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By CECE TODD; Times Leader Staff Writer
Friday, December 06, 1996 Page: 1A
WILKES-BARRE — With no family to turn to, 19-year-old Corey Boltz is on
his own.
While other teenagers play video games or ride skateboards, Corey pays
rent, worries about bills and wonders if his new apartment will be warm enough
this winter. He juggles his senior year at E.L. Meyers High School with a
part-time job at a convenience store.
“It’s pretty hard,” says Corey, a former foster child. “I’m not where I’d
like to be. But I’m getting there.”
Corey is one of 10 individuals and families being featured in the annual
Times Leader Book of Dreams. This year’s goal is $21,437.
In August, Corey moved into an apartment on South Franklin Street after
living in foster care for 11 years. While he still has some contact with his
mother, Luzerne County Children and Youth Services has been his primary source
of support for most of his childhood.
“Peggy. She’s like my mom,” he says of caseworker Peggy Peterson. “She’s
done a lot for me.”
Children and Youth helped Corey find an apartment through the agency’s
Independent Living Program. The state-funded program has assisted more than
100 Luzerne County adolescents, most of them teenagers who have no family to
help them financially once they leave foster care.
The agency teaches them life skills, from balancing checkbooks to applying
for jobs, then helps them get started. After that, teens like Corey are on
their own.
“Children and Youth gave me a lot of help,” Corey says. “They bought me a
couch and some lamps and some other stuff. They helped me get my utilities
turned on.”
And with a little interior decorating by his girlfriend, Kristy, Corey
turned his Wilkes-Barre apartment into a home. But there are still a few
things he needs and cannot afford.
He has one set of sheets and a comforter for his bed, but would like to
have more blankets. “It gets cold in here,” he says of the bedroom with a
radiator hissing in the corner.
His telephone needs repairs, and his kitchen needs a few more dishes,
spoons, knives and forks.
“A microwave would be nice,” he says of times when he needs a quick meal
before dashing off to his job at a Turkey Hill. Corey works 30-35 hours a week
at a little more than minimum wage and receives $120 a month in food stamps.
Nationally, 15,000 children leave foster care each year when they turn 18.
The American Civil Liberties Union says that 40 percent of these young adults
end up on welfare because they have no family to fall back on and no skills to
live on their own.
Corey doesn’t want to be one of them. After he graduates from Meyers in
May, he would like to start communications classes at Luzerne County Community
College.
A little extra help now with things for his apartment means Corey can
concentrate on school and plan for his future.
Being on his own isn’t easy, but Corey takes his responsibilities
seriously.
“I had chores in the foster home, but I’ve got to do everything now,” the
teenager says. Glancing at the kitchen sink, he scowls. “I hate doing dishes,
but I do them because I know I have to.”
He is grateful to the foster parents who took him in during the years and
to Children and Youth for preparing him to be an adult.
“They’ve been great,” he says. “They’ve always worked something out for
me.”
* * * * *
You can now donate to Book of Dreams at any Mellon Bank.
Tellers will accept checks made out to Book of Dreams. The bank offered to
accept donations as a courtesy to the community.
TIMES LEADER/CLARK VAN ORDEN
Corey Boltz, 19, is on his own after living in foster care for 11 years.
Luzerne County Children and Youth Services helped him find an apartment, but
he still needs a few things he cannot afford.
The dream
Telephone:
$89
Microwave:
$230
Television:
$350
Dishes and silverware:
$130
Full-size sheet set and blankets:
$70