Yanirha has 24 years old and is a young former ward. She entered the protection system as a child with her four siblings and has denounced the lack of protection for wards when they turn 18.
«I don’t want anyone else to turn 18 with a suitcase in one hand and uncertainty in the other,» Yanirha warns. «The system lets go of your hand just when you need it the most,» she added this Friday at an event held in the Senate, organized by the NGO Mamás en Acción –which supports children alone in hospitals–, on the occasion of Family Foster Care Day celebrated this Saturday, May 31.
Yanirha has lamented that when they say the word «former ward,» they are treated «like a criminal,» a label that, as she has warned, is very difficult to shake off because, overnight, just when they reach the age of majority, they go through a revolving door. «You enter as a protected minor and exit as an invisible adult,» she warns.
In her case, she recalled that when she left the system, she did not have a foster family or independent housing. Her life has not been without difficulties, with suicide attempts and eating disorders, but Yanirha explains that «it hasn’t all been darkness» because she was «lucky» that the educational team that supported her in childhood continued to support her to this day.
«They never let go of me,» she thanked, highlighting how she was helped by meeting another former ward and by Haziak (Seed), an association in Navarra that supports these individuals by giving them tools to move forward in adult life.
Likewise, she has said that her life has been changed by a project she participated in, where in exchange for keeping company with an elderly person, she could have a roof over her head and continue studying. «That project completely changed my life, it gave me a place, a new family, and a comfort zone,» she explained, emotional.
On the other hand, Yanirha has advocated for the work of professionals working in youth centers and has called on authorities to provide «more support» to these workers.
«It’s useless that… I’m going to throw out random figures. A worker earns 1,200 euros but is alone with eight minors for 12 hours in a flat. If it’s required for a parent to provide three hours of intensive care to a child daily, why do you leave a person, who may be 23 or 24 years old, who has just graduated in integration, with eight minors or six minors with everything they entail?» she posed.
Additionally, she criticized the frequent changing of social workers who care for them, when the young people have already built trust with them.
«If it’s already difficult for us minors to trust people, if once we trust someone they are changed, because they are moved to another flat, it’s tough. And not only for us, but for the workers themselves. I know of workers who have had to take sick leave because they have empathized so much with us, or have seen us suffer so much that they can’t do anything,» she pointed out.
REALITY CHECK
Amparo Arona, a foster mother, also participated in the event, discovering this resource while volunteering for Mamás en Acción. «I had a reality check. I didn’t know that in my city, very close to my home, there were children living in a residence and it impacted me a lot,» she recounted. «Indeed, there are children born from the womb and others from the heart. And you know what? They are loved absolutely the same,» she asserted.
Another foster mother, María Ibáñez, along with her husband and five children, decided to open their home to a ward living in a center. Specifically, they opted for the weekend and holiday model, which benefits especially older minors who find it more difficult to find a permanent family.
Although they had initial fears, she stated that being a foster family has taught them that life can be lived «in a different way» and she recommends it «one hundred percent.» «She’s just another member of the family,» she concluded.
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FUENTE