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54 | RIVERSIDE COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SOCIAL SERVICES

Monique Carrillo on her graduation day.

PROJECT GRADUATE

Helps a Teen in Foster Care Find Her Wings to Fly S he was just a little girl when her parents’ constant drug use and abusive behaviors landed Monique Carrillo in foster care for more than 14 years. “I would miss school all the time because of it,” Monique recalls. “I was a difficult little kid. Nobody wanted to take care of a kid with ADHD. It was just too much. I would have random outbursts, bouncing off the walls. I started to self-harm. I just did not want to be around anymore. I started to run away.”

This is like a chrysalis almost. I am watching (Monique’s) wings come out. — Attorney Mary Reyna, educational mentor

Like nearly half of California’s youth in foster care, Monique was not on track to graduate high school. Project Graduate stepped in to help. Established in 2011 as a philanthropic program of the Riverside County Bar Association (RCBA), Project Graduate works in collaboration with the Riverside Superior Court and Riverside County’s Department of Public Social Services (DPSS) to assist foster youth to graduate high school, to continue their education beyond high school, and to plan for a successful future.