Woman inspires with life story in foster care

At 24, Beecham is as far along in college as many young adults four, five and even six years her junior.

She's also a little older than most people deciding what they want to be when they grow up or what mark they want to leave on the world.

But when Beecham, a Glenn County foster youth advocate, speaks — people listen.

If that is an advantage in life, Beecham said it's only because she speaks from the heart, and from a life experience few people know about or understand.

"Having grown up in the foster care system, you might say that is where I get my passion," said Beecham, the California Youth Connection coordinator at the Glenn County Office of Education, a part-time position.

She also works part-time in a similar capacity with Health and Human Resources, and is enrolled full-time at Butte College.

"Someday, I would love to get a Ph.D. in psychology," she said wistfully; still unsure of her future.

In other ways, however, Beecham is ahead of her time.

When she speaks, Beecham brings tears to the eyes of grown men and rooms full of people to their feet in standing ovation.

She also spends her days helping empower children in the foster care system to find their own voices.

Her goal, she said, is to enlighten the public and policy makers about the unique needs of foster youth, and to change the negative stereotypes many people have.

"The more you talk about being a foster youth, the more the community will be educated," Beecham said. "That is what empowered me to speak the first time, and I haven't stopped. I'm continually pushing forward."

And if she helps just one foster youth

climb from under a veil of secrecy and onto a similar path to success, Beecham said she will have done her job.

"Children are placed in foster care through no fault of their own," she said. "It's not because they did something wrong. It's not because they are bad children. It is usually because their parents did something wrong."

Beecham was 11-years-old when she was taken from her mother, who had been in and out of prison.

By the time she was 14, she had lived in several foster homes and attended many schools.

"My freshman year, I attended four high schools, Corning, Marysville, Natomas in Sacramento and Willows," she said. "I was lucky. My sophomore year I was placed in a home in Orland, so I was able to stay there three years until I graduated."

Many foster youth aren't so lucky.

Even though they may be placed in good homes, even loving homes, the odds are against them, Beecham said.

Turnover among foster parents is extremely high — largely due to returning to work, lack of day care, retirement or lack of support — making it hard for foster youth to develop relationships with the people they live with.

Many youth go into foster care never able to recover from the abuse or neglect that put them in the system in the first place.

They often, because of movement, fall behind in school and perform far below grade level.

Foster youth are often restricted by state and federal rules and regulations that prevent them from growing emotionally, bonding with others or able to learn from life's milestones or from making mistakes.

"When you are a foster child, you never really get to be a normal teenager," Beecham said. "You are always afraid you will do something that will cause you to lose your placement."

The fear is genuine, she said. A misadventure that may have garnered a normal child a scolding from a parent — or an argument with a classmate at school — could find a child uprooted, plastic bag of meager belongings in hand, and shipped to the next available home.

By the time foster youth reach high school, chances of graduation or earning a general education diploma are 50 percent, and going to college is one in ten.

By the time they are emancipated, foster youth typically have few resources or know what resources are available to them, and most have even fewer champions to give them the support they need to make it in the real world.

"When I emancipated out of the system at 17, I didn't know anything or what was available to me," Beecham said. "I ended up making mistakes, like getting way over my head into debt. I also became a mother at 17."

Mostly through shear determination, perseverance and reaching out to past mentors, Beecham overcame many of the obstacles that typically keep foster youth down.

"Nobody ever says they want to grow up to be unsuccessful," she said. "At some point, you have to make a relationship that helps you get the support you need."

Glenn County foster youth, at least, are luckier than most.

"They don't get lost in the system like youth in larger counties," said Robin Smith, Foster Youth Services and Project "HELP" coordinator at the Glenn County Office of Education. "In LA, where there are thousands of foster kids, they are just data in a computer."

Smith said working with Beecham as a teenager, maintaining contact through foster youth programs and then bringing her into the Office of Education's Foster Youth Services as the local California Youth Connection coordinator has been a blessing in more ways than one.

"She inspires me," Smith said. "She helped me rekindle a passion for my own job, and motivated me to not give up."

Together, Beecham and Smith work to promote educational success for about 100 Glenn County foster youth through advocacy, mentoring, tutoring, vocational training, work experience, counseling and guidance.

The program is funded by a state grant, which has been renewed for another three years.

Glenn County has also formed a Blue Ribbon Commission to allow the courts, child welfare agencies and other government agencies to share responsibility for local foster youth, all of whom deserve a system that treats them fairly, Smith said.

More importantly, with Beecham as a foster youth advocate, Glenn County youth in the system are finding their own voices before state legislators in Sacramento.

In the first year of a two-year legislative session, 2011 produced several bills that will have a significant impact on the lives of youth in or transitioning out of foster care, Beecham said.

The most significant was AB 212, signed by Gov. Jerry Brown on Oct. 4, that allows foster youth to remain in a system of care until age 21, as long as they are in college, working or preparing for a job.

It was a huge victory, she said, and one that will prevent youth from ending up alone on the streets at 17 or 18.

Other California Youth Connection supported bills, signed by the governor, included AB 791, which allows children at the age of 16 access to their birth certificate; AB 709, which allows a foster child to be enrolled in a school even if they cannot produce clothing or medical records normally required at admission; and SB 926, which allows a foster child's agent or social worker to disclose the fact that a child is in custody in order to help find a relative for possible placement.

With the help of the community, Beecham is raising money for Glenn County foster youth to attend a legislative conference at the state Capitol in January to advocate for rights and upcoming legislation that may have a positive impact on their lives.