New app and website ‘FosterPower’ is empowering Florida’s foster youth
Bay Area Legal Services launched “FosterPower,” a free comprehensive app and website designed to help Florida’s foster youth access vital information about their benefits, protections, and legal rights.
There are over 20,000 children in Florida’s child welfare system. Over the past decade, Florida has gained local and national attention for its overburdened child welfare system — from kids sleeping in offices, suffering abuse in foster homes, being denied critical mental health services, and more, according to Bay Area Legal.
FosterPower aims to empower kids at one of the most stressful times in their lives by providing them with information in a more streamlined and accessible fashion. Pro bono attorneys and law students dedicated hundreds of hours to researching and compiling the law, whereupon FosterPower creator and attorney, Taylor Sartor, rephrased laws and regulations into approachable terminology for young people navigating the complex world of foster care. The app and website were built with input from over 50 former foster youth.