Former foster kids now in college hope to inspire Progress Ranch kids – Davis Enterprise

A visit to Progress Ranch on Monday evening was like coming full circle for Steffanie Kramer, a former foster child who graduated from Sacramento State University last year.

Its going from being that child, like these boys, to 14 years later being a college graduate, she said. It provides reassurance that I didnt go through what I did for no reason.

What she went through included entering the child welfare system at the age of 9 and bouncing from foster home to foster home before finally being adopted by a loving family years later.

Now she serves as an advocate for foster youths andwas visiting the Progress Ranch group home for boys on Monday along with two UC Davis students who, like her, beat the odds just in making it to college after a childhood in the system.

Statistics show that only 10 percent of former foster youths attend college and just 3 percent will graduate.

They are the rock stars, says Doug Barnett, who along with his wife started a nonprofit aimed at helping foster youths who make it to college not only graduate, but enter the workforce prepared and ready tothrive.

Barnetts foundation, Fostering Success & Significance, provides scholarships, mentoring and advocacy, career planning and more to former foster youths at UC Davis, Sacramento State and the Los Rios community colleges.

In return for that support, participating students commit to giving back, particularly in service to the kids coming up behind them.

This week, that meant a visit to the boys at Progress Ranch from Barnett, Kramer and UC Davis students William and Walter (who asked that their last names not be used).

Progress Ranch is a Davis nonprofit that operates two residential homes for emotionally troubled boys in the child welfare system.

Director Wendi Counta notes that the boys here dont get to see themselves very often in (young adults).

Its really important for them to see how they fit in, she said, and having visitors like Walter and William young men who have been through similar childhoods is inspiring.

Its about planting a seed of hope, Barnett said.

During the visit, William, a clinical nutrition major, and Walter, a mechanical engineering major, talked about their time in foster care and offered advice to the boys about reaching their goals.

Make a lot of connections, Walter said, because you never know who will come along out of the blue and help you.

And focus on school, he said, because the payoff is ridiculous.

William told the boys how he entered foster care at the age of 3 and was adopted eventually. He later went to community college for a few years before being accepted as a transfer student at UCD.

I got an apartment, worked, paid my bills and went to college, he told the boys.

Life has always gotten better, every year, better and better. Take every day one day at a time, William added.

When asked by their visitors what they wanted to do when they grew up, most of the younger boys talked about professional sports careers. But a couple said they wanted to be at Progress Ranch, working with Wendi.

That resonated with Kramer.

Just seeing these boys, seeing that they want to stay with Wendi when they grow up is amazing, she said. These boys are being loved here, and that really hit me.

Barnett agreed.

This just doesnt exist (elsewhere), he said of Progress Ranch, which truly immerses the boys in Davis life, from attending local schools to participating in local sports leagues and camps.

In just the past year, four boys have left the group home or are in the process of leaving becauseDavis families offered to become their foster parents.

Barnett wouldlike the partnership between Progress Ranch and Fostering Success & Significance to continue, including with future visits tothe group homefrom college students, as well as bringing Progress Ranch boys to local college campuses for tours with former foster youths.

Maybe it will resonate with them that college is an option, Barnett said.

Meanwhile, Fostering Success & Significance continues to help college students like William and Walter who may have beaten the odds in getting to college but sometimesstill needwhat their classmates may take for granted: like knowing how to dress for success, business etiquette, networking and more.

Growing up, you only want to go to college, Walter noted. Then when you arrive on campus, you get complacent because youve made it.

In my head, I thought, I just need to graduate, he said.

Fostering Success & Significance showed him differently.

For more information about the foundation, call Barnett at 916-813-1229. To make a donation, visit http://www.eldoradocf.org, click on the donate tab and designate Fostering Success and Significance as the recipient.

Learn more about Progress Ranch at http://progressranch.com.

Read More: New site helps Progress Ranch fulfill its mission: http://wp.me/p3aczg-30lf

Reach Anne Ternus-Bellamy at [emailprotected] or 530-747-8051. Follow her on Twitter at @ATernusBellamy

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Former foster kids now in college hope to inspire Progress Ranch kids - Davis Enterprise