitter: @FosteringAdvAZ
Facebook: @fosteringadvocatesarizona

Upload:
Have a Google account? Upload your video here so we can use it to advocate for direct payments.
https://forms.gle/AZeu5LsVeUubnLim6

Video Tips:

• Pick a bright spot and make sure you are facing the light. Outside, in the car, by the window are great; anywhere that has great selfie light!
• Make sure we can hear you. Avoid lawnmowers, buses, barking dogs.
• Short and sweet. One or two sentences might be all you need!