LK's Random Facts and Figures on the Child Protective Industry - Aging Out

If you read enough about foster parents, you'd think that the system only employs the services of the most kind hearted and loving people on the planet. "Oh they just want to help a child in need." "Oh, they're going to stand behind these kids no matter what."

However if the kid turns eighteen and the money from the foster care system stops, many of these kids end up on the streets.

400 Arizona foster youths turn 18 and move out of the foster care system every year.

According to these numbers, compared with their nonfoster peers, foster youth are 34 percent more likely to be pregnant, 27 percent of men and 10 percent of women are more likely to be incarcerated, 50 percent are more likely to be unemployed and 20 percent are more likely to be homeless. Sixty-six percent are more likely to suffer from mental illness or substance abuse and 33 percent are more likely to drop out of high school.

http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/story/142856

Social workers and other experts say that, with that sudden loss of any temporary parent they may have known, often comes too much responsibility.

A large number of the 1,200 foster youth who "age out" of the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) every year can't cope any more than a teenager suddenly kicked out by parents at 18.

The Children's Law Center says that within two years of losing foster care, half will be unemployed, a quarter will have been imprisoned, and one-fifth will be homeless.

Rico is one of 25,000 foster youth nationally who grow too old for foster care each year, and his story is not uncommon.

4,500 California foster youth who lose their safety nets every year.

http://www.laweekly.com/2009-03-19/news/rooftop-foster-kids/

The Fostering Connections Act of 2008 provides $3 billion to states that extend such assistance as housing, vocational and college help, and counseling to foster youth who want support up until they turn 21. Now states need to put that law to use.

But it can't afford not to. Of California's 74,000 foster children, about 4,500 age out each year. A quarter of those are jailed within two years of foster emancipation and a fifth become homeless. More than half have dropped out of high school, and almost half are jobless.

A recent study by the University of Washington School of Social Work estimates that educational benefits alone would return $2.40 for every dollar spent in California on extending foster services to 21. Consider also the impact of fewer youths in jail or fewer teen pregnancies.

the country's 26,000 youths who "age out" each year.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0420/p08s01-comv.html

About 800 of Florida's foster children become too old each year to continue in the system.

http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2008/mar/27/editorial-foster-kids-need-place-thrive-survive-wh/

In Florida, 45,000 children are in foster care.

Every year, about 800 become too old for foster care, a group that is now one of the fastest-growing segments of our homeless population.

http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2008/apr/04/lawrence-brooks-happy-birthday-youre-homeless/

Nationwide, more children are leaving foster care without a stable home, according to the Pew Charitable Trusts. Roughly 24,000 children who were 18 years old left the foster care system in 2005 with no family for support, an increase of 41 percent since 1998.

The problem of "aging out" is of gigantic proportions. About 6,000 children end up homeless each year. And 1.3 million children live without homes, according to Do 1 Thing, an organization devoted to the problems of children who leave foster care and are considered "unadoptable."

In Florida, 1,365 children aged out without a family in 2008, including 56 in Polk, according to the state Department of Children & Families.

One in four will be incarcerated within the first two years after they leave the system.

More than 20 percent will become homeless at some time after age 18.

Approximately 58 percent had a high school degree at age 19, compared to 87 percent of a national comparison group of non-foster youth.

Of youth who aged out of foster care and are older than 25, less than 3 percent earned their college degrees, compared with 28 percent of the general population.

A statewide survey by the Florida Department of Children & Families released in 2007 found that a majority of 17-year-olds in its custody either believe they lack, or actually are lacking, the necessary skills and services needed to live on their own at 18.

Those in the younger group were less likely to be earning a living wage, more likely to have economic hardships, more likely to have had a child outside of wedlock and more likely to have had a brush with the law.

http://www.theledger.com/article/20090320/NEWS/903205101/1410?Title=Statistics-Are-Grim-for-Teens-Leaving-Foster-Care

Girls who reach 18 find themselves homeless and without finances unless they are pregnant or have already given birth to a child. Motherhood means they will continue to receive welfare support. Perhaps that is why almost 40% of the girls raised in foster care find themselves pregnant before the age of 18.

