11. After Aging Out: Ryan Hatcher

Aligning with Episode 10. Understanding the Foster Care System, this episode explores the perspective of the child who goes through "the system." Ryan Hatcher, a graduate student at the University of Central Florida, sits down with Laurie to share his foster care story, which began as an infant and is still evolving today. We were able to connect with Ryan through his involvement as a client and now advocate of the Foundation for Foster Children, a local nonprofit that was represented in Episode 10.

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Transcript

Transcript

00:00:05 Laurie Crocker

Welcome to Central Florida Foundation's First You Talk podcast. Here you'll gain a better understanding of society's toughest issues at the end of each episode, we'll summarize the main points and offer deeper dive options. If something piques your interest. So ready to demystify a complex issue and up your knowledge.

00:00:24 Laurie Crocker

Game. Let's get started.

00:00:28 Ryan Hatcher

So my name is Ryan Kendall Hatcher. I am former foster youth. Specifically, I was awarded the Court formerly known as Ward State. I'm a first Gen. college student. Now I'm my first Gen. graduate student at the University of Central Florida, which is the second largest school in the country. Yes. Yep. Yep. Yep. And so my graduate plan of study.

00:00:43 Laurie Crocker

I didn't know that, but for UCF, I know it's huge.

00:00:48 Ryan Hatcher

This public administration, my undergrad, I was studying kinesiology because I was an athlete dancer. So.

00:00:54 Ryan Hatcher

Like I like being very active.

00:00:56 Laurie Crocker

Yeah. So you're in grad school. You. So when did you start grad school this year?

00:01:01 Ryan Hatcher

Yep, this semester it's going well right now. Like I'm actually cooking. Like, I don't know how much of the change because it's my first semester, but we'll see, but right.

00:01:02 Laurie Crocker

Cool. Awesome. How's it going?

00:01:09 Ryan Hatcher

Now I'm doing.

00:01:09 Ryan Hatcher

Very good had. Yeah. I had my midterm for one of my classes, my public administration in the policy making process class did very well in that class and also my other class.

00:01:10 Laurie Crocker

And yeah, go ahead.

00:01:20 Ryan Hatcher

Taking this semester as urban resilience as well, doing pretty well in that class too. It's not as fun as the first one because that one is like.

00:01:27 Ryan Hatcher

Straight PDF that I have to read and then just do like biweekly papers on it.

00:01:31 Laurie Crocker

MHM.

00:01:31 Ryan Hatcher

But those papers are like commentaries, so like 500 words, but overall doing pretty well, right?

00:01:36 Laurie Crocker

Now pretty well, OK. So I was wondering if we you wouldn't mind starting the conversation with kind of going through not your whole life story, but a little bit of what it was.

00:01:47 Ryan Hatcher

Like so. Essentially my experience was at the time around the time I was born.

00:01:52 Ryan Hatcher

Like let's say, maybe a year prior, right? So with my biological mother, I have an older sister, so I'm the second oldest of my biological mother's children. There is some situation with my older sister who.

00:02:03 Ryan Hatcher

There on my biological mother, she left my sister with people she knew, but when she came back, she was gone for like some days.

00:02:14 Ryan Hatcher

And like after a while, like she was gone because my mom does goes with like, I lost her mom. She does go missing a lot. Like, whatever. Like people don't know where she's at. So what happens when she comes back on? They try not to give my sister back to my mother. Mom. So what happened with that is my older sister. She wanted to basically foster care. Like you mentioned like non relative relative care which is a ward of the court or ward of the state.

00:02:35 Ryan Hatcher

Depending on the verbiage of whatever state, so she kind of lost her friend.

00:02:41 Ryan Hatcher

Then immediately when I was born, I was taking like, right into the hospital and then I got placed under care. Like a lot of my biological family members, they didn't necessarily want to take me. So my mother and you can hear that a lot. When I mentioned my mom versus my biological mother. But my mom, she's technically like my cousin like her.

