LUBBOCK, Texas -
Last December a federal judge ruled the state violates the Constitution by keeping children in an underfunded and poorly-run system "where rape, abuse, psychotropic medication and instability are the norm."
Jordan Arce, now 21, entered the system when he was 14 years old.
"It's very hard. It's one of the hardest things when you're in care - stability is the one thing you'll have to give up," Arce said. "From moving place to place to place, to new person to new person to new person."
His mom was on drugs and his house condemned, he says they were moving from hotel to hotel when he was taken away.
"The minute I walked out that hotel room was the moment my life was gonna change forever," he said. "I didn't know if it was gonna be good or bad."
Jordan was placed in a temporary group home.
"For me at this time, I thought it was normal to lock myself in a closet for seven to eight hours a day," he said. "Seeking privacy for myself. A sense of normalcy."
Arce, now a Texas Tech student majoring in math, says he owes his success to his support group, including his caseworker, whom he says is "like a sister" to him.
That caseworker contacted him asking him to join other former foster youth to testify before federal judge Janice Jack in Corpus Christi.
He says he immediately said yes.
"Go to Corpus Christi? Do something good for kids? I think it's a great idea," he said.
The judge ruled in favor of the children and against the State of Texas, saying attempts by the state to reform a broken system have failed, "ignoring 20 years of reports outlining problems and recommending solutions" for the nearly 30,000 children in foster care.
Lubbock State Senator Charles Perry, who testified April 20, 2016 at a Health and Human Services Committee hearing says the problems with the system should have been fixed years ago.
"What you should be hearing today is whatever it takes," he said. "Because there's plenty of money, but we're just not spending it well."
Robin Locke, Texas Tech's vice dean in the College of Education says it's not just about writing a check.
"It's important for all of us to recognize what really makes the difference for them is not just more services, more money, more programs," Locke said. "Although I have to give people a lot of credit for the things that are positive for those children in the foster care system, but rather that connection to caring adults."
Arce says he owes his success to the adults who helped him while he was in care, especially his worker with Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA).
"He saw me, like, grow up in the system, he saw me like how I grew as a person," Arce said. "I feel like I wanna do the same thing for a kid - help them grow and at least help them achieve something they can do, even though the odds are against them right now."
Arce says only 3 percent of foster youth go on to higher education.
Locke and her research colleagues received a federal grant to study the transition to post-secondary life in kids with disabilities and those in the foster care system, providing job mentors and training.
"People make the difference for these kids in foster care," she said. "You can set up programming all you want to, but it takes that individual concern and effort between the student and then the person who's trying to help them that makes that change for them and helps support them."
It was the people who didn't forget, and a promise Arce made to his mother before he died.
"Just achieving to be the best is something my mom wanted me to be," he said. "And I guess my friends always respected my mom's wish and helped me get through it."
Audra Coffman on
