Transitioning from High School into Adulthood: Schools Helping Youth in Foster Care Achieve Success
There are approximately 500,000 children in foster care who live in either a foster home with relatives or non-relatives, a group home, an emergency shelter, or a residential or treatment facility.i Foster care is intended as a short-term, safe placement for children who are suspected to have been abused or neglected. Most often, children will leave foster care placement and be reunified with a biological parent, guardianship will be granted to a relative, or will be adopted by another family
*The juvenile or family court usually terminates its jurisdiction over the youth in its care when they reach 18, the age at which most states define adulthood. However, Arizona, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, and Vermont allow youth to remain in care until age 21.
iU.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2008). The AFCARS report: Preliminary FY 2006 estimates as of January 2008(14). Retrieved August 13, 2009, from www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cb/stats_research/afcars/tar/report14.html.
iiFreundlich, M., McCoy-Roth, M., & Ross, T. (2010). Number of youth aging out of foster care continues to rise: Increasing 64 percent since 1999. Analysis No. 1, January 31, 2010. Washington, DC: Fostering Connections Resource Center.
iiiU.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2008). The AFCARS report: Preliminary FY 2006 estimates as of January 2008(14). Retrieved August 13, 2009, from www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cb/stats_research/afcars/tar/report14.html.
ivCourtney, M., Dworsky, A., Ruth, G., Keller, T., Havlicek, J., & Bost, N. (2005). Midwest evaluation of former foster care youth: Outcomes at age 19. Retrieved August 13, 2010, from www.chapinhall.org/research/report/midwest-evaluation-adult-functioning-former-foster-youth.
vCasey Family Programs. (March, 2005). Improving family foster care: Findings from the Northwest foster care alumni study. Retrieved July 31, 2010, from www.casey.org/Resources/Publications/ImprovingFamilyFosterCare.htm.
viLenz-Rashid, S. (2004). Employment experiences of homeless young adults: Are they different for youth with a history of foster care? Children and Youth Services Review, 28, 235