00:03:01 Ryan Hatcher

Son, she only has one son. He wanted her brother. They saw my biological mother at a subway, and my brother always ate at subway, and she asked my mom if she can get me because nobody else would take me. And then lo and behold, this is where I'm at now.

00:03:17 Ryan Hatcher

So I do know who both my biological parents are. Parents are never grew up with them. I grew up mostly in Orlando most of my life. I was born in Jacksonville, so it's been pretty weird. I had DCF called on my mom like a couple times, like when I was elementary school. And then my mom had to kind of like, check them a little bit. She was like, you don't keep up with him, don't do nothing.

00:03:36 Ryan Hatcher

And everything basically like my elementary school teacher said, which I didn't know that they were doing this, but was essentially it was a lie. Like for example like my favorite teacher in elementary school, like my second grade teacher like she called because like they said I was wearing like the same clothes or something to school.

00:03:54 Ryan Hatcher

And then when my caseworker came right and they look in the closet, they see he has a full closet full of brand new clothes and things like this. And that's when my mom got on them about that. Like, you don't do your your, like, biannual with checkups with me or anything like that. They didn't even know where I was, which is crazy.

00:04:13 Ryan Hatcher

Because even though.

00:04:14 Ryan Hatcher

Ohh, like high school elementary school like I don't. I never even knew the name of my caseworker. That's how much they did not keep up with me whatsoever.

00:04:21 Laurie Crocker

So if I could pause you for just a moment. So you had mentioned your mom and biological mom, right. And you had mentioned that your mom is your cousin. So when did because it sounds like you also lived with your mom at different times.

00:04:37 Ryan Hatcher

Yeah, I never lived my biological mom, so.

00:04:39 Ryan Hatcher

Like so, if I ever, if you ever hear me say mom versus biological mom when I'm referring to biological mom, I mean my birth mother when I just say my mom.

00:04:40 Laurie Crocker

OK.

00:04:44 Laurie Crocker

Got it.

00:04:45 Laurie Crocker

Got it. So you were living with your mom and threw out this. You had a case manager who you did not.

00:04:54 Laurie Crocker

Know.

00:04:54 Ryan Hatcher

That I never knew.

00:04:55 Laurie Crocker

That you never knew.

00:04:56 Ryan Hatcher

Maybe single one time. OK, yeah. OK. So essentially that I remember and my mom and my mom talked about this a lot. It was like a court date. They had to go to. When I went to school, I remember they took me out of school to go to downtown to go to the courthouse. And my biological mom was there. And some of my, like, aunties and stuff was there. And my mom was explaining to me because.

00:05:17 Ryan Hatcher

My mom.

00:05:19 Ryan Hatcher

Oh, I guess they're like.

00:05:20 Ryan Hatcher

Trying.

00:05:20 Ryan Hatcher

To put my mom on child support or whatever my biological mother on child support. Whatever. But my mom never believed in that. Like, even with her oldest son, like her single son like she never put his father in child support because she doesn't like the system as well. And I remember my biological mom going off in there just like.

00:05:38 Ryan Hatcher

Going and shouting everything like that. And then the judge was like, because it I'll make sure she leaves with this, this, this and this first. So like, there's things supposed to get like food stamps, Medicaid, things like that that the government was like, this is what they told my mom that I would be receiving and so.

00:05:55 Ryan Hatcher

My biological mom was trying not to get like put on my child and everything like.

00:05:58 Ryan Hatcher

That.

00:05:58 Ryan Hatcher

But my mom didn't do it because she didn't need it and she was making enough money to where she really did not care to have to do that. But these are things I remember. I'm just growing up.

00:05:59 Laurie Crocker

MHM.

00:06:06 Laurie Crocker

MHM.

00:06:08 Ryan Hatcher

And this is really weird because the next time that I even had any type of contact with DCF from that point of elementary school was until.

