Aging Out Summary

By providing a secure and stable home for teens , it teaches them responsibility and further equips them with stability in overall life decreasing homelessness rates. Extending foster care services supplies former foster children with stable homes if they are in need. According to Foster Focus Magazine, “65% of youth leaving foster care need immediate housing upon discharge”() Housing after foster care is an immediate issue that comes with aging out. Over 50% of desperate former foster youth are searching for a home to begin their life independently. Statistics show that, “many foster youth are placed in homes with complete strangers that sometimes are just as dysfunctional, if not more, than the homes they were removed from.”() Unfortunately there are children in foster care that often get bounced from home to home never really knowing when they are safely sheltered. Some children find it better to live on the menacing streets of state's, where they are homeless, than to be in a home

In the John Burton Policy Brief on AB 12 the realities of education for foster youth are highlighted, “The rate at which foster youth complete high school (50 percent) is significantly lower than the rate at which their peers complete high school (70 percent),” (2011, p. 2). This affects chances for higher education including college degrees. This has a significant impact on the community as “aged-out” youth without services have more chance of risk for: homelessness, poverty, unemployment, going to jail, prostitution, substance abuse, early parenthood and untreated health conditions. Samuels and Pryce state that foster care has not always been a positive, developmentally appropriate experience. Youth who are

For many teenagers, their 18th birthday is an exciting time in their lives. They are finally becoming a legal adult, and are free from the rules and restrictions created under their parents. But not all teens feel the same joy about this coming of age. For the hundreds of thousands of children living in foster care in the United States, this new found freedom brings anxiety and fear. Where will they live after turning 18? How will they get the medications they may need? How will they find a job with little to no experience? How will they put themselves through school? Aging out of foster care is a serious issue among America’s youth. Every year, 20,000 children will age out with nowhere to go, being expected to be able to survive on their

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, every year close to 25,000 youth age out of the foster care system and are faced with cold hard realities of adulthood. This does not include the youth who leave the system, which is estimated to be another 30,000. Most adolescents anticipate their eighteenth birthday, as it brings on a new found sense of independence and most importantly a time of celebration. However when foster children reach eighteen, they begin facing the challenges of transitioning to adulthood. These children disproportionately join the ranks of the homeless, incarcerated, and unemployed. These youth are unprepared for the independent life they are forced to take on. The average age that young adults who have never experienced foster care leave their family home for good is 24, and 40% return home again at least once afterwards (Margolin, 2008). With these facts being stated, we yet expect youth who has dealt with rejection after rejection to leave “home” of the state custody permanently and fin for themselves. These youth sometimes have fewer than $250 in cash, only one-third have drivers licenses, and fewer than one-quarter have the basic tools to set up a household, let alone the skills to know what to do with the tools (Krinsky, 2010). Youth exit care with no more than a garbage bag of their belongings, finding themselves alone at the age of eighteen, with little reason to celebrate what is supposed to be an exciting milestone

As of 2016 there were nearly a half million children in the foster care system, with roughly 25,000 “aging-out” each year (Ahmann, 2017). Most adolescents “age out” of the system with no one to mentor or serve as a caring parent figure. Foster youth are in dire need of long-term adult role models to guide them to achieve success. According to Ahmann, 50% of foster youth left “the system” without a high-school degree, as well as with having higher rates of PTSD, and depression (p. 43). Ahmann presented that research has proven teenagers, in general, that have quality relationships from adults able to provide support, do better than those that do not. If research has shown efficacy in supportive adult figures in a teen’s life then one can conclude that foster youth would also benefit. Foster children are at a disadvantage a soon as they enter “the system” so giving them resources proven positive is vital to their future success.

Nationwide, nearly 397,122 children live in foster care. In California, which has the largest foster care population than any other state, the number of foster youth has tripled in the last 20 years (Source: AFCARS Report 2013) due to certain circumstance such as; physical abuse, emotional abuse, sexual abuse or caretaker inability. Welfare workers turn over at continuing high rates, and many are underpaid, poorly trained, overworked and demoralized. Foster Care system welfare lacks providing services to prepare older youths in foster care in independent living are lacking. Many youths that exited the system discuss their experience such as, being let down, lack of role models, poor training programs, and lack of basic living skills. Foster

The effects of teen homelessness are many ranging from untreated physical and mental health to drug and alcohol dependence. Many youth also fall victim to the prison system and even death due to criminal behavior as a means of survival. During my research a study was conducted on youth entering and exiting the foster care system. Research has shown that the very systems put into place to ensure child safety and reduce outcomes such as poverty have place more youth at risk “Homelessness and its associated psychosocial effects continue to plague American urban centers. Especially troubling are suggestions that foster care functions as a pipeline to the streets for older adolescents leaving the system. Surveys of service providers and homeless populations suggest that young people exiting foster care have difficulty securing stable housing” (Fowler, Toro, & Miles, 2009, p.1).

