California’s Foster Care System Fails Another Young Man

Shawn Sage has been a foster child since the age of two, and the State of California’s foster care system has recently found a new way to try to keep Shawn down.

Last October, Los Angeles Superior Court Commissioner Marilyn Mackel denied Shawn request to join the United States Marine Corp.

As a 17yr old foster child, Shawn could not legally join the Marine Corps without the permission of this anti-American bureaucrat.

Shawn was trying to sign-up for the Marine Corps early enlistment program, which would have let him join the Marine Corps when he was 17 and report for duty when he turned 18. The early enlistment program would have meant a $10,000 signing bonus for Shawn.

Marine recruiter Sgt. Guillermo Medrano reported “The judge said she didn’t support the Iraq war for any reason we’re over there. She just said all recruiters were the same — that they ‘all tap dance and tell me what I want to hear.’ She said she didn’t want him to fight in it.”

Sage himself was quoted as saying “Foster children shouldn’t be denied [an] ability to enlist in the service just because they’re foster kids. Foster kids shouldn’t have to go to court to gain approval to serve one’s country.”

Shawn is working with California Assemblyman Cameron Smyth to get the law changed so that future generations of patriotic Californians cannot be harassed by leftist bureaucrats. State bill AB2238 will allow minors in California Foster Care to join the military with the permission of a foster parent or social worker.

Shawn plans to join the Marine Corps when he turns eighteen and frees himself from the California Foster Care system. Shawn says “I’m not going to benefit from this, because I will be 18 years old by then, but other foster children will benefit from it. I’m doing this so they won’t have to go through a lengthy court process like I did and just be denied their rights.”

Shawn Sage is a real American hero. He has struggled with adversity and not let it defeat him.  He withstood the assault from Marilyn Mackel and took his struggle to the California legislature.  His strength of character will benefit generations yet to come.