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Each year in our nation, approximately 20,000 youth "age out"
of the foster care system and are faced with the challenges of independent
living. Current federal child welfare funding provides very limited
support to youth over 18 years of age, resulting in these young
adults being discharged at a relatively early stage in the transition
to adulthood. Foster youth are considered a high-risk population
because they are not only likely to have grown up in poor communities
with little resources, but they have often suffered from the consequences
of abuse or neglect that led to their removal from their homes in
the first place. These risk factors make foster youth particularly
vulnerable to various negative economic and social outcomes as they
enter adulthood.
It is clear that despite increasing interest by practitioners and
policymakers, there is much that needs to be done to ensure the
well-being of youth who are aging- out of the foster care system.
Concrete assistance and scientifically-evaluated interventions aimed
at improving the outcomes for these young adults are critically
necessary. The following policy brief outlines some of the issues
concerning aging out foster youth, explains the inadequacies of
current policy, and proposes improvements needed to be made to better
serve this population.
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