00:06:17 Ryan Hatcher

I was about to graduate high school and that's how I got my tuition waiver to go to college. So and how that happened is it wasn't even like my caseworker that came to me. I got a call from my auntie who takes care of my old sister. Right? So I guess my cause, my sister, she lives in Saint Augustine with my auntie, I guess her caseworker kept up with her.

00:06:38 Ryan Hatcher

But I had my cause. I knew what the waiver was, but I never knew how to get it. And then so when my auntie called me and my sister called me, and that's how they put me in contact with whoever it was. If I can look at the name of my, I've read the person name. I don't know if she still works for DCF or not, but they put her in contact with my mom and that's how we got my waiver.

00:06:57 Ryan Hatcher

And then essentially to get my waiver, they had to close my case. But after that, I never really had any contact with the government like that in terms of my case, we're just.

00:07:05 Laurie Crocker

Interesting.

00:07:06 Ryan Hatcher

Yeah.

00:07:07 Laurie Crocker

So do you have? I know your sister then was with an auntie of yours up in Saint Augustine. Do you have a relationship with your sister?

00:07:17 Ryan Hatcher

Yeah. And mostly when I was younger, I went to go visit her, like once when I was in 6th grade, like every now. Then me and her talked like I talked to her like a couple of months back.

00:07:21 Ryan Hatcher

Mm-hmm.

00:07:26 Laurie Crocker

Is there a big age difference?

00:07:27 Ryan Hatcher

No, she's a year older than me. OK. Yeah, but we it's crazy cause we graduated the same year, 2017 at high school because it's also weird, right? Like all of this is one of the things that.

00:07:39 Ryan Hatcher

My biological mom said that my mother had to tell me, she said in the courthouse before. She's gonna keep having kids till they let her keep one and they never let her keep 1. So I have a lot of siblings that are all technically wards of the court because they're not. She lost her parental right. She had the opportunity to gain them back with me, but and she was on the track of, you know, like she was doing things. So you need to do. She had a job.

00:08:01 Ryan Hatcher

With the Government of Jacksonville, so she is working for City of Jacksonville. She's doing all the things. She just never complete her classes and then it'll work. And then once they saw that, I guess because there's also a lie where, like, I guess she said something about my biological father.

00:08:16 Ryan Hatcher

And one of the things was that he can't be around. And then one day, when they did a house check up for her like he was there and then that kind of sealed the deal. And then I got a hold of some, like, files that my mom protected from me because she's very protective of my biological mom because they also kind of grew up together. So she gets very protective over her and.

00:08:36 Ryan Hatcher

So when I seen all the court documents that was like the one court document that she kept from me, I still have yet to fully read through, to read it again, cause I don't really much remember it, but it's about like an evaluation she had with me in front of like a therapist or something.

00:08:40 Laurie Crocker

Mm-hmm.

00:08:46 Laurie Crocker

MHM.

00:08:49 Ryan Hatcher

And they're just things that she did and that kind of basically like sealed the deal. Like you lost your parental rights.

00:08:53 Laurie Crocker

Yeah. When you got to 18, were you still in high school?

00:08:59 Ryan Hatcher

So I graduated high school at 17, so I started school early at 4. You supposed to start at 5:00, but I guess because my age went with the year. So like I turned.

00:09:05 Laurie Crocker

MHM.

00:09:10 Ryan Hatcher

Five in August and the school year starts.

00:09:12 Ryan Hatcher

This, but I also think I might have took a test or something. I was like he can take the test, that's what my mom told me.

00:09:16 Laurie Crocker

You seem very bright. So that would make sense. So. OK. So you're in college when you turn 18, right? So you. So, my understanding is that each child now adult gets the option to opt in to extended foster care. Do you remember that?

00:09:20 Ryan Hatcher

Yeah.

00:09:33 Laurie Crocker

Decision or what you decided?

00:09:34 Ryan Hatcher

I I never had that option like.

00:09:37 Laurie Crocker

OK.

00:09:38 Ryan Hatcher

It's and this is one of the things I'm glad you talked about, like my life. Once I aged out. It's been weird for me because like I said, my like the state of Florida never kept up, kept up with me. So there were things that I figured out that I was supposed to get or that I qualified for. But I never received because I never had the state.

