Aging out of Foster Care: Homelessness, Post-Secondary Education, and Employment

Background and Purpose. On average 25,000 youth “age out” of the foster care system every year (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2013). Youth who transition out of foster care are known to experience worse outcomes than the general youth population, and youth who stay in care past 18, such as educational attainment, housing, or employment (Courtney et al, 2010). Over the past several decades, federal legislation has been passed to help foster youth in their transition to adulthood, by providing more services, increasing the care age limit, and shifting the focus to evidence-informed practices. Such efforts include the National Youth in Transition Database (NYTD), which was created as part of the John H. Chafee Foster Care Independence Act of 1999 and requires all states to collect data on outcomes of foster youth and their independent living services receipt. Prior research demonstrates that youth homelessness is generally a concerning risk factor causing adverse outcomes in adulthood. We investigate the risk of homelessness and young adult outcomes of foster care youth, using the NYTD.

Methods. We use the NYTD and the Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS). The NYTD consists of outcomes files (information on well-being, educational, and economic outcomes of youth) and services files (data on independent living services received). AFCARS contains administrative data on demographics, foster care placement, and health status of youth. Our study tests whether the experience of homelessness is negatively associated with young adult outcomes. Two dependent variables are obtained from the 2013 outcomes data (youth age 19): (1) Model 1 with post-secondary education (1= currently enrolled in post-secondary education, 0=otherwise), (2) Model 2 with post-secondary education or working (1= currently in post-secondary education or working in either part-time or full-time, 0=otherwise). The independent variable indicates whether youth experienced homelessness (1=ever homeless in the past two years, 0=no). Control variables come from both services data and AFCARS to account for individual youth characteristics and foster care history. We conduct descriptive analysis and logistic regression analyses (N=1,183).

Results. Our sample consists of 56.4% female, 47.5% Caucasian, and 27% African American. Model 1 shows that homelessness is significantly associated with post-secondary education (b= -.577, p<. 001). Among control variables, the odds of post-secondary education decrease as the number of placements increases (b= -.062, p<. 001); males are less likely to have post-secondary education (b=-.823 p<. 000). Similarly, Model 2 presents that foster youth experiencing homelessness are less likely to be enrolled in post-secondary education or work (b= -.399, p<. 05). In Model 2, another interesting finding is that youth placed in foster homes are more likely to have a positive adult outcome than youth placed in a group home (b=-.426, p<. 05).

Conclusion and Implications. Our findings suggest that homelessness is a significant predictor for youth aging out of the system. The findings support the needs for independent living services to prevent homelessness as youth transition out of care. We will discuss research challenges and policy implications for social work practitioners and future studies.