Foster children could get extra year in system

Michigan’s older foster children can stay in the system until they're 21 -- an extra year under bills passed  by the state Senate.

Part  of the plan is to help them pay for college with about $1.8 million dollars in state funding and about $6 million in federal matching funds.

Vivayk Sankarin is the director of the Detroit Center for Family Advocacy. He says it’s a step in the right direction.

“These kids just aren’t ready to do it on their own. They don’t have adequate housing, education, job support, they don’t know how to drive a car. Outcomes for these kids are scary. They end up homeless, unemployed, incarcerated. They have no family support.”

The measures are intended to open educational doors to older foster children.

But Sankaran says more attention is needed on younger children who are often moved from home to home and fall behind in school.