Vol. 9, No. 2• May 2005

Pages tell their own story

In the General Assembly, foster children find a voice

by Amy Gardner, Raleigh News and Observer

Feb. 24, 2005, RALEIGH—Chris Shaw would like to think he had something to do with a $25 raise state lawmakers approved last June for families who take in foster children.

Shaw, 18, is a foster child who was first removed from an abusive home when he was 2. But this week, Shaw is far from that world. For the second year in a row, he is serving as a page at the General Assembly, delivering bills, ferrying messages and learning how government works.

Shaw and eight other foster children also hope to teach lawmakers a thing or two. They are putting a human face to the 10,000 foster children in North Carolina whose welfare depends largely on government. And they want lawmakers to know that they are good kids with bright futures who are worth the investment.

Shaw is a polite, soft-spoken junior at E.E. Smith High School in Fayetteville whose every utterance seems to feature a “yes, ma’am” or a “no, ma’am.” He sits straight and quiet at the side of the Senate chamber as lawmakers make their way through the daily calendar. He keeps his small frame tidy in a three-button black suit and shiny shoes.

Teenage pages for the House and Senate often earn their spots through family connections. That was intimidating to Shaw at first.

“When I first got here, I did feel like, since we were foster children, they were going to get on us and look for us to make a mistake,” Shaw said. “But it turned out they treated us just like regular kids. Actually, the foster children behaved better.”

Shaw is a member of SaySo, a statewide organization providing support and teaching life skills to teenage foster children. SaySo, which receives state funding, helped arrange for the foster children to serve as pages. The group’s acronym stands for Strong Able Youth Speaking Out.

“The voices of foster youth tend to be silent voices, and we wanted to make a difference in that,” said SaySo executive director Nancy Carter. “We told the foster children: ‘We don’t want them to create policy about you without you.’ “

That approach may have made an impact last year, when lawmakers raised the monthly payment made to families who host foster children. The proposal nearly died in the state Senate, but Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue urged lawmakers to reconsider it after meeting Shaw.

The issue of payments for foster families has been championed for several years by state Rep. Jeff Barnhart, a Republican from Cabarrus County and a persistent advocate for foster care and adoption issues.

But monthly payments are just one concern for foster families and children, Barnhart said. He would like to see more money for training, support groups and life-skills education for foster families. He hopes to push the monthly rate up another $25 — total cost: $1.6 million — but he’s not optimistic in a year when deep cuts and tax increases are being considered to balance another tight budget.

“In my area it’s hard to find foster parents,” Barnhart said. “We need to have good homes, training, some kind of support network. But of course there’s a cost.”

Barnhart didn’t even know that foster children are working at the legislature this week. That’s just fine with Shaw, who wanted to blend right in.

“They would never be able to look at me and say, ‘Oh, that’s a foster child,’ “ he said.

Shaw is pleased to have learned how the legislature works — if only to rule it out as a career.

“It’s interesting, but it’s not interesting enough to do,” he said with a confident grin. “If I ever do politics, I want to be the first black president.”

There isn’t anything, he added, that a foster kid can’t do.

Amy Gardner writes for the Raleigh News and Observer. She can be reached at 919/829-8902 or [email protected]

Reprinted with permission of The News & Observer of Raleigh, North Carolina.