420,000 youth (AFCARS, 2009) who
are part of the foster care system
throughout the United States.
Sadly, many of the older youth
(teens) end up unable to return
home, and without permanent
families. Each year 24,000 of these
youth, between 16 and 21 years
old, age out of the foster care system
into uncertain circumstances.
many find themselves with nowhere
to turn upon receiving their emanci-
pation, with little to no support from
the system and no familial ties to
lean on. Without intervention these
young adults find themselves at
higher risk than their peers for a
host of problems including:
or high school diploma)
(victim or perpetrator)
including having children out
of wedlock
gaping, allowing teens and young
adults to fall into poverty, home-
lessness, and crime due to choices
made not by them but by their
parents. Enter Susan Guntz and
"Teen Spirit," an initiative of The
Salvation Army Children's Serv-
ices program in Allentown, Penn-
sylvania, which recruits foster
homes for teenagers. When Chil-
dren's Services sent out a recruit-
ment brochure to the local com-
munity, buried in it were the
small and hard to spot words:
"Mentor Me." As the brochure
made its rounds through the com-
munity, numerous calls began to
come in requesting more informa-
tion on the mentoring aspect of
the program.
Susan launched the Teen Spirit
mentoring program in 2011 from
a generous grant provided by the
Patricia Kind Foundation. The
program's new focus aimed at
providing teens in foster care
with a mentor as a long�term
resource.
the elevator holding his three month old sister, crying. Will
is a boy who, through no fault of his own, entered foster
care at the age of 13 years old. At the time, he was playing
the role of parent in his two sister's lives. Through the in-
were placed in foster care. "When you see a situation like this you
feel like you have to help," Susan says.