Aging out of the foster care system can be incredibly traumatic. Kids turn 18, and all of a sudden, they're completely on their own. No home. No job. No money. No support network.
"There's no backup for these kids. There's no family that they can rely on or anybody they can reach out to," says Coleen Quisenberry, co-founder of Safety Net Inland NW. "If they don't have some way to have somebody care, they'll fall through the cracks and feed the homeless system."
Between 2016 and 2021, roughly 20% of foster care youth in Washington experienced homelessness within one year of leaving the foster system, according to data from the state Department of Children, Youth and Families.
Years ago, Quisenberry had wanted to become a foster parent and was surprised to learn about the limited support network for kids aging out of the system. So, in 2009, she decided to start Safety Net Inland NW as a nonprofit to help provide foster kids everything they need to thrive once entering adulthood. She founded the nonprofit with her friend Molly Allen, who was a co-host of the well-known Inland Northwest radio show "Dave, Ken and Molly" until June this year.
"We help them with the things they wouldn't necessarily be able to take care of without going into a tailspin," Quisenberry says.
Safety Net has two warehouses — one in Spokane and one in Post Falls. When kids become adults and age out of the system, they can visit one of the warehouses to shop for free and pick up whatever items they might need for their first apartment: dressers, coffee tables, chairs, sofas, pots, pans, paper towels, soap, lightbulbs, vacuums and more. Safety Net also buys a bed for each young adult leaving the system.
As youth adjust to life in the outside world, Safety Net supports them in a variety of other ways. For example, if they have to miss work because they're sick, and they fall behind on rent, Safety Net will help them catch up on bills.
Depending on the need, the organization will also provide bikes, computers, bus passes and groceries — basically everything someone might need to adjust to life as an adult when they don't have money or a support network.
Quisenberry recalls one young man who lost his front teeth in a car accident when he was in the foster system. The state wouldn't pay for it because it was considered cosmetic surgery, so Safety Net covered the bill.
Quisenberry doesn't have an exact number, but over the years, she estimates that Safety Net has helped thousands of young adults.
Earlier this year, the Washington Legislature expanded services for foster youth ages 18 to 21 who are no longer eligible for the usual foster services. The program started rolling out this summer. Quisenberry says she's glad the state is taking action, but that the need she's seeing is still higher than it's ever been. Because of inflation and higher rents, the number of kids coming to her nonprofit for help has increased significantly over the past two or so years, she says.
People don't always realize how traumatic it can be to leave the foster system, Quisenberry says. She's talked to children who have been through as many as 30 different homes.
"These kids come out without any real life skills," Quisenberry says. "How to balance a checkbook, how to open up a bank account... Unfortunately, no one has taken the time to teach them life skills."
Safety Net only has one part-time employee — everything else is managed by volunteers. The work is hard, but Quisenberry says hearing from youth who've managed to thrive makes it worth it. She hears from former foster youth she helped who went on to become doctors, restaurant managers, flight attendants and more.
"They're coming back and saying, 'Thank you, I wouldn't have had a life,'" Quisenberry says. "We were the difference between homelessness or them getting out there and making their own way."
Quisenberry recalls one young woman who came to Safety Net last spring to drop off furniture at the warehouse for a used furniture drive. The woman said she was moving out of state with her husband and two children, and had extra furniture to drop off. Quisenberry didn't recognize her at first, but while loading items out of the truck, the woman reminded her.
"'You don't remember me, but you guys gave me my first bed, and you helped me furnish my apartment 10 years ago,'" Quisenberry recalls the woman telling her. "'Now I'm married, I've got a job, I have two kids... You guys made all the difference in the world to me.'"
Those are the stories that drive Quisenberry to keep going.
Safety Net is always looking for volunteers and donations, Quisenberry says. The organization accepts donations of furniture and other items, as well as money. On Sept. 14, the organization is holding its "Fostering Flight" auction at the events hangar at Felts Field. There will be vacation-themed prizes and activities, and people are encouraged to show up in Hawaiian shirts to help raise money for kids in need.
"If anybody has any complaints about homelessness in Spokane, they need to step up and help make a difference," Quisenberry says. "By helping Safety Net help these kids, we can all help turn the faucet off — they're just running like water into homelessness if they aren't helped." ♦
