If you were in foster care for even one day after your 16th birthday or were on probation and a judge ordered you to live anywhere other than with your parents, (suitable placement) you are entitled to be part of an ILP program that helps you prepare to live on your own.
If your case was closed before your sixteenth birthday, there is still a possibility you will be ILP eligible if:
You are at least 16 now and you are still part of the Kin-Gap program (you are living with a court appointed relative guardian) or the court placed you with a non-related legal guardian after you were eight years old.
Among the services available to you through the ILP program are:
- Money for college
- High school senior and graduation expense reimbursement
- Tutoring
- Job training
- Workshops on how to handle your finances
- Job placement
- Housing – Finding housing
- Mentors
- Dirver’s ed and car insurance
- College preparation help
And more.
To receive most of these financial benefits and services through ILP you will need a document called a TILP (Transitional Independent Living Plan). The TILP is a document that you create with your county social worker and whoever else you want to be involved and is required to be done for every foster youth in California beginning at age 16, (and younger in some counties). It lists your goals for your future (like graduating high school, going to college, getting a job, living independently), when they will be completed, and who will be responsible for making sure they are achieved (you, your social worker, and other people in your life).
To find out how to take advantage of the ILP Program:
Public Counsel
Alliance For Children’s Rights