Program helps youth aging out of foster care 

By Trinity Haynes

PITTSBURG, Kan. — It was late at night when Ruthie Muller received a text from her “anchor youth” reading: “Are you awake? I’m stranded and I don’t know who else to reach out to.”  

Unfortunately, Ruthie was not awake. First thing in the morning, Ruthie read the text and contacted Lacy Nickelson, director of Fostering Connections, a Pittsburg nonprofit organization. Created in 2018, the organization now has over twelve programs to get community members involved in the lives of foster children. 

Communicating with Lacy’s mother, who lives in Fort Scott, the pair were able to get this anchor youth back to the Pittsburg area safely. 

In December 2025, the Anchor Family program was established within Fostering Connections to help youth who are aging out of the foster care system. 

“I feel like we just kept asking questions like, what would be good, what would be helpful, what would benefit foster and adoptive families and make them longer lasting—what do kids need in this area?” Nickelson said. 

“Through that, now we have sixteen different initiatives or programs that we do for teens and children and foster adoptive families,” Nickelson said. 

A new idea 

The Anchor Family program was initially conceptualized in December 2024 after one of Fostering Connections’ Teen Impact events. 

Teen Impact is a separate program within Fostering Connections that helps foster teens build life skills with the help of those in their community. 

Having events and programs like Teen Impact had familiarized the Fostering Connections team and volunteers with teens throughout the area who were getting ready to age out of the system, which is where the idea began. 

“It led us to a lot of young adults who were getting ready to age out without anybody, and it was just sad to me,” Nickelson said. “I think like, who are they going to go to, to celebrate a holiday together, to do anything?” 

Nickelson said she is already seeing success. Today, there are already ten anchor family matches, with the goal of making it to twenty matches by December 2026.

Those involved with the program hope to give young adults aging out of the foster care system a stable group to contact when they are in need. 

“As someone who has watched a lot of teens transition out of foster care and the challenges and struggles they face with education and stable housing and stable employment and that transition into independent adulthood, I know that any support that can be offered in any capacity is invaluable to them,” said Shanna Frank, a volunteer and anchor parent. 

Bringing people together 

The Anchor Family program has already proven to be successful and a meaningful option for those looking to serve in their community that may lead busier lives. 

“We were looking for a way to be involved and serve foster youth in some capacity.” Shanna said. “I had been connected to Lacy, and I had done some volunteer work with Fostering Connections in other ways when this program was still in development. When she got it started, it was a good fit for us.” 

Shanna and husband Philip are examples of people with full schedules who still work with Fostering Connections through the Anchor Family program to give their anchor youth someone to rely on. 

“My wife has fostered in the past,” Philip said. “That is something that our family would like to do, but we have a 3-year-old.” 

“At the time, we had just had a newborn, and we weren’t where we thought that we could host or have long-term fostering care, but it’s still something we are strong proponents of,” Philip said. 

For others, this program just provided another avenue for volunteering with a cause that they believed in.  

“I can only speak for myself as someone who was very leery of stepping into such an undertaking, but I can say that it has dramatically impacted me,” Philip said. “While I might not be able to speak for other individuals and other success stories, I can say that it was a success for me to feel like I can contribute and make whatever impact that our family can make.”  

Those that have worked with the Anchor Family program so far have had many new learning experiences and have been able to learn about the perspectives of their anchor youths. 

“It was an opportunity to love on a youth who’s aged out of foster care and be that example to our own children,” said Ruthie Muller, an anchor family volunteer. “Especially for our older children, it’s been an opportunity for them to be involved. My oldest, who’s 18, is very close in age to our anchor family youth, and they have kind of a sweet little friendship.” 

Meeting needs and bringing help 

The program’s success can be measured by the stories of young adults that have received help from Fostering Connections. 

“There’s a girl that’s been matched, and her anchor family and she shared recently how she’s been able to go to their house and learn how to make home-cooked meals,” Nickelson said. “They went to the pumpkin patch together last fall and made her birthday cake. They celebrated her birthday with her, and she shared that she had never had anybody do that before.”  

“I happen to know a couple of the other youths because of work that I had previously done and one day, we ran into one of the youths who was waiting to meet their anchor family at a restaurant, so I know that it’s working,” Shanna said. 

Providing care and support for their anchor youth is what the program strives for, but the program also aims to provide these young adults with long-term connections. 

“That’s kind of what we’re here for—in a crisis they have someone, anyone they can reach out to, because oftentimes they don’t and that’s how they end up homeless,” Muller said.