California Governor Gavin Newsom recently announced aid for foster youth in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. Those in foster care face all sorts of challenges and during these especially troubling times, those struggles can be exacerbated.

Former foster youth and current foster youth advocate April Barcus tells Inside the Issues she is making sure to check on those who are in foster care daily, so they don’t feel alone, saying many are in uncomfortable situations and they can feel isolated and alone.

“I think it's important to just let them know that there's people there that care for them.”

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“Not all foster homes are comfortable or necessarily emotionally safe, so if you're isolated with a foster parent that you don't get along with, that could be a really traumatic experience,” she said. “There's a lot of youth that are isolated in group homes right now. Those are already really restrictive, really uncomfortable environments to begin with you're not there 24/7.”

Many of these current and former foster kids are facing uncertainty and instability, they are worried about housing and how they are going to make ends meet.

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“A lot of my friends who are former foster youth have to work - they are considered essential workers,” she said. “Since most of us work minimum wage jobs so they are risking themselves by trying to make ends meet. They don't have a choice. It's really rough.”

As someone who works for a theme park and also drives for Lyft, Barcus is also experiencing tough times herself because she has health conditions which put her at a high-risk of contracting COVID-19. She’s staying home and taking her law classes online, which she said presents it’s own challenges.

“Even if I wanted to go to work, it's not safe to do so,” she said. “I think the main concern is feeding myself and keeping my bills paid. I can't go to the store so I have been relying on people to pick up groceries for me or delivery services. Even then it's a risk.”

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