We will be collecting surveys from foster youth to get a better picture of how their lives have been affected by the COVID 19 crisis.

Hello. My name is Ms. Harada and I am a member of IFCA Foster Youth National Network’s Tokyo Team.

As COVID 19 continues to impact our daily lives, I am wondering how you are keeping yourselves safe?     For me who is a college student, it is anxiety provoking not to know what will happen to the school curriculums and of job-hunting efforts in the near future.  On the other hand, I have more personal time on my hands now and am trying to turn that aspect into a positive mindset.

One of my worries is about the scholarship I receive.  If I don’t attend school due to the current pandemic situation, I may have to return part of the scholarship amount which has been helpful for covering the living cost.

FosterClub is one of the national foster youth organization in the United States and they have started collecting surveys. According to the data collected from this survey, young people who are in the category of “vulnerable population” are experiencing unusual difficulties.
FosterClub’s data is available in the report which is accessible by clicking the link below.
http://urx.space/Ylxh

It is heartbreaking to know that young people who experienced foster care in the United States are living in dire straits due to the COVID 19 crisis.  It is expected that foster youth in Japan are also living in tough circumstances.

Currently, IFCA is getting ready to conduct its own foster youth survey.  The goal of this survey is to collect data on how COVID 19 is impacting the lives of young people who left foster care in Japan.

The survey will focus especially on young people’s housing, food, education, employment, finance, health/mental health, and connection to people around them, and the data collected will be utilized in finding what support is needed.

Please let us know if you know of anyone who has left child protection facilities or foster homes.  We plan to release the survey results which you will have an access to.