How many times a month do you call your parents?

In your 20s, those calls tend to seek guidance or a little financial help -- wondering how to cook a meatloaf, asking for a hand changing a flat tire, looking for advice about how to make a paycheck cover the monthly bills.

Kids who turn 18 and are thrust out of Alaska's foster care system don't always have an adult to turn to. Without that support, almost 30 percent end up in jail within a few years, nearly 40 percent are homeless at some point, and almost 75 percent end up on public assistance.

After years of advocacy by Rep. Les Gara, Alaska lawmakers are investing about $715,000 this year to provide a smoother transition for young people from the foster care system into life on their own.

The House approved an operating budget on Thursday that includes those funds, most of which will address the unmet needs of kids that "age out" of the system.

Amanda Metivier, a former foster child, is now the statewide coordinator for an advocacy group she founded, Facing Foster Care. She lauded the broad bipartisan support for the $715,000 amendment Gara brought before his colleagues on the House Finance Committee.

"Republicans and Democrats, my sense is that everybody really cares a lot," Metivier said. "Lawmakers -- they're starting to understand that these are their children. They're really stepping up to the plate as a parent."

The spending now faces scrutiny in the Senate, but foster youth have allies there as well. Sens. Bettye Davis and Johnny Ellis, both Anchorage Democrats, have advocated for foster care funding for decades.

Metivier founded Facing Foster Care at age 19 to provide training for social workers and foster parents and advance policy issues. She and some of the group's 300 members -- all foster youth between 15 and 24 years old -- lobbied lawmakers in Juneau earlier this session.

She's optimistic the funding will stick.

"My hope is that everything passes through the Senate," Metivier said. "I know we have support there, from Sen. Davis and Sen. Ellis -- they've both been really supportive. If it does (pass), it will be huge for our youth."

Metivier was one of the fortunate foster kids who was placed with a single family, which provided a layer of support and stability many other children never enjoy. The state granted her a tuition waiver, which helped her pursue a social work degree.