About
NACAC

Two $2,500 Scholarships Available for Youth Adopted from Care as Teens

Application Deadline June 30, 2008

If you or someone you know was adopted from foster care as a teen and needs a little extra money for post-high school education, keep reading.

In association with the January publication of Three Little Words: A Memoir by Ashley Rhodes-Courter, publisher Simon & Schuster is sponsoring two $2,500 scholarships for youth adopted from foster care. The scholarships, administered by the North American Council on Adoptable Children (NACAC), are intended to help offset higher education tuition costs.

Eligibility

To be considered for a scholarship, applicants must be:

• Youth ages 17 to 25 who were adopted from foster care at or after the age of 13
• Accepted or enrolled full- or part-time at an accredited (by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation) college, university, community college, or vocational/technical school
• Responsible for $2,500 in tuition costs
• Capable of documenting foster care status, adoption, school acceptance or enrollment, and tuition costs
• Able to meet the June 30, 2008 application deadline

Application

To apply, each applicant must:

• Submit the documentation listed above
• Complete a brief application form
• Compose an essay about his or her reason for pursuing higher education (future goals, how past experiences affect his or her ability to attain the goal, and what he or she hopes to gain from additional education)

Decision Process/Timing

Members of NACAC’s staff and board, as well as Ashley Rhodes-Courter, will review the applications, and select two scholarship recipients by the end of July.

Twenty-two-year-old Ashley Rhodes-Courter cycled through 14 foster placements in 9 years before finally being adopted at age 12. She penned Three Little Words to assemble the fragmented pieces of her past and praise the dedicated, caring parents who step forward every day to help and heal traumatized children in and adopted from foster care. A staunch adoption advocate, Ashley hopes the book will also inspire more adults to consider adopting older children and encourage other foster youth to rise above their hardships.