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Effective Approaches to Supporting Youth Aging Out of Foster Care: A Review of Research That is Currently Underway

NCJ Number
210756
Date Published
August 2004
Length
4 pages
Annotation
This paper reviews studies attempting to clarify how foster care alumni are faring after aging out of the foster care system and what supports are effective in supporting youth aging out of foster care.
Abstract
Today, there are over 500,000 children in the foster care system in the United States with approximately 20,000 of those children leaving the foster care system due to aging out at the age of 18 in an attempt to live independently. This transition is faced with many challenges requiring intense supports and services to overcome difficult circumstances. This paper examines studies conducted on how foster care alumni fare after aging out of the foster care system and effective approaches used to support youth aging out of the system. The paper reviews three studies: (1) the Casey National Alumni Study, which is currently examining the effects of foster care between 1966 and 1998, findings can be found at www.casey.org; (2) the Multi-Site Evaluation of Foster Youth Programs study designed to determine the effects of Independent Living Programs funded under the Chafee Foster Care Independence Program, the findings of this study to be released in late 2005; and (3) the Midwest Evaluation of the Adult Functioning of Former Foster Youth: Conditions of Youth Preparing to Leave State Care, which examined the transition to adulthood of 732 youth aging out of the foster care system in Iowa, Illinois, and Wisconsin, the types of independent living services they receive, and outcomes related to adult self-sufficiency findings can be found at www.chapinhall.org.