As time begins to run out for young man in foster care with autism, ACLU offers help
The American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri has stepped in to try to help a local child advocate keep a young man with severe autism from becoming homeless.
Lori Ross, founder of FosterAdopt Connect, said someone from the ACLU reached out to her Monday morning to see if there was anything the organization could do to keep the young man from being released from foster care.
By Monday evening, the ACLU had contacted the Missouri attorney general’s office to see if something could be done to resolve the issue quickly.
Chris Nuelle, a spokesman for the attorney general’s office, told The Star in an email that his office was contacted, “but this issue is a Department of Social Services matter.”
So Ross and the ACLU are looking for other solutions to keep the young man from being moved from the group home where he has been for the past four years. But time is running out for the young man, who wasn’t born in the United States and doesn’t speak and can’t feed or care for himself.
He turns 21 in a few days. That’s when he will age out of foster care and could end up homeless.
There are two issues in the case: the young man is not a U.S. citizen, and Missouri has not implemented a new federal law designed to keep kids from aging out of foster care during the pandemic.
“This is a difficult situation caused by Covid-related delays in processing immigration matters,” said Tony Rothert, legal director of ACLU of Missouri.
And, he said, “Congress has told states that they may not let people age out of foster care during the pandemic. We are confident that Missouri can figure out how to provide care for the vulnerable without being forced to do so by a court.”
Ross said she is encouraged by the help of the ACLU and the concerns and offers of assistance from many throughout the community and outside of Kansas City.
“I am hopeful that we are seeing signs of potential actions to put a stop to this,” she said. “But I’m also a realist. If we have to, we’ll file something in court.”
When a child with severe disabilities typically ages out of care, he or she then goes into the custody of the Missouri Department of Mental Health, which begins providing the services needed. But because this young man wasn’t born in the United States, Ross said that the mental health department has said it cannot do that.
That would leave the young man, functioning at an infant level of development, homeless.
The Star published a story about him Sunday, prompting hundreds of people to come forward wanting to help. People emailed asking who they could call and where they could send money for his care.
Ten to 15 people told Ross that they would help care for him, some even said they would adopt the young man. More than 150 people — some from far outside Kansas City — donated to a fund set up for him at FosterAdopt Connect. So far, $18,000 has been raised.
“We have a community full of caring people ... who recognize just how morally wrong all of this is,” Ross said. “That you put someone who is so completely vulnerable and you put him in a position that he is unable to care for himself. Kansas City is full of people who have amazingly giving, loving hearts.”
And people who work inside the social services system in Kansas also talked with Ross.
“They said, ‘If Missouri doesn’t step up and he doesn’t end up getting help, bring him over here,’” Ross said. The system that serves adults would then work to help him, she was told.
Others wrote on social media or reached out to The Star.
Said one woman in an email: “... It is immoral and unethical. I have no doubt he is not the first nor will he be the last.“
Others couldn’t understand why state officials weren’t abiding by the federal law passed in late December that instructs states not to release any child from foster care during the pandemic just because they’ve reached a certain age. A spokeswoman with DSS told The Star that the agency asked for additional guidance on the law and is waiting on that before it can go into effect in Missouri.
The young man’s mother brought him to the United States from Mexico when he was a child. At some point, she lost custody of him after allegations of abuse or neglect. For the past four years, he’s been living in a group home licensed by the Missouri Department of Mental Health. His mother is still unable to care for him.
When a child is in the custody of the Children’s Division, DSS pays for his or her care. Once the child with severe disabilities ages out, services typically are picked up and provided by the mental health department. But with a child who is not a documented U.S. citizen, what happens after the youth ages out isn’t that simple, child welfare experts say.
Ross, who has been working to help the young man for several weeks, said she and other child advocates across the state had an online meeting late Monday afternoon to discuss what else could be done.
The response from the community, Ross said, could have a lasting impact on this young man if the state does the right thing.
“We could potentially add caring adults to his life that could add to his quality of life,” she said, adding that the money donated could help pay for things that Medicaid won’t. “He could walk away from this in better shape if we could get the systems to do what they should be doing.”
This story was originally published February 23, 2021 at 2:15 PM.
