Data Show Youth Aging Out of Foster Care Face Greater Barriers to Adult Success
Newly released data show that youth aging out of foster care are faring well in some outcome measures but a significant number experience homelessness, early parenthood and lack of medical insurance. By age 21, young people surveyed reported positive gains in many protective factors, yet there is evidence that current and former foster youth continue to face challenges that can be barriers to adult independence.
The data show that by age 21, more than two-thirds (67 percent) of youth aging out of foster care reported having earned a high school diploma or GED. However, at age 21, about one-quarter of youth reported that within the last two years they had experienced homelessness (26 percent), given birth to or fathered a child (25 percent), or reported that they did not have
The National Youth in
The data points to the challenges that youth face when they exit foster care without the ongoing support of a permanent family. States can use the survey data as additional information to help inform transition planning practices, service provision and extended foster care policies. Report Highlights
Highlights from the report of those surveyed include:
* At age 17, a majority of youth (94 percent) was attending school, had positive connections to at least one adult (93 percent), and reported having
* At age 17, more than one quarter (28 percent) reported a referral for substance abuse assessment or counseling at some point in their life; at age 21, 10 percent reported having a referral in the past two years. More than one third (37 percent) of 17-year-olds reported a history of incarceration; at age 21, a fifth (20 percent) of youth reported having been incarcerated within the past two years.
* By age 21, the majority (87 percent) maintained a positive connection to an adult. Signs of financial self-sufficiency are encouraging: more than half of 19-year-olds (51 percent) and nearly two-thirds of 21-year-olds (65 percent) reported being employed or receiving employment-related skills.
Recently released data in the Fiscal Year 2015 Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS) report show that the number of children in foster care has increased nationally for the third year in a row, pointing to the increasing need for finding safe, stable and permanent homes for children.
There are 428,000 children and youth in the
To help address these challenges, ACF's
In the President's budget proposal, ACF has also requested authority to allow states to provide services to youth through age 23 (instead of age 21) in order to help prevent youth from aging out foster care and assist them to successfully transition into adulthood.
Recognized each November, National Adoption Month promotes awareness of the need for adoptive families for children in foster care. This year, National Adoption Month focused on supporting older youth and families to establish and sustain "forever families." ACF and the
The National Adoption Month website also includes adoption and permanency-related resources and tips for families considering adoption and families that have adopted. The website supports child welfare professionals as they prepare families for adoption and it provides resources for talking with older youth who may feel they are too old to be adopted.
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