Through the support of Ford Driving Skills for Life, GHSA awarded the Missouri highway safety office a grant to identify and train foster care youth in need of driver training education.
Missouri's Graduated Driver License (GDL) law requires new drivers 15 to 18 years of age to complete a supervised permit phase and an unsupervised restricted driving phase before obtaining a full license. In addition, teens must complete driver education and training program under the state’s GDL requirements.
Missouri has more than 4,500 teenagers in foster care who often lack the resources and support to obtain driver education and training. Through a grant, funded by GHSA and Ford Driving Skills for Life, the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) made driver education and training available to teens in foster care.
MoDOT collaborated with the Central Missouri Foster Care and Adoption Association, Foster and Adopt Connect and the Chafee Program to identify foster care youth in need of training. A total of 61 youth were chosen, more than double the number MoDOT had initially planned to support with the available funding. Of the 61, 50 completed driver education and training and obtained a driver's license.
MoDOT's pilot program provided scholarships to foster youth, opening doors to mobility and independence. Based on the project’s success, MoDOT will partner with Embrace Families to use federal grant funding to help more teens obtain their driver's licenses.
