Essay --

In this article, Christopher G. Petr presents results of surveys conducted to assess how foster children perceive independent living services put in place to help them adjust as they reach adulthood. Petr makes the point that while most current foster children were optimistic about their futures and believed that these programs were useful in getting them ready to adjust to life after they are age-out from foster care, some of the out of custody youths felt that they had not received adequate services. Among the arguments Petr uses to support this point are the two interviews with subjects "A" and "C". Petr reports that their scenarios are at the opposite ends of a spectrum he heard from the 27 people interviewed. He presents lots of anecdotal evidence from the interviews to support these arguments, including that A was using services like a tuition waiver and living subsidy to help her get a college degree and expressed appreciation for this help. Subject C, on the other hand, had no job and was not continuing his schooling and said he did not know he could get a tuition waiver or...