00:09:58 Ryan Hatcher

Do their job and keep up with me. So like for example?

00:09:59 Laurie Crocker

Hmm.

00:10:02 Ryan Hatcher

Like once by the time I got in contact with the Foundation for Foster children, which I knew about, then once I started college because I made connections within every office when I was at Valencia, I started college at Valencia and I had a ally in the Office of Student Disabilities, which I don't have disability, but I made allies everywhere, and I was a founder of an organization.

00:10:14 Laurie Crocker

MHM.

00:10:23 Ryan Hatcher

When I was at Valencia so I had to know people and her name was Robin and she put me in contact with the foundation even prior to Robin.

00:10:26 Laurie Crocker

MHM.

00:10:31 Ryan Hatcher

And that it was also someone by the name of Fontella Jones. She's a counselor there too. I just never realized because I'm hyper independent, so I never really got in contact with the foundation of judgment until after COVID.

00:10:38 Laurie Crocker

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:10:43 Laurie Crocker

OK. So you're what junior in college?

00:10:46 Ryan Hatcher

So at the time, I was still like.

00:10:47 Ryan Hatcher

Sophomore. Yeah, yeah.

00:10:48 Laurie Crocker

OK, sophomore and then you get into contact. So, OK, that's that's a great connection back to Foundation for Foster Children.

00:10:54 Laurie Crocker

And so you get into contact with the people that you just said at Valencia, Valencia connected you and what was your first experience, what? What even drew you so you're, you know, a 20 year old, 19 year old, probably 19 and you're feeling this pull to get support what were you were you feeling like you really needed?

00:11:01 Ryan Hatcher

Yeah.

00:11:07 Ryan Hatcher

Yeah.

00:11:14 Laurie Crocker

Port.

00:11:14 Ryan Hatcher

At that time, yeah, that's generally because I'm very hyper dependent but not hyper independent. But I'm very independent. I'm a fixer so like, and I'm more of a hands on type of learner and trial by fire type of person. So like I don't go for help until I really feel like I need it.

00:11:29 Ryan Hatcher

And at the time I remember I made a post on my Snapchat. I'm like, I'm going to show you the rebirth of the king. A new kind of metamorphosis. It's like a lyric from a song that, like - And that just resonated with me. And I remember because at the time I had at that point, I had my learner's license for, like, years and never actually had my full, like.

00:11:39 Laurie Crocker

MHM.

00:11:49 Ryan Hatcher

Class E license and it's like soon as like COVID ended and I got in contact with the foundation like one of the first things I did was like, I need to get my life.

00:11:50

M.

00:11:58 Ryan Hatcher

So.

00:11:59 Laurie Crocker

That is something that has come up multiple times in my conversation. Something is, you know, quote unquote simple as a driver's license is a gap that a lot of children in the foster care system don't do. So that was true with you too.

00:12:13 Ryan Hatcher

Yeah, because it's more so like my mom. Like, every time I drove her like she panicked too much. And I I don't. I don't like that. So I never like, I can't drive her.

00:12:21 Ryan Hatcher

So it was that. And then I also learned that like certain insurance companies, like if you took like an actual like driver safety course, they will like give you discount. Yeah. So I when I got in contact, the foundation, one of the first things I did, I was like, I wanna take this class at the Florida Safety Council is like a three day class. The 4th day is the drivers.

00:12:42 Ryan Hatcher

I just did that all within the span of four days. That quick got my license and that's how my relationship with the foundation just grew, huh?

00:12:42 Laurie Crocker

MHM.

00:12:45 Laurie Crocker

That's awesome. Yeah.

00:12:49 Laurie Crocker

So so when you reach out to the foundation, you're like, this is what I want to do. What? What did they what?

00:12:56 Laurie Crocker

Their input onto that. Did they connect you? Did they help you get there?

