Source: child welfare statistics By the Annie E. Casey Foundation

More than 19,000 youth left fos­ter care in 2021 with­out reunit­ing with their par­ents or hav­ing anoth­er per­ma­nent fam­i­ly home, a fig­ure that has declined since peak­ing at near­ly 30,000 in 2008. The tran­si­tion to adult­hood is a sig­nif­i­cant and chal­leng­ing devel­op­men­tal phase of life for all young peo­ple, but youth aging out of fos­ter care on their own must face this with­out the sup­port of a sta­ble, lov­ing fam­i­ly. Many also lose access to ser­vices and sup­ports offered through the fos­ter care sys­tem.

Not sur­pris­ing­ly, these youth and young adults are more like­ly to expe­ri­ence behav­ioral, men­tal and phys­i­cal health issues, hous­ing prob­lems and home­less­ness, employ­ment and aca­d­e­m­ic dif­fi­cul­ties, ear­ly par­ent­hood, incar­cer­a­tion and oth­er poten­tial­ly life­long adver­si­ties. In line with the racial inequities not­ed ear­li­er, youth of col­or are more like­ly to expe­ri­ence these chal­lenges. The tra­jec­to­ries of these young peo­ple are not guar­an­teed, how­ev­er. They can be pos­i­tive­ly influ­enced by poli­cies and prac­tices that ensure these vul­ner­a­ble youths receive cul­­tur­al­­ly-respon­­sive, trau­­ma-informed tran­si­tion ser­vices and sup­port to nav­i­gate the steps to adult­hood, achieve sta­bil­i­ty and reach their full potential.

Rec­og­niz­ing the impor­tance of focus­ing on this pop­u­la­tion, the Foun­da­tion pro­vides in-depth resources on youth aging out of fos­ter care and 30 indi­ca­tors describ­ing the chal­lenges they face as well as the sup­port they receive, includ­ing aca­d­e­m­ic, employ­ment, health, finan­cial, men­tor­ing and oth­er tran­si­tion services.

Key find­ings among youth tran­si­tion­ing out of fos­ter care:

• One in five report expe­ri­enc­ing home­less­ness between ages 17 and 19, and over one in four (29%) report being home­less from 19 to 21. Among Amer­i­can Indi­an and Alas­ka Native young adults, the fig­ure jumps to almost half (43%) for ages 19 to 21.
  
  
• One in five report being incar­cer­at­ed between ages 17 to 19 as well as ages 19 to 21. See data by state and race and ethnicity.
  
  
• One in 10 report becom­ing a par­ent between ages 17 to 19 while near­ly one in four (23%) say they became par­ents between ages 19 to 21.
  
  
• By age 21, over two-thirds (70%) have a high school diplo­ma or equiv­a­lent. The same is true for 64% of Amer­i­can Indi­an and Alas­ka Native and 78% of Asian Amer­i­can young adults.
  
  
• Just 57% report being employed (full- or part-time) at age 21, with this fig­ure rang­ing from 51% for Amer­i­can Indi­an and Alas­ka Native young adults to 63% for Asian Americans.
  
  

From 2015 to 2018, youth ages 14 and old­er became less like­ly to access tran­si­tion ser­vices — of all types — offered via the fed­er­al John H. Chafee Fos­ter Care Inde­pen­dence Pro­gram. In 2018, 40% of young peo­ple received aca­d­e­m­ic sup­port, 16% received men­tor­ing sup­port and 15% received edu­ca­tion finan­cial assis­tance. KIDS COUNT tracks 11 mea­sures for each ser­vice received by race and eth­nic­i­ty (once a new win­dow opens, scroll down to the final statistics).

More than 19,000 youth left fos­ter care in 2021 with­out reunit­ing with their par­ents or hav­ing anoth­er per­ma­nent fam­i­ly home, a fig­ure that has declined since peak­ing at near­ly 30,000 in 2008. The tran­si­tion to adult­hood is a sig­nif­i­cant and chal­leng­ing devel­op­men­tal phase of life for all young peo­ple, but youth aging out of fos­ter care on their own must face this with­out the sup­port of a sta­ble, lov­ing fam­i­ly.

Many also lose access to ser­vices and sup­ports offered through the fos­ter care sys­tem. Not sur­pris­ing­ly, these youth and young adults are more like­ly to expe­ri­ence behav­ioral, men­tal and phys­i­cal health issues, hous­ing prob­lems and home­less­ness, employ­ment and aca­d­e­m­ic dif­fi­cul­ties, ear­ly par­ent­hood, incar­cer­a­tion and oth­er poten­tial­ly life­long adver­si­ties. In line with the racial inequities not­ed ear­li­er, youth of col­or are more like­ly to expe­ri­ence these chal­lenges.

The tra­jec­to­ries of these young peo­ple are not guar­an­teed, how­ev­er. They can be pos­i­tive­ly influ­enced by poli­cies and prac­tices that ensure these vul­ner­a­ble youths receive cul­­tur­al­­ly-respon­­sive, trau­­ma-informed tran­si­tion ser­vices and sup­port to nav­i­gate the steps to adult­hood, achieve sta­bil­i­ty and reach their full potential.

Rec­og­niz­ing the impor­tance of focus­ing on this pop­u­la­tion, the Foun­da­tion pro­vides in-depth resources on youth aging out of fos­ter care and 30 indi­ca­tors describ­ing the chal­lenges they face as well as the sup­port they receive, includ­ing aca­d­e­m­ic, employ­ment, health, finan­cial, men­tor­ing and oth­er tran­si­tion services.

Key find­ings among youth tran­si­tion­ing out of fos­ter care:

• One in five report expe­ri­enc­ing home­less­ness between ages 17 and 19, and over one in four (29%) report being home­less from 19 to 21. Among Amer­i­can Indi­an and Alas­ka Native young adults, the fig­ure jumps to almost half (43%) for ages 19 to 21.

• One in five report being incar­cer­at­ed between ages 17 to 19 as well as ages 19 to 21. See data by state and race and ethnicity.
  
  
• One in 10 report becom­ing a par­ent between ages 17 to 19 while near­ly one in four (23%) say they became par­ents between ages 19 to 21.
  
  
• By age 21, over two-thirds (70%) have a high school diplo­ma or equiv­a­lent. The same is true for 64% of Amer­i­can Indi­an and Alas­ka Native and 78% of Asian Amer­i­can young adults.
  
  
• Just 57% report being employed (full- or part-time) at age 21, with this fig­ure rang­ing from 51% for Amer­i­can Indi­an and Alas­ka Native young adults to 63% for Asian Americans.
  
  
• From 2015 to 2018, youth ages 14 and old­er became less like­ly to access tran­si­tion ser­vices — of all types — offered via the fed­er­al John H. Chafee Fos­ter Care Inde­pen­dence Pro­gram. In 2018, 40% of young peo­ple received aca­d­e­m­ic sup­port, 16% received men­tor­ing sup­port and 15% received edu­ca­tion finan­cial assis­tance.