Columnist Rochelle Riley references a Wayne State University Research Group on Homelessness and Poverty study released last spring that found more than 49 percent of the youth who grew up in foster care from 2002-03 in the Tri-County area were homeless at some point during their first three years on their own, and 25.4 percent were homeless immediately after aging out. The study also found that 36 percent had to return to the homes they were originally moved from and 16.7 percent lived on the streets, in cars and/or abandoned buildings.