00:13:01 Ryan Hatcher

I kind of already knew where to go for the license stuff, but essentially what the foundation did was they told me, like everything, the options I have with them like so they talked about someone talked to me about like like the Empower program and like at the time the enrichment program or like.

00:13:04 Laurie Crocker

OK.

00:13:16 Ryan Hatcher

Where some students like, they just needed like quick financial help, right. And I was like, well, no, I want to be integrated in this. So like, I'm not just here for the money. I want to see what you have to offer, because something that I do on the back end is.

00:13:19

MHM.

00:13:25

M.

00:13:29 Ryan Hatcher

I relate information to people like if I learn something, I want to bring people along with me. So right I pass along to knowledge to my game. So when I'm like I'm a subsite teacher, that's my primary job, right? So when I'm in these classrooms, I'm saying, hey, if you knew a student who is a foster youth background, they awarded the court this data. The third, these are some resources for you.

00:13:45

M.

00:13:49 Ryan Hatcher

And I tell them about the process, cause I've been through it and there is no I was working on it by myself. My mom didn't know. Right. My biological mom didn't know which I barely talked to her. But like, so I'm walking through this trial of fire by myself and I want.

00:14:02 Ryan Hatcher

To make sure.

00:14:03 Ryan Hatcher

That I make a better way for the people behind me to come up with me, yeah.

00:14:06 Laurie Crocker

Sure. Yeah, absolutely. So OK, so you that was your first engagement with the the foundation, right? Can you explain how that's evolved over time?

00:14:14 Ryan Hatcher

So it's crazy I have. I have like Carlos and Brian then Andrew, then Tony, then back to Andrew. So I had about four different advocates. Carlos was my first. So, like, a lot of happens like it's been, it's involved that way.

00:14:26 Laurie Crocker

OK.

00:14:30 Ryan Hatcher

And this is mostly grew just me learning more things, right? So when I mentioned prior to like when I aged out, quote UN quote and there's things I didn't know, like things like pests, right. So like the post education secondary, I forgot what the other stands for, right. But it's like a stipend that helps students like me who need help living, right?

00:14:50 Ryan Hatcher

And so like, if that needed to go towards rent, so I can utilize something else, I qualify for that and didn't know I didn't find out about that until my 23rd birthday, because pest cuts off at 23rd after.

00:15:00 Ryan Hatcher

23rd birthday and.

00:15:01 Laurie Crocker

Oh.

00:15:02 Ryan Hatcher

And.

00:15:03 Ryan Hatcher

So me and my mentor, she works at University of Central Florida. She's the foster care liaison there as well. And we were trying to like hammer home before my 23rd birthday. Sure. At least try to get that one. And this is something that I lament to my mentor all the time. And like she says, it needs to be better too, because it's.

00:15:18 Ryan Hatcher

Like there's no way that.

00:15:22 Ryan Hatcher

You aren't doing what you supposed to do like.

00:15:24 Laurie Crocker

So when you mentioned your mentor, are those names that you just said or OK?

00:15:26 Ryan Hatcher

Hmm.

00:15:28 Ryan Hatcher

So my mentor name is Dr. Tammie Nadeau. Yeah, she's.

00:15:31 Laurie Crocker

OK. And can you explain what that means your mentor?

00:15:34 Ryan Hatcher

So.

00:15:35 Ryan Hatcher

Like, I literally officially asked her to be my mentor just to like one. Be someone hold me accountable, challenge the way I think, and just overall make me a better like student and professional and in all walks of life essentially. So that's what she does. Like I said, I make allies wherever I go. Like when I was, at least I made allies in every office.

00:15:55 Ryan Hatcher

Especially the person who deals with, like the foster youth and things with the tuition waiver. And she was that person. So I was always in her office.

00:16:03 Ryan Hatcher

Constantly.

00:16:04 Laurie Crocker

So this is the person at UCF, so you really you you took it upon yourself to say, hey, will you be my mentor? No one was forcing you to do that.

00:16:05 Ryan Hatcher

Yeah.

