The moment a young person ages out of Florida's foster care system is, in many ways, the most dangerous moment of their life. Not because of any single event, but because of what disappears all at once: the case manager who checked in weekly, the placement that provided shelter, the structure that organized daily life, the institutional identity that, for all its limitations, told the young person who they were in relation to the world. At 18 — or 19, or 21, depending on the circumstances — the file closes. The system that has been responsible for their care since childhood moves on to the next child. And the young person is left to navigate adulthood with a developmental history that most adults would find unimaginable.
The statistics are stark and well-documented. National research on foster care alumni consistently shows that within two to four years of aging out, a significant proportion experience homelessness, unemployment, involvement with the criminal justice system, early parenthood without adequate support, and serious mental health crises. These are not inevitable outcomes — they are the predictable consequences of releasing young people into adulthood without the foundation that most young adults take for granted: a family home to return to, parents who answer the phone at midnight, a network of adults who know their history and care about their future.
Independent Living Programs exist to fill this gap. And Residing Hope's Independent Living Program, based on the Enterprise campus in Volusia County, represents one of Florida's most comprehensive approaches to supporting young people through this critical transition — not by managing them, but by walking alongside them as they build the lives they deserve.
Florida is one of the largest foster care systems in the United States. On any given day, more than 20,000 children are in out-of-home care in the state. Each year, approximately 1,000 of these young people reach the age at which they are no longer eligible for foster care placement and must transition to independent living. Many of them have spent their entire childhoods in the child welfare system — multiple placements, multiple school changes, multiple disruptions to the relationships and routines that support healthy development.
By the time a young person ages out of foster care, they may have lived in a dozen different homes, attended as many schools, and formed and lost relationships with caregivers, teachers, and peers too many times to count. The developmental tasks of adolescence — identity formation, the gradual assumption of adult responsibilities within the safety of a family structure, the experience of being held accountable by people who genuinely care about your success — have been disrupted at every turn.
What these young people need is not simply a roof over their heads, though stable housing is the essential foundation without which no other work is possible. They need the full range of developmental support that most young adults receive from their families of origin: guidance in navigating adult systems and institutions, mentorship in career development, emotional support during setbacks, and the experience of being known and valued by people who are invested in their growth.
Residing Hope's Independent Living Program serves young people ages 18 through 26 who are aging out of foster care or who are facing homelessness as a direct consequence of the instability that often follows a childhood in the child welfare system. The program is based on the Enterprise campus — 51 Children's Way, Enterprise, Florida 32725 — a peaceful, wooded property in Volusia County that has served as a place of healing for Florida children since 1908.
Safe, stable housing is the foundational element of the program. Without it, none of the other work of adult development is possible. Residents live in housing on the Enterprise campus while they work toward the goals in their individualized service plan. The housing is not simply a place to sleep — it is a stable base from which residents can pursue employment, education, and the gradual assumption of the responsibilities of adult life.
Life skills coaching is the second pillar of the program. The practical competencies that most young adults acquire gradually and informally within the context of a family — budgeting and financial management, cooking and nutrition, navigating public transportation, applying for jobs and maintaining employment, managing healthcare and insurance, building and maintaining credit, understanding the legal and civic systems that shape adult life — are taught systematically and without judgment by dedicated life skills coaches. These are not trivial skills. A young person who has never had a bank account does not know how to open one. A young person who has never had a consistent home address does not know how to establish residency for voter registration or driver's licensing. Life skills coaching addresses these gaps with the same seriousness that a family would bring to preparing a young adult for independence.
Mental health therapy is a core component of the program, not an optional add-on. The young adults who enter the program carry significant trauma histories, and the transition out of foster care is itself a traumatic experience for many of them — a loss of structure, relationships, and identity that can trigger acute mental health crises even in young people who appeared stable within the foster care system. Residing Hope's licensed clinicians specialize in the unique psychological challenges of young adults who have experienced childhood trauma and the abrupt transition out of care, and they provide individual therapy, group therapy, and crisis support as needed.
Career development is the fourth pillar. Residing Hope maintains active partnerships with local employers, workforce development programs, and educational institutions to help residents identify career pathways, complete GED or college coursework, and secure employment. Case managers maintain relationships with employers who are committed to hiring young adults from the foster care system and who understand the importance of providing the mentorship, flexibility, and patience that these young people need to succeed in the workplace.
