This story is part of an ongoing series looking into recent cuts to Washington’s state budget. If there are impacts you think we should be covering, reach out to laurel.demkovich@cascadepbs.org.

SEATTLE, WA – Within hours of leaving her home for the last time, Shirley Mendez found herself at the Treehouse Store with nothing but a backpack full of schoolbooks.

Walking through Seattle’s free store for foster youth, Mendez, who was 16 at the time, grabbed a winter coat, sweaters, socks and a new pair of shoes. She was leaving an abusive home, and her future was filled with unknowns.

But the staff of Treehouse, a statewide organization that provides educational support to youth in foster care, stepped in and offered her clothes, school supplies and a mentor to help her navigate school.

“I didn’t know what was going to happen with me,” Mendez said. “But I felt overwhelmed with a lot of support.”

Since launching nearly 40 years ago, Treehouse has helped thousands of kids in foster care get support navigating school while facing uncertainty at home. But it’s facing steep cuts after this year’s legislative session.

About one-third of Treehouse’s budget — more than $7 million — will be cut starting in July. The shortfall is forcing the organization to cut much of its graduation and education support programs, likely eliminating those services for 1,300 kids in Washington.

The cuts could be devastating for youth who rely on those services and would result in longer wait times, said Dawn Rains, chief executive officer at Treehouse.

“These are the young people for whom the state has stepped in to become a legal guardian,” she said. “They have a legal responsibility to these young people.”

Incoming cuts

Treehouse was founded by caseworkers at the state Department of Children, Youth and Families, who wanted to raise money to provide extracurriculars for students in foster care. That included sports, driver’s education, prom tickets or graduation caps and gowns.

Today, the organization continues to do that and more, serving about 6,400 kids from birth to age 22.

Along with their free store, which gives youth or their caregivers a chance to shop for clothing and supplies, Treehouse offers education advocacy and graduation success programs.

Most of the cuts coming next month will hit those programs.

The graduation success program offers high school students weekly one-on-one meetings with education specialists who can help them stay on track academically and provide extra support.

“Because of all of the disruption, young people who enter foster school start out behind in school, and it tends to get worse over time,” Rains said.

Treehouse’s graduation program gives students support and accountability to help them reach their graduation goals, Rains said, and it works.

Since Treehouse’s program launched 12 years ago, the graduation rate for youth in foster care has increased from 36% to 51%, Rains said.

That program, which currently serves about 1,450 students in 150 school districts across the state, will see the steepest cuts starting in July. Rains said they will likely need to reduce their geographic footprint with that program, likely cutting 500 current students and eliminating another 500 future slots.

Another educational program is also seeing cuts. The organization’s education advocacy program, which helps remove barriers to education for K-12 students, will likely have to serve about 300 fewer students in the next school year.

Katie Adams, content and PR manager at Treehouse, said their educational specialists have been working with school staff to prepare them for a drop in services next year. They have been trying to give schools the resources they need to still offer students in foster care some support.

“We’re trying to look at different ways that we can still serve as many kids as possible,” she said.

Rains said she will continue to push legislators next session to increase their funding and avoid further cuts, especially as potential federal funding cuts compound the organization’s financial uncertainty.

Failing to fund programs for children in foster care will also be more expensive for the state in the long term, Rains said. People in foster care are more likely to become homeless or enter the juvenile justice system than their peers.

“We can invest now a relatively modest amount in their educational success and their trajectory, or we can be prepared to pay for it in significant increases in public services on the back end,” Rains said. “And that seems like a tragedy.”

‘A light in my life’

Before she connected with Treehouse, Mendez’s goal was to graduate high school; she never thought she could go to college.

But her education advocates at Treehouse encouraged her to dream bigger.

“Treehouse didn’t see me as a broken person,” Mendez said. “They just believed in me.”  

Treehouse helped her navigate academic transfers and credits, but it also helped her get free school supplies, kitchen utensils, car insurance and baby supplies after her daughter was born a few years into the program. Those were small steps that Mendez said brought her a lot of stability.

Eventually she was able to finish high school and complete her bachelor’s degree at a community college. She is preparing to start a master’s program at the University of Washington next month.

Her focus is social work and mental health, inspired by her mentors at Treehouse.

“They were really a light in my life during the most vulnerable years for me,” she said. “I want to be that person for my community.”

Mendez said she worries about what a lack of services will mean for future youth in foster care. Without proper support, she said, it’s easy for kids going through those transitions to become anxious or depressed.

“Without Treehouse, I don’t think I would have found the motivation to keep going,” she said.