Foster care youth can gain access to bank accounts through L.A. County program with SCE Credit Union [Video]

LOS ANGELES (KABC) — Many children first learn about managing their own money through keeping a piggy bank or having their first savings account at a bank.

Early exposure to financial literacy is critical for a lifetime of financial success, but for kids in foster care or living in a group home, the simple act of opening a bank account can be out of reach.

The Youth Access Banking program, a collaboration between SCE Credit Union and Los Angeles County, allows foster care youth as young as 13 to open their own checking and savings accounts without an adult co-owner.

“Kids my age, either 16 or 15, they might want to have a job and either way they’re gonna have to have a paycheck and what are they gonna do with it?” said high school senior Candelaria Juarez.

Juarez, now 18, spent years in the foster care system. She opened her first account at …