Twenty-year-old Kelly lives on the streets of Camden. She moved there from Cape May County almost three years ago after she had “aged out” of the foster care system.

"One day I was in foster care and the next day I was not, so I got on a bus and ended up in Camden,” said the slightly nervous young woman.

How she wound up in foster care is not uncommon. Kelly’s mom had remarried when she was 7. She always got along with her stepfather, but her mother did not. After a few years the verbal fighting started and then the fist fighting ensued.

“But my step-dad was always nice to me. He never, ever hit me or even yelled at me,” said Kelly.

Nevertheless, one day, when she was 14, after a neighbor called the police because of the fracas going on in Kelly’s house, DYFS removed her from her home because she was “exposed” to a violent situation.

According to a DYFS spokesman, the initial judgment call is made by whoever shows up on the scene. If that worker thinks she needs more help she can call on the local police to assist. The child may be removed from the house based on that worker’s opinion.

Besides the trauma of being removed from the only home she had ever known, and from the only people who had ever taken care of her, she had to leave school, friends, and all her familiar surroundings. But that was not the worst of it.

Kelly spent 15 months in foster care. The grandfather of the foster mother sexually molested her repeatedly.

“He was really old and sometimes the foster mom would go out and leave him with us. He started touching and saying things. I told on him the first couple of times but my foster mom said I was making it up for attention, and when I told the DYFS worker she said that I was making it up so I could go back home, and I should stop lying because I was never going home. And besides, Grandpa Munster (Kelly’s name for him) was ‘too old for sex.’ ”

When no one but her mother would believe her, and her mother could do nothing to help her through the system, she became despondent. She sought relief from drugs and by the time she was out of the foster care system she was hooked on heroin.

“At least when I had the drugs I didn’t care what he did or what any of them did,” said Kelly, who now sleeps in doorways, cheap hotels and homeless shelters.

“She should have taken me away and hid me somewhere like that doctor in Washington did for her daughter. She should have fought the law because the law hurts kids,” stated Kelly who will reach 21 in a couple of months and sees no future ahead of her.

DYFS spokesman Joe Delmar explained a relatively new program begun by the state to help foster children make the transition to independence. He thought that Kelly “might still probably be eligible for Medicaid and possibly some job training at least until she is 21.”

The state of New Jersey made changes in its treatment of former foster children in order to remain eligible for federal money pursuant to requirements in effect after the passage of the John Chafe Foster Independence Program. This legislation requires states to provide more services for children aging out of state foster care systems.

To help determine what those needs might be New Jersey has started the Youth Advisory Council for kids who are aging out of foster care between the ages of 17 to 21 years. “They meet with DYFS personnel and state officials to get feedback on what additional services they think we (the state of New Jersey) need to provide for them,” Delmar said.

Gov. Jim McGreevey met with the group in May and in addition to listening he had quite a few things of his own to say to them.

The state received $2.3 million from the federal government and the state increased its own contribution to $2.5 million to fund the project.

“The project seeks to teach improved independent living skills, money management, time management and relationship building,” said Delmar.

A final approval for mortgages is pending from the state agency for Mortgage and Building Finances. “This will certainly help with the housing problem,” he said.

The agency also will put even more emphasis on vocational training. “We are already sponsoring health fairs and job fairs and the department has sponsored computer training camps. Those who participate are given a computer to keep to help them practice,” said Delmar.

The Garden State Coalition for Youth did report a couple of suggestions on the issue, which can be viewed at www.gardenstatecoalition.org.

Under President Bush’s education bill the federal government is giving vouchers worth $5,000 additional a year for post-high school education including college and healthcare training.

But no provision is made to remedy the injury done by the act of forced foster care placement to people who suffer long after childhood.

Psychologist Carlin Graham, of Focused Solutions, Inc. in Rio Grande was asked: “What psychological harm might be experienced by a child who is put into foster care, even after it ends?”

“When children are removed from their primary caregivers for whatever reasons, psychological damage can be done. The damage can increase if there is, for legal reasons, a ‘no contact’ order given between primary care givers and the children. Mental health counseling is extremely important in the early days of parent/child separation. If their emotional adjustment is not taken into account the emotional and psychological damage can become long term and or last a lifetime,” Graham said.

“It’s never too late. The biggest piece is for them to be able to access appropriate therapeutic intervention,” said Graham. “The most important thing is that they want to get help and believe they can.”