Foster children of Courageous Connections work at a fundraising car wash where the proceeds will be used to pay for the students’ yearbooks in Sacramento, Calif. Courageous Connections works to educate and normalize life experiences for California youths and adults involved in foster care.By KELLI KENNEDY
Associated Press
When Carey Sommer entered foster care in California, he left his mom, his high school and his friends. Bounced from home to home, he changed high schools nine times until the disheartened teen finally dropped out.
“I just started to not really care about high school because I figured I’m just going to move anyway – why does it matter?” said Sommer, who was told it would take an extra year and a half to graduate to make up for credits he lost changing schools.
Sommer, 19, is among the roughly 50 percent of the nation’s 500,000 foster kids who won’t graduate from high school, experts say.