Foster Care: Aging Out Imagine being in foster care in and out of foster homes for as long as you can remember. Maybe even your whole life. And then one day you realize that your 18th birthday is approaching. For most teenagers this is a very exciting day, the day that they become an adult and can no longer be called a child. The day that they can stay out past their city curfew and don’t have to find a way to sneak in the clubs with their friends. But for you, this is the day that you really become an adult and also the day that you are released from the foster system. This is the day you age out. Whether you are ready or not you will be released into what people have always called, ‘the real world’, and it is up to you and you only to keep
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You most likely have no family to rely on and you are forced to work with very little help you are receiving from the government that has tried but most likely failed at preparing you for one of the biggest days in your life. This is the case for approximately 28,000 youth who “age out” of the system every year. Since a lot of these foster youth still aren’t self-sufficient enough to transition into practical adulthood there are a few common risk are known to arise among them. Just to name a few, some of these risk include but are not limited to: homelessness or instable placement, mental and behavioral health, challenges with physical health, abuse, unstable education, and criminal conduct. (Perceptions of Learned Helplessness Among Emerging Adults Aging Out of Foster Care.) These risks are completely preventable and would be less likely to happen if there were better programs that adjusted foster youth to life after foster …show more content…
With research on aging out of foster care, dating back to the early 2000s, it has become very helpful in understanding the current state of youth aging out in the United States. This research allows for us to identify and understand the best practices and strategies to put into place in order to help properly prepare these youth for the independence that they may or may not have been ready for. The most recent 2016 research, better known as the “California Youth Transitions to Adulthood Study”, was a study that focus on three main research questions. One of the questions being, “Does extending foster care past age 18 influence youths’ outcomes during the transition to adulthood (e.g., education, employment, health, housing, parenting, and general well-being)?” (Aging Out Institute). This has been a very important question and a key component to understanding the deeper issue related to the
You most likely have no family to rely on and you are forced to work with very little help you are receiving from the government that has tried but most likely failed at preparing you for one of the biggest days in your life. This is the case for approximately 28,000 youth who “age out” of the system every year. Since a lot of these foster youth still aren’t self-sufficient enough to transition into practical adulthood there are a few common risk are known to arise among them. Just to name a few, some of these risk include but are not limited to: homelessness or instable placement, mental and behavioral health, challenges with physical health, abuse, unstable education, and criminal conduct. (Perceptions of Learned Helplessness Among Emerging Adults Aging Out of Foster Care.) These risks are completely preventable and would be less likely to happen if there were better programs that adjusted foster youth to life after foster …show more content…
With research on aging out of foster care, dating back to the early 2000s, it has become very helpful in understanding the current state of youth aging out in the United States. This research allows for us to identify and understand the best practices and strategies to put into place in order to help properly prepare these youth for the independence that they may or may not have been ready for. The most recent 2016 research, better known as the “California Youth Transitions to Adulthood Study”, was a study that focus on three main research questions. One of the questions being, “Does extending foster care past age 18 influence youths’ outcomes during the transition to adulthood (e.g., education, employment, health, housing, parenting, and general well-being)?” (Aging Out Institute). This has been a very important question and a key component to understanding the deeper issue related to the