Study Shows Broad Challenges for Young Adults Leaving Foster Care

Those Forced to Leave Child Welfare Systems at the Age of 18
Face Steeper Obstacles in Making Transition to Adulthood

Chicago, IL. May 19, 2005 - Young people making the transition from foster care to adulthood face formidable challenges and often struggle to stay in school, find stable housing, support themselves financially and secure medical services, according to a study released today by the Chapin Hall Center for Children at the University of Chicago.

The study, the largest and most comprehensive examination in nearly two decades of young adults leaving foster care, found that the problems were even more pronounced for youth who are forced to leave the child welfare system when they turn 18.

Federal and state policies regulate the age at which youth must leave the child welfare system; states vary widely in the services they offer to youth older than 18.

Researchers interviewed 736 foster youth ages 17 and 18 from Illinois, Wisconsin and Iowa and 603 of them again at age 19. The sequential interviews allowed researchers to contrast the problems of youth who remained in the system with those who left at the age of 18. Researchers plan a third round of interviews with study participants when they turn 21.

Researchers found that some of the young adults interviewed were in stable situations and moving forward with their education or employed in promising jobs. However, nearly a third of young adults in the study were neither working nor in school - a figure that was more than twice that of a comparable group of peers their age.

Remaining in care after the age of 18 increased the likelihood that the young adults would continue their education or be employed. Those who left care at the age of 18 were nearly three times more likely than a national sample of their peers to be disconnected from work or school.

"Many youth making the transition to adulthood from foster care are having a hard time of it and many are unable even to provide basic necessities or support themselves. But the research is showing that many are benefiting by being allowed to remain in care and take advantage of crucial supports already in place even after they turn 18," said Mark Courtney, one of the study's authors and director of Chapin Hall. Dr. Courtney is also a member of the faculty at the University's School of Social Service Administration.

The study assessed a variety of issues confronting young adults leaving foster care. In looking at the entire group of young adults interviewed, the study found:

• More than a third of the young adults in the study had neither a high school diploma nor a GED, compared to about 10 percent of their peers. Those who were enrolled in school were far more likely to still be in high school, not in college.


• Young adults in the study were far less likely to be employed than their same-age peers and far more likely to be earning less than $10,000 a year.


• Teens in the study were twice as likely as their 19-year-old peers to be unable to pay their rent or mortgage and were twice as likely to be unable to pay a utility bill. They were four times as likely to be evicted.


• Only 46 percent of the young adults in the study had a savings or checking account, compared to 82 percent of their peers nationally.


• Nearly half of the women in the study received housing assistance or economic support through programs such as Food Stamps and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families.


• Nearly half of the women in the study had been pregnant at least once by the age of about 19, compared to only 20 percent of their peers. Nearly a third of females had at least one living child.


• A third of the youth suffered from a diagnosable mental illness, substance abuse, or substance dependence and many -- more than twice the national sample -- received counseling for their emotional and psychological problems.


• Thirty percent of the males and 11 percent of the females who aged out of the system had been incarcerated at least once in the two years after their initial interview for the study.

• Those who left care at the age of 18 were nearly three times more likely than a national sample of their peers to be disconnected from work or school.


• Those who left care, lacking medical insurance and concerned about the high cost of care, were less likely to receive medical and psychological services than those who remained in the child welfare system.


• About 14 percent of the youth who left care had been homeless at some point since discharge from the child welfare system and about a third changed their living arrangements twice or more.


• A third of those who left the child welfare system had returned to live with their biological parents or other relatives, even though they had been removed from their homes when placed in the child welfare system.

The study was funded by the William T. Grant Foundation, the Wisconsin Department of Health and Family Services Division of Children and Family Services, the Iowa Department of Human Services, and the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services.

For a copy of the report or to speak with Dr. Courtney, contact Flora Lazar, director of public affairs at Chapin Hall at flazar@chapinhall.org or 773-256-5212. A copy of the full report is posted on the Chapin Hall web site at www.chapinhall.org.

Chapin Hall Center for Children at the University of Chicago is a policy research center dedicated to bringing sound information, rigorous analysis, innovative ideas, and an independent multidisciplinary perspective to bear on policies and programs affecting children. The Center devotes special attention to children facing significant problems, including abuse or neglect, poverty, and mental or physical illness, as well as to the service systems designed to address these problems. Chapin Hall's focus takes in all children. It takes a broad view of their needs, including children's potential as well as their problems, and addresses services and supports -- public and private -- aimed at fostering child and youth development.

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