what happens to a child in foster care
23,000 children historic period out of foster care annually, instantly losing access to nearly every form of support.
This is what happens to them.
twenty% become instantly homeless.
Moving picture that. twenty% of kids who age out of foster care become instantly homeless. They walk out of their foster home or residential establishment with whatever they've managed to hold on while beingness shuffled from home to dwelling house--and take absolutely zero to catch them. What a drastic, terrifying situation to exist put in.
The vast majority of foster youth accept faced immense obstacles to learning and personal development, leaving them ill equipped to accept intendance of themselves as independent adults. Virtually have never been equipped with the personal noesis and skills to even notice the resources that could help them.
Less than 3% earn a college degree by age 26.
Think back on a time when you were dealing with a personal or family unit issue--peradventure you were facing the loss of a loved 1, a sibling was critically sick in the hospital, or you were going through a nasty breakup. During that time, did you find it much more difficult to focus at work or in school?
For kids growing upwardly in foster care, there's always something much bigger on their minds drawing focus away from schoolwork. The instability and trauma these children are facing, combined with unmet mental health needs and loftier rates of learning differences, provides massive barriers to education; only 53% graduate high school--compared to 83% of the general population. They are at the greatest take a chance of dropping out of school of whatsoever pupil group--3 times greater than low-income children. Less than 3% earn a college degree past 26.
Just 50% find employment by age 24.
Half of all foster youth who historic period out of the system are able to find a job that can support them. Those who do notice employment tend non to earn much coin. Those same obstacles to learning that cause so many foster youth to drib out of school are leaving these children undereducated and unqualified for jobs. High risk for substance abuse, crime victimization, and being preyed upon by human being traffickers leave many unable to fifty-fifty seek employment.
60% of immature women who historic period out finish up in the sex industry.
With low prospects of employment and few career skills, many turn to the sex activity industry to support themselves. Sexual activity piece of work is a familiar avenue for many of these young women; lx% of all sexual activity trafficking victims have a history in the child welfare system.
Human traffickers are known to prey upon foster youth, who are easy targets because they struggle with feeling unloved and unwanted and lack the support systems to protect them. The boilerplate age of entry into sex activity trafficking is 12 years old. For many of these immature women who age out of foster care, inbound the sex industry is only a return to what they've known in their youth.
70% of young women are pregnant past 21.
Given the high take a chance of sexual exploitation in this group, it'due south unsurprising, yet deeply troubling, that 70% of these young women who historic period out of foster care become pregnant by 21. These young women are barely able to survive on their own--allow lone heighten children with so little support. Despite the efforts of these young mothers, these pregnancies often just perpetuate the intergenerational poverty and neglect that sent them into the foster intendance system in the first place.
25% of youth who age out are dealing with PTSD
Compared to iv% of the general population, 25% of foster youth who historic period out of the system are dealing with unaddressed PTSD. The vast bulk of foster youth enter the arrangement considering of corruption or neglect, but even for those who take not been exposed to trauma, the foster care system can exist an extremely traumatizing place. Uncertainty, a lack of salubrious and stable relationships with adults, and the take a chance of abuse inside foster care leaves many children with untreated PTSD after leaving the system.
Mental health care is the greatest unmet need for foster youth; lxxx% of foster youth experience significant mental health problems compared to xviii-22% of the general population.
Well-nigh foster homes--every bit well every bit the foster care organization in full general--are simply non equipped to support youth facing mental health problems; therefore, traumatized foster youth are never given the resources and individual attention needed to heal. When these children go out the foster care system, their unmet mental wellness needs remain unmet and prevent them from reaching their full potential.
25% will be incarcerated inside 2 years of aging out.
The "foster-intendance to prison pipeline" is swallowing up unprecedented numbers of foster youth into the criminal justice system; 1 in 4 foster youth go to prison later on aging out of foster care.
Being labelled a "foster child" plants powerful preconceptions in the minds of every person these children interact with--foster parents, teachers, healthcare providers, and peculiarly criminal justice practitioners. In many cases, foster youth are viewed as more unsafe and volatile than other kids, and people treat them as such; for example, instead of mediating and de-escalating when a fight breaks out in a foster home, the police get called and the kid receives a characterization that tin can be even harder to shake: juvenile delinquent.
Sure groups of foster youth are at greater risk of incarceration; foster youth placed in grouping homes are 2.5 times more likely to be incarcerated, 90% of youth with 5 or more foster placements will enter the criminal justice system, and Blackness foster youth--who are already vastly over-represented in the foster intendance organisation--are at greater gamble for incarceration too.
It's easy for people who interact with foster youth to encounter some of their destructive behaviors without understanding the driving force behind them--that these children are struggling with intense emotional turmoil and trauma, and maladaptive behaviors are oft attempts at coping with the loss and fear they're experiencing. Lashing out and behaving irrationally are not signs that these are bad kids who need to be punished; they're signs that these children demand pity and guidance to notice more productive ways to deal with their traumatic circumstances.
Systems are non in identify to effectively care for foster youth while they are in the system, nor to put them in a position for successful independence when they leave the system. Crumbling out should not be an option for foster youth who have not been prepared to intendance for and back up themselves. The outcomes speak volumes.
Aging out is not an option at House of Providence. The children we intendance for are supported and allowed to heal on their ain timeline. Explore our website to learn more about our mission and discover out how y'all tin get involved!
Source: https://www.thehofp.org/articles/what-happens-to-kids-who-age-out-of-foster-care
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