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Foster Youth

FOSTER YOUTH Going through the foster care system can make life a struggle for youth. Frequent placement changes can lead to poor educational and financial outcomes, and foster youth are often unprepared for emancipation, leading to high levels of homelessness, incarceration, and mental health problems in early adulthood. In 2010, there were an estimated 408,425 U.S. children in foster care 27,854 of these youth were emancipated, or "aged out," of the foster care system, whether or not they were prepared to POOR EDUCATION transition into adulthood More than one-third of foster youth have 5 or more school changes. Youth with one fewer placement change per year are almost twice as likely to graduate high school before leaving care. Foster youth repeat a grade twice as often as their peers, and only 1.8% of foster youth will go on to complete a bachelor's degree, compared to 24% among the general population. Unfortunately, poor education is just the beginning. Alumni of the foster care system face several troubling odds. HOME LESS NO MONEY IN PRISON MENTAL HEALTH 65% of youth leaving foster care need immediate housing upon release, and 22.2% experience homelessness after age 18. 33.2% of foster alumni have household incomes at or below the poverty line. and 25% are incarcerated within the first two years of emancipation. 10 Foster youth are 5 to 10 times more likely to enter the juvenile justíce system, 25.2% of foster alumni are diagnosed with post- traumatic stress disorder, which is nearly double the rate of U.S. war veterans. Foster care numbers in the U.S. have fallen 21.8% since 2002. But in Indiana, children in foster care have increased by 44.8%. I3D Youth in Foster Care 140% 140% 12,276 in 2010 %3D 120% 120% 522,579 in 2002 8,478 in 2002 100% 100% 408,425 in 2010 80% 80% Sources: Improving Family Foster Care. Casey Family Programs (2005). Available at: http://www.casey.org/Resources/Publications/ImprovingFamilyFosterCare.htm facebook.com/ indianayouth Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS). Available at: http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cb/stats_research/index.htm twitter.com/ indiana_youth The Indiana Youth Institute www.iyi.org Courtney, M.E., et al. Midwest evaluation of the adult functioning of former foster youth (2004). Educational attainment of foster youth. Washington State Institute for Public Policy (2001). May 2012

Foster Youth

shared by ijdwilson on May 09
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Children who grow up in the foster care system face some tough odds when they get out. When researchers looked at adults who had grown up as foster kids, they found high rates of homelessness, mental ...

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