00:16:10 Ryan Hatcher

Yeah.

00:16:13 Ryan Hatcher

Like after a while, like after at that point I knew her about like a year, maybe two years and then.

00:16:19 Ryan Hatcher

Like I just like Miss Tammie. Can you be my mentor? Yeah.

00:16:22 Laurie Crocker

Yeah, yeah. And obviously she accepted, and now it's been a few years now, yeah.

00:16:27 Ryan Hatcher

Yeah. So about four years now, I know four years I don't. I think she's been my mentor officially, maybe almost three years.

00:16:34 Ryan Hatcher

Like I've worked for her now. So I worked in student care services at UCF, under her directly being essentially kind of like a peer mentor. But in, like, a different way. We're called peer mentors. We're gonna do way more now. So like, now, my mentorship is going to mirror kind of like what advocacy looks like for the foundation for foster children because I already held, like, mentorship type roles before and.

00:16:38 Laurie Crocker

MMM MMM.

00:16:52 Laurie Crocker

M.

00:16:55 Ryan Hatcher

Other organizations, but now I'm doing it like officially through like student.

00:16:58 Laurie Crocker

Care services. So. So one thing that.

00:17:00 Laurie Crocker

I've heard in my conversations is that and these are from people who are coming in from being subject matter experts, right? Not maybe living it, but in this space is that it really takes just one meaningful relationship for a child turned young adult and so on to.

00:17:20 Laurie Crocker

Be OK and thrive and have a fulfilling life. A do you think that's accurate and B do you have that person in your life?

00:17:29 Ryan Hatcher

Yeah, I believe that's very accurate. Mm-hmm. For me, it's multiple people, right. I think the original person, I have to say is my mom, the one who raised me. Right. I remember this conversation from when I started kindergarten. Like, the first thing she said was make relationships with your teachers. And I've held that true to that.

00:17:34 Laurie Crocker

OK.

00:17:39 Laurie Crocker

M.

00:17:49 Ryan Hatcher

All through college and there's not a single teacher. I can't go back to who won't write a recommendation for me won't help me with something and.

00:17:50

MHM.

00:17:59 Ryan Hatcher

That's just it's just my village. I I seeked it and also sometimes I just built it right. Just me being like I was an average student for like most of my life, I wasn't a AB honor roll student until maybe freshman year high school.

00:18:12 Ryan Hatcher

I never have three days.

00:18:13 Ryan Hatcher

Till this day. So.

00:18:13

MHM.

00:18:14 Ryan Hatcher

But I've done the work. I'm always there. I'm helpful. I'm there to show up and.

00:18:21 Ryan Hatcher

Even now, at College in the same office without Miss Tammie and my mentor, I have another, like, unofficial mentor. His name is Mr. Jackson, right? I went to the conference that he had. He also sent me to a conference in Long Beach, CA. Like, greatest experience of my life. But like, one of the things that he always teaches is.

00:18:41 Ryan Hatcher

It's not what you know. It's not who it you know that saying it's not what? You know who you know, but it's not even just that it's also who knows you because you can know.

00:18:49 Ryan Hatcher

Somebody doesn't mean.

00:18:50 Ryan Hatcher

They know you. And when the person knows you specifically, there could be a door that was closed that is open. So I've had that happen to me where people have opened the door for me because they knew who I was. They knew who my mentor.

00:18:50 Laurie Crocker

That's true.

00:19:03 Ryan Hatcher

Yes, right. And like I just have so many people like that and they were all teachers or a good chunk of them were teachers. Some of them were coaches, right?

00:19:14 Ryan Hatcher

Someone would just like Pierce, but I have those people to lean on those.

00:19:18 Ryan Hatcher

People lean on me as well.

00:19:19 Laurie Crocker

Yeah, you said that you were an athlete, right? So was that something that your mom kind of encouraged you to do or you just naturally fell into?