I bet you've never seen what happened to kids in foster care. Some children need different care than others, and might live a better life if they could get care that meets their needs. This information allows this paper to state that foster care systems have some major issues that need to be fixed. This can be supported because the children in foster care that are running away, the many deaths and abuse of children, their futures being affected, and lastly, i'm going to talk about a way to solve some of these problems, or at least how you can prevent them. First topic is going to be about the children that run away from foster care.

The purpose of this paper is four-fold: 1) briefly discuss eight peer reviewed research articles outlining the challenges youth face as they age out of the foster care system; 2) identify and describe the common theories which appear throughout the studies, including any similarities or differences; 3) elaborate on which theories best relate to the issues

Of these individuals who exited, 22, 392, or 9%, exited due to emancipation, more informally identified as “aging out” (AFCARS Report, 2015). In 2013, only 48.3% of individuals who were previously in foster care obtained employment in New York State when interviewed at age 26, while same-aged peers towered over employment statistics in comparison, with 79.9% being currently employed. The average annual earnings of the 48.3% were only $13,989, as compared to $32,312 of same-aged peers. Additionally, 45.1% reported being experiencing economic hardships, as compared to 18.4% of same-aged peers (Children’s Aid Society, 2013). According to Columbia Law School (2016), 800 individuals between ages 18 and 21 aged out of foster youth just miles away from half of our target population, Nassau County, Long Island in New York City. Of these 800 individuals, 231 individuals had to utilize homeless shelters for their basic needs of food and shelter. Additionally, nationwide one out of five individuals who aged out of foster care at age 18 became homeless (Jim Casey Youth,

In some states in the United States, youth age out of foster care at the age of 18, however in states such as Maryland and the District of Columbia youth age out of foster care at the age of 21. While extending foster care until the age of 21 was created to form positive outcomes for emancipated youth, studies have found that difficulty in their transition from foster care to adulthood still remains. As a result youth aging out of foster care are at a higher risk for homelessness during their transition to adulthood. It is estimated that “27% of the homeless population spent time in foster care (Media, 2015)”. For various reasons such as residential instability and economic problems among youth aging out of foster care, youth are contributing

Young adults who age out of the foster care system are also more likely to have physical, medical, and mental health challenges compared to the majority of young adults (Fostering Connections Summary, 2010). While all young adults eventually face issues such as supporting themselves financially, finding stable housing, and acquiring health insurance, most young adults have the assistance and support of a family unlike foster youth that age out of the child welfare system (Older Youth and The Fostering Connections Act of

The foster care system is intended to be temporary until families can receives and complete services to be reunified with their child/children. It has been known that in numerous cases that some individuals who enter foster care with the goal of reunification end up with a changed goal of independency causing them to stay in foster care until they age out. Adolescents being forced out of the child welfare system into adulthood without any continuous assistance or preparation for survival some of them have been left homeless or incarcerated. Transition from adolescence to adulthood comes with the

Solutions need to be provided that help these young people with assistance for the transition out of foster care and into being responsible adults. “Understanding what practices and services realize positive outcomes for this cohort of at-risk youth who are transitioning from care to adulthood is essential to helping them successfully manage this transition and achieve the best possible outcomes” (Dewar, 2014). Therefore, the purpose of the proposed research is to investigate and provide solutions and ideas that embody continuous investment in our youth in foster care. The ultimate goal, though, is to provide guidance and assistance to every youth transitioning out of foster care and help them become independent and thriving adults. The research will also serve as a catalyst to stimulate conversations and provide valuable information for every foster care

The annual Independent Living Conference will be held at the Rosen Centre Hotel in Orlando, FL. This year’s conference is named Growing Pains, and will focus on the needs of older youth as they approach the aging out stages of foster care. There are numerous risks that youth that age out of foster care experience in comparison to their counterparts that did not grow up in the system. Some of these fallouts include, poverty, homelessness, low employment opportunities, substance abuse, involvement with the justice system and low educational attainment opportunities. One of the options given to special needs youth, or youth that are hard to place, is supervised independent living. However, independent living does not always provide youth with the skills and resources they need to prepare them to live independently once they have been discharged from care. Therefore, The Growing Pains Independent Living Conference seeks to educate professionals and adults working with youth, as well as the youth, about the skills, resources, and support necessary to improve the outcomes of foster care youth as they age out of the system.