Tristan, 20, entered DCS custody when he was 14 years old. “I got caught up in a lot of stuff I was not supposed to,” Tristan said. “I think that’s common for kids who grew up like I did. You have to do whatever it takes to get by.”

Tristan, 20, entered DCS custody when he was 14 years old. “I got caught up in a lot of stuff I was not supposed to,” Tristan said. “I think that’s common for kids who grew up like I did. You have to do whatever it takes to get by.”
Young people who turn 18 in foster care are resilient and want to become successful adults. Zoe, entered state custody at 14 years old and moved around a lot before “aging out.”
“I never really unpacked my clothing because I moved so much. I kept it in whatever bag I could find,” he says.
Every year, the Youth Villages LifeSet program helps more than 4,000 young people across the county navigate challenges as they reach adulthood. These young people are resilient and capable…
Youth Villages’ LifeSet program participant Mose Frazier gives his younger brother Lamar Frazier a haircut.
Ary and other LifeSet participants shared their COVID-19 experiences with congressional representatives to advocate for targeted relief for older foster youth during the crisis and its recovery.
Youth Villages is endorsing a bipartisan bill introduced today in the U.S. House of Representatives to provide immediate, targeted relief to children, youth and families significantly impacted by the COVID-19 emergency.
New programs are launching in four jurisdictions across the country to provide comprehensive support to young people turning 18 in foster care – one of the groups hit hardest by the impact of the COVID-19 crisis.
The nonprofit organization Youth Villages is partnering with the state of Kentucky to start offering a new program called LifeSet. The goal is to work with young people between the ages of 17 and 22 who are transitioning out of foster care in Kentucky.
Every year, approximately 20,000 young people turn 18 in child welfare systems without ever being reunited with their biological family. Ary, a young woman receiving help in Youth Villages Oklahoma’s LifeSet program experienced the ups and downs of that big birthday.
The Kentucky Department for Community Based Services (DCBS), an agency of the Cabinet for Health and Family Services (CHFS), is launching a new program this month to help young people who reach adulthood in foster care, one of the groups the most impacted by the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis.