La Sierra welcomes first former foster youth under new endowment

This fall, a first cohort of four students from California, Washington, and Texas enrolled through the HOME@LASIERRA Endowment, an initiative created under the leadership of La Sierra University President Christon Arthur and which launched as a pilot in fall 2025. Endowment proceeds provide foster youth who have aged out of the system an educational home covering tuition, on-campus room and board, holistic wellness and spiritual care well as dedicated support services through community partner agencies. 

HOME@LASIERRA aims to enroll five to 10 emancipated foster youth each year. The Seventh-day Adventist university has raised $550,000 toward a $2 million endowment goal and will hold a fundraiser in November that builds upon last year’s pilot rollout under the story-telling and literary theme, “Autumn Reade.”

“An Autumn Night’s Reade Chapter II” will be held Thursday, November 12 at 6 p.m. at the La Sierra University Zapara School of Business.Admission is free and reservations are required. Through dramatic readings and music, guests will take part in an immersive experience that leads them on a journey exploring the transformative power of belonging. Guests will also be presented with an opportunity to contribute toward the endowment.

“…we are striving to make a difference in the lives of this specific population by welcoming them home to a campus family that will embrace and empower them.” La Sierra University President Christon Arthur

“At La Sierra University, our core purpose and values are rooted in the cultivation of human potential toward bettering God’s world,” said Arthur. He is joined in leadership of the endowment initiative by university alumnus and foster parent Dr. Carla Baum and her husband, Dr. Brad Baum. 

“While young adulthood can be challenging for most of us, the obstacles, both internal and structurally, that face those moving out of foster care can easily block their abilities to recognize and achieve their God-given potential, leading to unfulfilled lives and worse," Arthur said. "Because service for others is missional and central to our institutional identity, we are striving to make a difference in the lives of this specific population by welcoming them home to a campus family that will embrace and empower them to reach heights they may not have thought possible. We welcome them home.”

According to research conducted for an endowment case statement, at least 20% of emancipated foster youth experience immediate homelessness upon aging out of the system, underscoring the importance of the HOME@LASIERRA initiative. Additionally, former foster youth experience post-traumatic stress syndrome associated with adverse childhood experiences at nearly five times the rate of the general population and have high rates of co-morbid mental health diagnoses. 

Toward addressing these matters, La Sierra provides informed, dedicated and comprehensive holistic care for HOME@LASIERRA students through its own resources such as Wellness Services, the Collaborative Learning Center and the Office of Spiritual Life, and through partner agencies that provide individualized services such as regular check-ins with case managers. An advisory board provides guidance for the program.

Partner organizations include the Riverside County Department of Public Social Services, Path of Life Ministries, Olive Crest foster care services, La Sierra University Church and local school districts and foster youth liaisons. 

"I’ll do everything I can to help this project because it’s where we are making a real difference.” – Dr. Carla Lidner Baum, La Sierra University alumnus, foster parent

Carla Lidner Baum serves on the boards of nonprofits and councils in the region that serve to prevent child abuse, provide temporary shelter to run-away and displaced youth and support housing for former foster youth wanting to attend colleges. She has a front row seat to the stresses and steep challenges children in these systems face and the difficulty of bringing about change. 

Children in foster care often move from one foster home to another, she noted. According to the Children’s Law Center of California, of the children in the state who remain in foster care for 24 months or longer, 44% experience three or more home placements while 15% experience five or more placements. Nationally, 40% of foster children and youth experience changes in living arrangements at least three times in a year, according to the Annie E. Casey Foundation. 

Such moves often involve changing schools and living in group homes that sometimes don’t have such resources as a working computer, Lidner Baum said. 

“There are so many disadvantages for these kids. But if they can make it through to where they want to go to college, we can help them with that through HOME@LASIERRA,” she said. Other things are hard to change, but here we have a direct impact, one youth at a time. I’ll do everything I can to help this project because it’s where we are making a real difference.”