00:19:26 Ryan Hatcher

That I naturally fell into. It's funny. Because right. So my biological family, like I come from athletes I come from like artists. I come from some people who are also very academic as well. Like, I was one of the few.

00:19:37 Ryan Hatcher

That kind of had the mix of all of it. I used to hate going outside when I was younger, like my punishment, like because I didn't like to go outside like I had to go outside or like, at the time my stepbrother, he had to stay indoors because he like going outside. It wasn't until maybe around 5th grade, 4th grade when I start going outside more because I come from track. Athletes. I come from football, athletes. I come from baseball, athletes, basketball athletes.

00:19:39 Laurie Crocker

MHM.

00:19:59 Ryan Hatcher

My sport ultimately became track and field. That's like my most sport, so I ran track. I played volleyball my sophomore year. One year, I started. I hated that first because the first I was on JV and the freshman, they joked around a lot. I don't joke around at practice, but my sport ultimately was track and field.

00:20:16 Ryan Hatcher

And it's just something I liked about. I like the running cause. Then track. It's a team sport, but it's also a very individual and really your only opponent. Yes, you might be running other people, but your true opponent is really the clock. That's why PR's matter a lot. So it's something that I really seek. I dance a little bit too, so I like dancing. Yeah, and I like.

00:20:22

MHM.

00:20:34

MHM, MHM.

00:20:36 Ryan Hatcher

Dive into acting so I have a very creative side and athletic side that a lot of people don't know, but yeah. And I also been taking judo. I took judo when I have UCF as well, so.

00:20:40 Laurie Crocker

Yeah.

00:20:41 Laurie Crocker

That's awesome.

00:20:46 Ryan Hatcher

I'm. I'm yeah. Yeah.

00:20:47 Laurie Crocker

You're very involved. Yeah. Yeah. OK. So. So a lot of different people you would say helped you in a lot of different ways. It sounds like your mom was a great influence on you. What great advice to make friends or, like, build a relationship with your teacher. And you said in kindergarten. So. So yeah, yeah, that, that that is great advice.

00:21:02 Ryan Hatcher

Mm-hmm. Yep. Yeah.

00:21:08 Laurie Crocker

So I know that before we close up, you had some bill that you wanted to talk about and I'd love to be educated on this. So go.

00:21:15 Laurie Crocker

Ahead and share a little bit.

00:21:15 Ryan Hatcher

So the bill is the.

00:21:17 Ryan Hatcher

The Campus Housing Affordability Act, or HR 8925, that is a bipartisan bill that has been Co sponsored by 4 different legislators on both sides of.

00:21:28 Ryan Hatcher

The aisle I.

00:21:28 Laurie Crocker

And we're talking federal. Just to be clear. OK, go ahead.

00:21:29 Ryan Hatcher

Federal. Yeah. Yeah, U.S. Congress. Essentially. What the bill does is they would extend on, like, the housing vouchers, like Section 8, things like that towards like.

00:21:39 Ryan Hatcher

Foster youth to help them get housing so they can use it on both either off campus housing or on campus housing as well, just to give them that room. I remember when I first learned about it. It's through the NFYI advocacy fund.

00:21:52 Ryan Hatcher

Hmm, which I learned about that through my mentor, cause he's foster care liaison and they had a fellowship to where you could work for. Like, the caucus for Foster children. And she's like, you need to be in that because, like, you have great insight. But I remember I was on my LinkedIn and I seen that them talking about that bill. And that's essentially what it does. And I was like.

00:22:12 Ryan Hatcher

That is great because it's needed, and I remember I asked my mentor, what does she think about the bill and her only she's like as good. But her only concern about the bill is like, let's say they do that because we already have the tuition waivers, right. Well, if we're paying for your housing and now we're paying for your tuition, like, what's to stop them from taking away your financial aid? That.

00:22:31 Ryan Hatcher

She would get right. She was like because he got a call from Tallahassee. Has a Direct Line to Tallahassee about DCF and they asked her her opinion about it. And she was telling them, like, you have to take the students into account, right. You can do all of that. But the students still have other needs they have to. That takes a financial burden. Like, maybe like their transportation or their food.