Florida has made significant investments in independent living services for foster youth over the past two decades, driven in part by federal legislation including the John H. Chafee Foster Care Program for Successful Transition to Adulthood, which provides federal funding for independent living services for youth ages 14 through 21 who are in or aging out of foster care.
Florida's Road-to-Independence (RTI) program provides monthly financial assistance to eligible foster youth between the ages of 18 and 23 who are enrolled in an educational program or employed. The monthly stipend is intended to help cover basic living expenses during the transition to independence. Eligibility and benefit amounts are determined by the Florida Department of Children and Families.
The Postsecondary Education Supports (PES) program provides additional financial assistance for foster youth enrolled in college or vocational training, covering costs that financial aid does not address. Florida's Tuition and Fee Waiver program waives tuition and fees at Florida public colleges and universities for eligible foster youth — one of the most generous postsecondary education benefits for foster alumni available anywhere in the United States.
These programs represent meaningful support, but they are not sufficient on their own. Financial assistance without the life skills to manage it effectively often leads to poor financial decisions. Educational support without the emotional and practical scaffolding to navigate college successfully often results in enrollment without completion. The most effective independent living programs — like Residing Hope's — integrate financial support, life skills development, mental health services, career development, and mentorship into a coherent, individualized service plan that addresses the whole person.
One of the most consistent findings in the research on outcomes for foster care alumni is the protective power of mentorship — the presence of at least one stable, caring adult who maintains a consistent relationship with the young person over time. For young people who have experienced the repeated loss of caregiving relationships, the experience of a mentor who shows up consistently, who is interested in their growth and success, and who remains present through setbacks and failures can be genuinely transformative.
Residing Hope's Independent Living Program actively cultivates mentorship relationships for program residents, connecting them with community volunteers, alumni of the program, and professionals in fields that align with residents' career interests. Mentorship relationships are not structured as formal therapeutic relationships — they are genuine human connections, built on shared interests and mutual respect, that provide the kind of informal guidance and encouragement that most young adults receive from family members.
The program also maintains an active alumni network — a community of former residents who have completed the program and who are available to current residents as peer mentors, role models, and sources of practical advice. The alumni network is one of the program's most powerful resources, because it provides current residents with living proof that the outcomes they are working toward are achievable. Former residents who have secured stable housing, built careers, and created families of their own return to the campus to share their stories and to offer the kind of hope that no professional can provide as authentically.
Residing Hope's Independent Living Program serves young people ages 18 through 26 who have current or former involvement with the Florida child welfare system, or who are experiencing homelessness attributable to a childhood in foster care. Young people who are currently in foster care and approaching their 18th birthday are encouraged to connect with the program in advance of aging out, to ensure a smooth transition and avoid the period of acute instability that often follows an abrupt exit from care.
Referrals are accepted from the Florida Department of Children and Families, community-based care lead agencies, case managers, school counselors, community organizations, and self-referrals. The program's intake team conducts an assessment of each applicant's needs, goals, and readiness for independent living services, and works with the applicant to develop an individualized service plan that reflects their specific circumstances and aspirations.
Program participation is voluntary and strength-based. Residents are treated as capable adults who are working toward specific goals, not as clients who are being managed by a system. The program's staff approach their work with the conviction that every young person who has survived the foster care system has demonstrated extraordinary resilience — and that their job is to help residents build on that resilience, not to compensate for deficits.
Success in the Independent Living Program is not a single moment — it is a trajectory. It is a young person who arrives with no work history and leaves with a full-time job and a savings account. It is a young person who arrives with untreated PTSD and leaves with the skills and support to manage their mental health effectively. It is a young person who arrives having never had a stable home and leaves with a lease in their name and the knowledge of how to maintain it.
The Enterprise campus — with its Spanish moss oaks, its chapel, its community gardens, its history of more than a century of service to Florida's most vulnerable children — provides a physical environment that communicates something important to the young people who live there: that they are worth investing in, that their lives matter, that the community of people who have gathered on this land across more than a hundred years of history believes in their capacity to flourish.
To refer a young person or to inquire about the program, call Residing Hope at 386-668-4774. The intake team is ready to help.
Residing Hope has served Florida children and families since 1908 through evidence-based, trauma-informed care rooted in the love of Christ.