Giving Youth Aging Out of Foster Care Keys to Success with Diane Daily Artwork

Trauma for Breakfast

Trauma For Breakfast is a crowded table of wounded children, parents, spouses, caregivers and weary souls. Together we join in honest conversations about the behaviors and challenges of parenting children with trauma.There's always room for one more at the table to share in the stories, science and healing as we learn to better understand and care for each other. We are a table without shame or judgement because life can be hard and lonely and we all know, that breakfast is the most important meal of the day.

All Episodes

Trauma for Breakfast

Giving Youth Aging Out of Foster Care Keys to Success with Diane Daily

February 21, 2025 • Stacey

For young men and women aging out of foster care at age 18 the odds of becoming thriving, successful adults aren’t very good. In fact, statistics show that 50 percent have no high school diploma, 60 percent have been convicted of a crime and 50 percent will be unemployed by the age of 24. The Arizona Friends of Foster Children Foundation wants to improve those odds through its Keys to Success (KTS) program. This one-of-a-kind program offers career, education, and employment development services tailored to meet the unique needs of the young men and women who are leaving the foster system.

Join me as I speak with Diane Daily, the Program Director for (KTS) Keys to Success. Below you will find her words about the program -

For most of us, our earliest memories are of parents and family talking to us about our interests, skills, passions, and futures; about the importance of getting an education. As parents we help our children navigate getting their first job, making sure they get to and from work, supporting their growth to become good employees. Unfortunately, most young people in the foster care system have the opposite experience. No one is providing this guidance or support and every aspect of their lives is focused on surviving today – tomorrow is unfathomable.

Because of the instability in their lives, many youth in foster care have limited or a misinformed understanding of employment opportunities, and even fewer have had the support required to develop a vision for their future. Research indicates that youth who emancipate from foster care experience poor outcomes such as homelessness, unemployment, unplanned pregnancy, low educational attainment, legal system involvement, and substance abuse. The Keys to Success (KTS) program fills this gap by providing youth with the career planning, education, and employment development services that helps them to discover their potential and a pathway to successful adulthood.

KTS has been developed to be a resource to insure youth transitioning from foster care have the support and resources required to meet their potential and become thriving members of our community.