At age 18 most boys find themselves alone, homeless and undereducated. It is estimated 25% of these boys will remain homeless. Many become engaged in criminal activity or male prostitution. Few find themselves with positive prospects for the future.

Illinois can be spotlighted as one of the states having a failed foster care system. Reports on the program are never up to date, but four years ago, with close to 19,000 children in foster care the state had wracked up a significant record of irresponsibility. In its mandate to protect and care for children who were wards of the state, Illinois had 100 children who had been relocated 50 times or more. There were 1,000 children who had been moved to at least 23 different places. There were 750 children who had been placed in ten or more different foster homes. It was among 13 states across the country considered the worst for multiple relocations of children.

http://www.wilsoncountynews.com/article.php?id=23870

nearly half have become pregnant or have impregnated someone,

more than one-third have experienced homelessness,

and nearly one-third have been threatened or injured with a weapon since going out on their own.

The report, to be released today by The Boston Foundation, also found that

60 percent of these former foster children experienced symptoms of depression,

54 percent were unemployed,

34 percent used illegal drugs,

25 percent have been arrested,

11 percent have been sexually assaulted,

and 8 percent have been incarcerated.

The report surveyed 96 foster care children who aged out of the system in 2005.

At the time, they were among 12 18-year-olds in the custody of the state Department of Social Services, and nearly half of them had lived in more than 10 homes or institutions.

She said the numbers of those remaining in DSS custody after their 18th birthday has increased over the past six years, with about 8 percent of those now placed in homes or institutions between ages 18 and 21.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2008/06/05/report_grim_on_teens_after_foster_care/

The task force identified some of the reasons foster teens often enter adulthood unskilled, unemployed, and homeless, and why they are significantly more likely to become victims of crime or to enter parenthood shortly after leaving state care.

The reasons are not hard to identify: a lack of ongoing, supportive relationships with concerned adults, a disconnection from the communities in which the teens come of age, and inadequate educational and life-planning skills.

Between 600 and 700 foster children age out of the system each year in Massachusetts. Nearly half have lived in 10 different homes or institutions during their time in state custody.

http://www.valleyadvocate.com/article.cfm?aid=7818

Nearly all reported drinking, even though half were under age. Nearly half said they had smoked pot.

On average, they made about $600 a month, most commonly employed in the fast food industry.

Nine of 10 youths were sexually active. One in four reported eight or more partners. About half had become pregnant or their partners had become pregnant.

http://www.freep.com/article/20081130/SPECIAL01/811250425/1008/NEWS06

Nearly 17% had spent at least one night on the street, in an abandoned building or in a homeless shelter. Even more had spent time "couch surfing" at the homes of friends and relatives -- a practice that defines them as homeless by federal guidelines, Toro said.

One out of four spent time in jail.

http://www.freep.com/article/20081130/SPECIAL01/811250425/1008/NEWS06

about 500 foster children a year turn 18 in Oklahoma and age out of state custody.

Fewer than one-third of them have a high school degree or a GED.

http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=11&articleid=20091011_11_A4_Jerish651657&allcom=1

Many teens in foster care -- 25,000 nationally -- 'age out' of the system when they turn 18 but research has found as they face the world alone many are winding up homeless, unemployed, dealing with mental health issues or trouble with the law.

In Dauphin County, looking at the latest numbers available, 19 youths aged out of foster care between Oct. 1, 2007 and Sept. 30, 2008. That number was nine in Cumberland County and five in Perry County Imagine some 18 year old you know suddenly making important life decisions all alone.

http://www.pennlive.com/editorials/index.ssf/2009/04/tough_future_for_teens_aging_o.html

One key population for dropout prevention in Philadelphia is the almost 2,900 adolescents - 14 years old and older - in the custody of Philadelphia's Department of Human Services (DHS).

According to a 2003 study by the Vera Institute of Justice, youth in foster care are as much as twice as likely to drop out of school as other teens.

The Casey study found that 65 percent of the alumni changed schools seven or more times from elementary through high school.

http://www.thenotebook.org/fall-2005/05639/educational-issues-face-youth-aging-out-foster-care

Pretty sad for such a wonderful system that is only out to protect children from abuse or neglect. A system that seeks to give the most venerable citizens in the country a chance at a normal life by ripping their families apart and throwing them into a totally new environment with strangers.