This event is the first of a new monthly web conference series on child and family policy–CHARTING A COURSE–moderated by Martha Shirk, co-author of On Their Own: What Happens to Kids When They Age Out of the Foster Care System, and a former reporter at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

During the last four decades, the transition to adulthood has become more protracted. Many young people depend on their parents well beyond the age of eighteen for financial help, health insurance, or a place to live. For former foster youth with no families to count on as they move into adulthood, the challenges can be particularly difficult, especially when publicly-funded services end.

Recent research conducted by Chapin Hall Center for Children at the University of Chicago suggests that youth who are permitted to remain in care and continue to receive services past their eighteenth birthdays fare much better than those who leave the child welfare system at eighteen. This web seminar will present an overview of the new research and provide state lawmakers, policy-makers, advocates, and others with an opportunity to learn about the experiences of states that allow youth to remain in foster care past their eighteenth birthdays.

Panelists Include:

• Mark E. Courtney, Principal Investigator, The Midwest Evaluation of the Adult Functioning of Former Foster Youth and Director of Chapin Hall Center for Children


• Amy Dworsky, Project Director, The Midwest Evaluation of the Adult Functioning of Former Foster Youth


• Erwin McEwen, Deputy Director, Monitoring/Quality Assurance, Illinois Department of Children and Family Services


• Jenny Pokempner, Senior Attorney, Juvenile Law Center and Author of Dependent Youth Aging Out of Foster Care: A Guide for Judges


• Lawrence Grazian, Director of Policy Initiatives, Child Protection Division of the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois


• Sybil Thomas, Judge, Child Protection Division of the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois

This web seminar is made possible by the generosity of the Col. Stanley R. McNeil Foundation.