Estimating the Effects of Independent Living Services on Educational Attainment Among Youth in Foster Care

Background and Purpose: Transition-aged foster care youth have high risks of adverse outcomes, notably economic hardship, poor educational attainment, incarceration, unemployment, or unplanned pregnancy. The John H. Chafee Foster Care Independence Act was passed in 1999 for the purpose of assisting a successful transition of foster care youth to adulthood. These supports include federal funding for states to design and implement Independent Living Services (ILS hereafter), such as academic support, career preparation, employment, budgeting and financial management skills, housing education, or mentoring. States are required to systematically monitor the Chafee-funded ILS and report every six months in the National Youth in Transition Database (NYTD). Several studies have explored ILS for foster care youth, however, many studies discuss methodological limits resulting from descriptive reports, small nonprobability samples in limited geographic regions, or non-experimental observation data. This study aims to examine whether ILS helps foster care youth complete high school education, using large scale national data and propensity score matching method (PSM).       

Methods: We use two data sources, the NYTD service files and the Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS). The service files track the semi-annual records of the Chafee-funded ILS received by foster care youth, and AFCARS includes administrative data on youth’s individual characteristics and foster care backgrounds. The independent variable is ILS receipt: whether received at least one of the following services in ages 16-17 (measured in service files between September 2011 and March 2014): academic support, career preparation, employment program or vocational training, mentoring, or education financial assistance (1=yes, 0=no). The dependent variable is high school completion: whether they completed 12^thgrade by age 19 (1=yes, 0=no). First, we conducted PSM (radius matching with caliper .01) to adjust for selection bias and pre-existing differences in observational data. Then, using matched cases derived from the PSM (weighted N=738), we compared high school completion rates between youth who received ILS and those who did not. We additionally ran a logistic regression to test the effects of ILS on high school completion after controlling for other covariates.

Results: In the matched sample, 63.7% of foster youth who has ILS completed high school, while 53.9% of the counterparts did. The chi-square test using the matched sample shows that ILS is significantly associated with high school completion (χ²= 7.249, p< .01). The observed difference remains statistically significant when covariates (race and ethnicity, sex, foster care placement type, the number of placement, length in foster care, removal reasons from family of origin) are controlled in logistic regression.

Discussion and Implications: The empirical evidence supports that ILS have positive effects on high school completion of transition-aged foster care youth. High school education is viewed as an essential prerequisite for foster youth to achieve stable housing, employment, and economic independence. Researchers and practitioners should increase collaborative efforts of assessing ILS effects and implementation in order to ensure proper supports for foster youth aging out of care. We will discuss the gaps and suggestions for current practice and research.