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Providing Better Opportunities for Older Children in the Child Welfare System

NCJ Number
205122
Journal
Future of Children Volume: 14 Issue: 1 Dated: Winter 2004 Pages: 151-173
Author(s)
Ruth Massinga MSSS; Peter J. Pecora Ph.D.
Date Published
2004
Length
23 pages
Annotation
This document discusses older children in the child welfare system.
Abstract
There is a growing number of children over age 10 that reside in and are emancipated from foster care every year. Older children face many of the same challenges as younger children, but they also have unique developmental needs. Approximately 47 percent of children in foster care are over age 11, and in 2001, 20 percent of children leaving foster care were over age 16. Older children need permanency, stability, and a “forever” family. Maintaining connections with siblings and other kin can be a crucial resource for older children as they transition to independence. Former foster children are at higher risk for a number of negative outcomes, such as substance abuse, homelessness, and low educational attainment, but the research on older youth is limited and often does not consider the strengths these youth exhibit. There is much to be done to better serve older children while they are in foster care and to provide them with better opportunities as they transition out of the system. Innovative ways of adequately funding preventive family support services while addressing gaps in transition services for older youths include transportation supports, startup costs for first residences after placement in out-of-home care, and health care. The most essential policy reforms include those related to employment training, educational scholarship, housing, and measuring cost-effectiveness so that the best strategies are adopted. Programs must provide age-appropriate life skills, more stable environments with ties to the community, and contact with as many birth family or clan members as possible. 100 endnotes, 2 appendices

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