By the time Stevie Steele turned 18, they had been kicked out of their family’s home, had bounced in and out of children’s group homes, had dealt with addiction and homelessness, and had no idea what to do next.

Once a child turns 18, the assistance from California’s foster care system changes dramatically for many young people exiting their foster homes.

For those who meet eligibility requirements such as employment or education, there are still some services provided by California, but even those young people often struggle without the guidance of traditional foster care.

It’s sink or swim.

“And of course, we see many, many of them sink,” said Thomas Lee, chief executive officer of First Place for Youth, an Oakland-based nonprofit that provides aged-out foster children with the resources they need to start life as an adult.

“Without First Place, I’d probably still be in the same spot I was,” Steele said.

The organization began in 1997, when Amy Lemley and Deanne Pearn, two graduate students at Berkeley, realized that young people transitioning out of foster care had little in the way of public support.

“They were literally dropped off on a corner or at a homeless shelter with a garbage bag of belongings, and that was it,” said Jayme Catalano, First Place for Youth’s communications director.

First Place began offering these young people financial literacy courses and a bit of money to help them pay rent. They later expanded to cover move-in costs and long-term subsidized housing. And by 2000, the organization had an eight-person staff and a full case-management system to help foster youth finish high school and prepare them for life as adults.

Over the following 25 years, the organization raised millions of dollars and developed a statewide system supporting young people transitioning out of foster care. It has also advocated for legal changes like Assembly Bill 12, which created the extended foster care system that offers continued financial support and housing options until 21, and helped educate the public of the importance of providing support to these young people.

“It’s hard because [when] so many of our young people come to us, they’ve been through, on average, six different homes,” Catalano said. “They have a lot of traumatic experiences and have been without parental guidance. So coming into this program feels like a home to many of them.”

Steele was first kicked out of their family home at 12 years old.

“My mom struggled with alcoholism, and things were really bad,” Steele said. “I never felt stable in my living environment. At 16, I ended up calling Child Protective Services and asking to be placed somewhere. I put myself in the system.”

Placed in a children’s group home, Steele felt like it was a lateral move, at best.

“It was like leaving one traumatic situation and going into another,” they said. “It was made clear: ‘This isn’t your home. This will never be your home. Don’t get comfortable.’”

Three months later, the pandemic hit.

“Any sense of normalcy just got knocked out the window,” Steele said. “We weren’t allowed to go on walks. We weren’t allowed to leave the house.”

So Steele ran away, “just to feel some type of independence.”

After couch-hopping for six months, Steele found a new group home, where they lived until they turned 18.

At that point, they had no idea where to go.

A social worker named Brian Coughlin helped Steele get back on their feet and connected them with First Place for Youth.

“We set up these young people with a place to live,” said Lee, the CEO. “We make sure they have all of the supplies and incidentals they’re going to need to be able to get through each and every day. And then we provide a safety net of support. So as they are going out there testing and trying and learning and developing new skills, if for some reason or another, whether there’s a pitfall or a setback, we’re there to catch them. And that gives them every opportunity to be as bold and brave as they want to be to be able to achieve their goals.”

First Place helped Steele find a home and get enrolled in classes at Los Medanos College, where they are now studying to get a master’s degree in social work.

They’re most grateful for the emotional support and guidance of First Place for Youth mentors.

“Whether it be taking me to the DMV to do my writing test or sitting and helping me do homework if I needed it, I’m always texting them asking them a million questions,” Steele said. “I’ve found a lot of peace now.”

Lee said providing these young people with safe and reliable support is the organization’s primary goal.

The problem, he said, is there’s a huge gap in care between the ages of 16 and 18 for kids who drop out of foster care. While there are some extended foster care services provided by California, they only apply to children who are enrolled until the day they turn 18.

First Place found that the kids who needed the most help were those who didn’t have a positive foster care experience and left the system before turning 18.

“Those youths are now looking for help and support, and they’re on the verge of homelessness,” Lee said. “There’s no place for them to go; there’s no services that are in place that could potentially support them.”

The organization is now trying to get California to lower the eligibility age for extended benefits from 18 to 15 or 16, in order to support kids who drop out of foster care early.

“We have an opportunity to help young people in a very short amount of time,” he said. “Almost 90% of all of our young people want to go to college. They want good jobs. They want to work, and they want to have their own homes, and they want to be able to start their own families one day. They just need support, mentorship and someone pulling for them to help them figure out the how.”

For those who make it into First Place, their chances increase dramatically.

Of the nearly 700 people who come through the program each year, 97% are able to get their own housing and become financially stable, Lee said. And 82% of them become enrolled to earn their high school diploma and get some form of secondary education.

“For youth that don’t go through programs like this, that number drops by almost half, to 43%,” he said. “And 85% of our youth get jobs while in our program.”

Program participants are also five times less likely to be incarcerated and three times less likely to experience homelessness compared to their peers who do not receive these supports, the organization said. A recent study by the Baiyor-Handler Trust and Social Finance found that for every 100 young people who complete the First Place program, California saves more than $6 million from reduced incarceration alone.

In the Bay Area, First Place serves young people in five counties: Solano, Contra Costa, Alameda, San Francisco and Santa Clara.

And while the state provides the organization with about $1,200 a month in assistance, the organization estimates it spends a total of $4,200 a month per person, with the extra money coming from foundations and individual donors.

“I recently interviewed some of our young people and so many of them feel like somebody’s finally looking out for them,” Catalano said. “They finally have someone to answer questions about credit scores and how do you apply for a loan for a car and how do I get financial aid for college. We step into that role.”

Said Steele: “They really care. And that really means a lot.”