RD365 - Improving Outcomes For Older Youth In Foster Care: An Analysis of the Impact of Adoption and Independent Living Services on the Transition to Adulthood


Executive Summary:
*This report was replaced in its entirety by the Department of Social Services on November 10, 2015.

The best outcomes for older youth in foster care are associated with permanency achieved by returning home, being placed with relatives, or being adopted. For youth for whom permanency cannot be achieved, the years immediately after exit from foster care at age 18 into the early twenties become a critically vulnerable period. The cumulative effects of abuse and neglect experienced in childhood and the subsequent effects of separation and loss have disadvantaged these young people, delaying their accomplishment of the milestones of adolescence necessary to a foundation for adulthood. Abruptly faced with living independently, often with no "home base" to offer security, these young adults flounder. Common challenges include the inability to secure and maintain a living wage, and to secure stable housing. Without dependable adults to turn to, many become homeless, rely on public assistance, have unaddressed physical and mental health concerns, and become involved in the criminal justice system. In contrast, other young adults typically depend on family for financial, emotional, educational and housing support well into their early twenties. According to a report of the Pew Research Center, 56% of all young adults between the ages of 18 and 24 lived in a parents' home in 2012.

Professional stakeholders from public and private agencies, advocates and local departments of social services (LOSS) participated in focus groups convened by the Virginia Department of Social Services (VOSS) to identify barriers to achieving permanency for youth in foster care. Virginia has reduced the number of children in foster care by half since 2007 through efforts to prevent entry into foster care when possible and to discharge children to permanency more quickly. The home and family situations of children who do enter care, therefore, are more challenging and difficult to alter. When youth enter care as teenagers, there is less time to effect change or accomplish termination of parental rights. Placement with relatives is limited by lack of financial assistance and difficulties in approving relatives as foster parents due to Virginia's lengthy list of "barrier crimes" which prohibit approval. Other barriers identified included staff turnover, reluctance of teens to agree to adoption, children and youth with special needs and a lack of foster and adoptive homes.

Focused efforts have been made to address the specific challenges identified related to achieving permanency through adoption. In 2014, there were 818 children in foster care eligible for adoption of which nearly half were diagnosed with special needs. In 2013, the VAdopts Campaign was launched to increase adoptions. Contracts were awarded to model special initiatives in recruitment for homes for hard to place children, support for adoptive families, and targeted marketing to more effectively recruit adoptive homes. Other collaborative initiatives and specialized training continue with an emphasis on initiating prompt and intensive adoption efforts as soon as a child is legally available for adoption.

An analysis of existing independent living services shows that VOSS program guidance has established a system of best practices starting at age 14 to prepare youth for adulthood. However, diminishing funding for services and financial support for young adults limits the ability of LOSS to engage and serve youth ages 18 to 21. Two primary funding sources have been reduced: federal Chafee Foster Care Independence Program funds by almost 30% since 2009, and Education and Training Vouchers funds by about 25% since 2010. The Children's Services Act (CSA) funds a monthly housing assistance stipend of $644 which is inadequate to cover rent and other housing expenses. CSA may also fund, for example, mentoring, employment services and counseling on a case-by-case, service-by-service basis, but because a local match is required, local budget constraints can influence funding decisions.

The stakeholder focus groups, as well as focus groups of current and former foster youth, recognized challenges that youth aging out of foster care face in transitioning to adulthood. The period of young adulthood from late teens to early twenties is a distinct developmental stage during which the brain continues to mature. During this time, brain function encourages risk-taking which can be channeled into healthy risk-taking that leads to coping and resilience, rather than harm, if youth are provided continued guidance and support. The stakeholders' greatest concern was the lack of stable and safe housing for these young adults due to their lack of financial and familial resources. Educational deficits limit these young people's ability to secure employment or access postsecondary education. One foster youth observed that older youth in foster care need to know they will have access to assistance with housing, job training and education when they need it "so they don't have to stress about their 18th birthday and where they are going afterwards."

Federal legislation enables states to extend financial and programmatic supports to these youth to age 21 and to access federal funding to do so. If enacted by the Virginia General Assembly, this program would be known as the Fostering Futures program. The value of providing support and services to former foster youth beyond age 18 is underscored by an examination of the outcomes of youth who are not in permanent families and do not have the support of the system after age 18.

To measure outcomes of Virginia foster youth who aged out of care against young adults in the general population, a cohort of nearly 4,000 former foster youth who turned 18 between July 2007 and June 2012 was identified. Personal identifying information was compared, where possible, to data from other state systems. Although there are limitations to the data (e.g., data is not available on youth who have left Virginia, and exact identifying matches between the former foster youth and the data in other agencies' data systems were not always possible), comparison revealed that in Virginia:

• In 2012-2014, 40-50% of the former foster youth were employed either full-time or part-time at some time in a given year, similar to the rate in the general population of the same age, but by age 23 their earnings were less than half of the income of their non-foster care age peers ($5,774 vs. $13, 100 in 2013).

• From 2008-2015, former foster youth (56%) were one and a half times less likely to complete public high school than students in the general population (81%).

• In 2013-2015, former foster youth (48%) were more than twice as likely as their age peers (20%) to participate in SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program), and for an average of 15% longer.

• In 2013-2015, former foster youth (6%) were three times more likely to participate in TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) in a given year than their age peers (2%).

• In 2013-2015, former foster youth (42%) were three times more likely to enroll in Medicaid than their peers (12%), and remained covered for about a third longer.

It is apparent that in the first few years after turning 18, Virginia's former foster youth are faring worse than their non-foster care peers, depending more heavily on public resources and leading less productive, less stable lives. The time to devote additional resources to shore up their foundation for adulthood is the period immediately following their aging out of foster care. From age 18 to 21, youth are still positioned to complete educational requirements, secure training, develop employability skills, and practice independent living when there is still time to fail and recover. Without advancement in education or training, youth are unlikely to improve their employment status over time, and are more likely to continue to find themselves unstably housed, potentially homeless, parenting children they cannot adequately support, and involved with the criminal justice system. As one of the foster youth insightfully stated, "Our generation is the future and to encourage an improved future, we need people to care."

Implementation of Virginia's Fostering Futures initiative is recommended. Utilizing federal Title IV-E funding under provisions of the federal Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008, room and board payments for foster home placements can be continued for youth age 18 to 21 along with developmentally appropriate programming to support and guide them through this vulnerable period. The program will enable many to remain in their existing foster homes and continue to receive parental mentoring and support. Youth will participate voluntarily but are required to engage in education, training or employment. For youth unable to participate due to a medical condition, this period can be used to securely engage the resources of adult services systems.

Additional recommendations address strengthening tangible supports for and reducing barriers to placements with relatives. Implementing a Custody Assistance program with federal Title IV-E funding will enable relatives who assume custody of a child from foster care to receive a monthly stipend comparable to maintenance payments made to foster parents and subsidy payments made to adoptive parents. The final recommendation is to develop a program evaluation to capture and analyze data related to any initiative undertaken to guide future program and policy decisions.

In its role in loco parentis, the state has created, through decades of legislative and regulatory action, a foster care system designed to match or exceed the level of care provided to children who are raised in their families of origin. Changing times call for extending this quality of care to age 21 for youth who age out of foster care.