HARRISBURG — A young woman who grew up in the foster care system in Luzerne County testified before a state House Committee on Monday about her experiences and why changes to state laws are so desperately needed.
Brittany Bullock, 20, now living in Conyngham, told the House Committee on Children and Youth what it was like transferring back and forth between Dan Flood and Hunlock Creek elementary schools, then to Solomon Plains, followed by three years of cyber schooling before spending her senior year at Coughlin High School before graduating.
“I was really awkward. I didn't have any friends,” Bullock said. “I knew I was smart enough, but it affected my learning because I was so distracted with not fitting in and being picked on. It's hard to put into words what it meant to have to restart my life over and over again. New places, new faces, not being able to establish a connection with people, because as soon as I started to feel comfortable, I was forced to move again.”
“The stigma of being … a foster child is a hard label to wear,” Bullock said. “People made me feel like I was second-hand, worthless. What made me so unlovable?”
She listed missed opportunities — no prom, no dances, no playing sports or attending football games.
After describing the constant move from school to school and being forced into cyber schooling in ninth grade, Bullock paused as her voice cracked and tears filled her eyes.
“I had so many chances taken away from me,” she continued, after regaining her composure. “I don't want any child to experience that. It's hard and it's very emotional. No, we're not like everyone else. We're labeled. And it's sad.”
State Rep. Dan Moul, committee vice chairman, told Bullock she “put the exclamation point on this hearing for us, as for how important it is hearing from someone like yourself. It really touches home for all of us, and I can assure you that this committee is going to look at this very intensely as the new (legislative) session begins.”
Bullock and her unofficially adoptive mother, attorney Lorine Ogurkis, were introduced by the committee treasurer, Rep. Tarah Toohil, R-Butler Township, as her constituents.
Toohil and state Rep. Rosemary Brown, Monroe/Pike counties, are sponsoring two bills related to foster care education stability. Toohil said her bill would amend state judicial code, while Brown's would amend Public Welfare Code, to increase stability in the education of foster children.
The proposed changes would permit a foster child to be transferred to a different school only if a child psychologist determined it would be in the child's best interest and a judge ordered the transfer.
Toohil said a third piece of legislation that would alter state school code is in the works. All three pieces of legislation aim at making the education of foster children more stable and uniform in a state where there are “67 different counties running things 67 different ways,” she said.
Based on testimony presented Monday by experts, Toohil noted that:
• One-half to one-third of foster children change schools upon entering foster care
• One-third change schools five or more times while in foster care.
• Only half of foster children complete high school by age 18.
• While 80 percent of foster children want to attend college, only 3 percent do.
Bullock is one of the 3 percent, Ogurkis said, noting that Bullock, whom Ogurkis took in about a year ago, is working on completing an associate's degree at Luzerne County Community College and hopes to attend Bloomsburg University.
Brittany Bullock, 20, now living in Conyngham, told the House Committee on Children and Youth what it was like transferring back and forth between Dan Flood and Hunlock Creek elementary schools, then to Solomon Plains, followed by three years of cyber schooling before spending her senior year at Coughlin High School before graduating.
“I was really awkward. I didn't have any friends,” Bullock said. “I knew I was smart enough, but it affected my learning because I was so distracted with not fitting in and being picked on. It's hard to put into words what it meant to have to restart my life over and over again. New places, new faces, not being able to establish a connection with people, because as soon as I started to feel comfortable, I was forced to move again.”
“The stigma of being … a foster child is a hard label to wear,” Bullock said. “People made me feel like I was second-hand, worthless. What made me so unlovable?”
She listed missed opportunities — no prom, no dances, no playing sports or attending football games.
After describing the constant move from school to school and being forced into cyber schooling in ninth grade, Bullock paused as her voice cracked and tears filled her eyes.
“I had so many chances taken away from me,” she continued, after regaining her composure. “I don't want any child to experience that. It's hard and it's very emotional. No, we're not like everyone else. We're labeled. And it's sad.”
State Rep. Dan Moul, committee vice chairman, told Bullock she “put the exclamation point on this hearing for us, as for how important it is hearing from someone like yourself. It really touches home for all of us, and I can assure you that this committee is going to look at this very intensely as the new (legislative) session begins.”
Bullock and her unofficially adoptive mother, attorney Lorine Ogurkis, were introduced by the committee treasurer, Rep. Tarah Toohil, R-Butler Township, as her constituents.
Toohil and state Rep. Rosemary Brown, Monroe/Pike counties, are sponsoring two bills related to foster care education stability. Toohil said her bill would amend state judicial code, while Brown's would amend Public Welfare Code, to increase stability in the education of foster children.
The proposed changes would permit a foster child to be transferred to a different school only if a child psychologist determined it would be in the child's best interest and a judge ordered the transfer.
Toohil said a third piece of legislation that would alter state school code is in the works. All three pieces of legislation aim at making the education of foster children more stable and uniform in a state where there are “67 different counties running things 67 different ways,” she said.
Based on testimony presented Monday by experts, Toohil noted that:
• One-half to one-third of foster children change schools upon entering foster care
• One-third change schools five or more times while in foster care.
• Only half of foster children complete high school by age 18.
• While 80 percent of foster children want to attend college, only 3 percent do.
Bullock is one of the 3 percent, Ogurkis said, noting that Bullock, whom Ogurkis took in about a year ago, is working on completing an associate's degree at Luzerne County Community College and hopes to attend Bloomsburg University.
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