In response to growing evidence that young people aging out of foster care face significant challenges during their transition to adulthood and fare more poorly than their peers across a wide range of life domains, the Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008 gave states the option to extend eligibility for federally…

This issue brief is one of three that focus on programs providing services to youth transitioning out of foster care in three common service domains: education, employment, and financial literacy and asset building. This brief highlights why employment services are important to youth currently or formerly in foster care, what we know about the…

The Postsecondary Pathways for Former Foster Care Youth (PP-FFCY) study is a research project that focuses on the transitions of foster care alumni to and through postsecondary institutions. Through the Office of Community College Research and Leadership (OCCRL), the PP-FFCY project team is conducting a comprehensive needs assessment report that:…

This guide is for colleges in England that want to review and improve their support for Looked After Young People (LAYP) and Care Leavers (CLs). It includes information about who LAYP/ CLs are, the kinds of challenges they face, their rights and entitlements to support, and what staff need to be aware of when working with LAYP/CLs. The guide then…

Youth transitioning out of foster care and into adulthood need many supports to navigate the challenges they face. Over the past three decades, federal child welfare policy has significantly increased the availability of those supports. In 1999, the Foster Care Independence Act amended Title IV-E of the Social Security Act to create the Chafee…

This issue brief is one of three that focus on programs providing services to youth transitioning out of foster care in three common service domains: education, employment, and financial literacy and asset building. This brief highlights why financial literacy and asset building services are important to youth currently or formerly in foster care,…

Several systemic factors contribute to the lack of stability and educational opportunities for students in foster care, including lack of transportation to the school of origin (or the schools they enrolled in when they first entered foster care), difficulty enrolling in new schools and transferring credits between school districts, gaps in…

This guide is designed to help advocates--including biological and adoptive parents, resource parents, adult students in foster care, and service providers--understand and advocate for the educational rights of children in New Jersey's foster care system. The guide explains the requirements of federal and state laws that particularly affect these…

Students preparing to emancipate from the foster care system face multiple challenges. For many formerly fostered teens, outcomes are relatively poor. Others have shown incredible resilience in the face of adversity. School psychologists can help address obstacles to postsecondary success for students living in foster care preventively while they…

Interest in dual enrollment is rising in California and nationwide, but students from special populations--including English learners, students with disabilities, foster youth, and young people experiencing homelessness--are too often left on the sidelines. This report explores promising practices and recommendations for designing dual enrollment…

What happens to youth in foster care when they turn 18? Many face unprecedented challenges like homelessness, lack of financial resources, difficulty accessing educational opportunities, and unemployment. In this issue brief, The American Youth Policy Forum (AYPF) document these challenges and opportunities in three distinct yet overlapping areas…

Although they make up a relatively small proportion of all children in the U.S. foster care system, foster youth approaching adulthood have over the years attracted considerable attention from policymakers. Three times in the past 25 years the Social Security Act has been amended to try to better support the transition to adulthood for foster…

D. Wayne Osgood, E. Michael Foster, and Mark E. Courtney examine the transition to adulthood for youth involved in social service and justice systems during childhood and adolescence. They survey the challenges faced by youth in the mental health system, the foster care system, the juvenile justice system, the criminal justice system, and special…

To address the economic crisis facing the country, the President signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) into law on February 17, 2009. This sweeping legislation provides $789 billion to jumpstart the economy and boost employment. This act includes $463 billion in new spending and $326 billion in tax relief directed at those…

Minnesota divides its Title IV-E-IL allocation among three components of a statewide program titled Support for Emancipation and Living Functionally (SELF). SELF is a state-supervised, county-implemented program based on the premise that youth in substitute (foster) care are at significant risk of not making a successful transition to independent…