00:22:49 Laurie Crocker

Yep, absolutely.

00:22:52 Ryan Hatcher

Or thing like that. Yeah, you can give them the housing and the tuition costs. Now they're not covering that, but they still have other needs that need to be met. And these are children who come from very.

00:23:03 Ryan Hatcher

Bad situations, whether it's foster care or homelessness, or the combination of such the tuition waiver expires on our 28th birthday.

00:23:12 Ryan Hatcher

Right. So we can get things like PESS or like this the HR 8925 to match the year of the waiver that gives them enough time to bring those students up and actually like make themselves known and prepare themselves for after that. And I think that's a great idea.

00:23:31 Laurie Crocker

OK. So we're wrapping up. Unfortunately, I love talking to you. Is there anything that

00:23:38 Laurie Crocker

You know you want to. So let me let me back up really quickly. Our audience is largely people who want to help concerned citizens, philanthropist people who want to invest. What would your.

00:23:52 Laurie Crocker

Do you have an area that you think needs more attention? If you think about the foster care system at large or and just a call to action, a way to help.

00:24:03 Ryan Hatcher

Yeah, I might give you 2 in terms of like the greater foster care system. I think the best way to address it is to unify the entire system, right? So we don't have students like myself who fell through the cracks where their caseworkers aren't keeping up with us, right. That can be done in a multitude of ways.

00:24:22 Ryan Hatcher

On.

00:24:22 Ryan Hatcher

If you do it at the federal level, I think they'll be way more like scrutiny put onto the system because then like you have to do your job right when you have so many different States and even counties doing like what they want to do. Like, that's how things get lost in the shuffle. That's why, for example, like my case, that's through Duvall. Even we're in the same state.

00:24:43 Ryan Hatcher

Like the OC, the Orange County Office doesn't know nothing about my case. If you unify it, right, you can keep up with the students and you won't, like, fall through the cracks in terms of like with the people who want to help. I'm very boots on the ground, you guys. Anybody. The foundation. I feel like if you're in a leadership position.

00:25:04 Ryan Hatcher

On people like seeing leadership boots, doing boots on the ground, work right there in the trenches with the other individuals so they can actually see that what the people experience and they will get, that would give more credibility to the people who want to help as well.

00:25:20 Ryan Hatcher

And really, just listen and more so don't like try to talk at the person, but it's really just being very integral and hands on with the people that you want to help, right. People that goes way further than your bank account. Even that could help. That goes further than what your.

00:25:31

MHM.

00:25:37

Yeah.

00:25:40 Ryan Hatcher

PhD says your Masters degree says your bachelor's degree. It goes way further. It's what are you doing with the people? Like the people need to see you and also giving the people a voice. And that's what I would say might be like the greatest.

00:25:52

MHM.

00:25:56 Ryan Hatcher

The hell.

00:25:58 Laurie Crocker

Thank you, Ryan. I really appreciate this conversation.

00:25:59 Ryan Hatcher

You're welcome.

00:26:00 Ryan Hatcher

You're welcome. I'll come back too, at.

00:26:02 Ryan Hatcher

Some point, yeah.

00:26:08 Laurie Crocker

Not ready for the conversation to be over. Neither are we. Find us on our website at cffound.org/podcast, Instagram @cffound and LinkedIn and Facebook at Central Florida Foundation. Let us know what you think about this episode.

00:26:25 Laurie Crocker

Ask questions and suggest future topics.

00:26:29 Mark Brewer

Thank you for listening to the podcast. First You Talk. As an engaged listener of this show. We encourage you to check out our podcast website at cffound.org/podcast to learn more about the complex issue. There you'll find more context to the voices that you've heard today.

00:26:49 Mark Brewer

Links to any supporting materials mentioned during the episode and resources to help you explore additional perspectives to draw a fuller picture of the issue at hand through curiosity and collaboration, we can all make our community an even better place to call home.