1

Running Head: AGING OUT OF FOSTER CARE

The Effects of Aging out of Foster Care

Alexandra Parker

Northern Arizona University

AGING OUT OF FOSTER CARE 2

Abstract

The purpose of this paper was to show the effects, negative and positive, to the youth

who are aging out or have aged out of foster care. The paper provides multiple studies

that show the negative correlations of instable placement as well as the lack of support

for the youth and the use of substances, risky behaviors, incarceration, and

unemployment. It will also shed insight on programs within the welfare system and how

those can potentially positively affect the youth who are aging out of foster care.
AGING OUT OF FOSTER CARE 3

Pre-Research Discussion

I chose this topic because I have wanted to work in the foster care/child welfare system

for several years now. Personally, I have never experienced foster care or the child welfare

system, but I have a strong passion for advocating for the children and young adults in the foster

care system. According to the children’s rights website, there are nearly 437,000 children in

foster care in the United States. (2020) That number was shocking to me and it truly makes my

heart ache for all those children. However, more than 17,000 youth age out of foster care

without having stable family situations and living. (2020) Once again, the numbers were

shocking and all I can think about is how people can help the children in the system and the

youth who are about to age of out of the system. In 2018 I saw a movie titled “Instant Family”,

which is about a couple who is looking to start foster parenting and adopt. They are, like a lot of

families, looking for a younger child in the foster care system. However, once they meet a

younger girl, they realize she comes with two older siblings and eventually take all three of them

in. What still sticks with me the most is when the oldest of the siblings, fifteen years old, said

that no one really cares about the older kids in foster care. Realizing this is a movie, the

statement is still fairly accurate. It truly is heartbreaking when I hear that youth aging out of

foster care who have not had a forever home/family or even a stable living environment are more

likely to end up homeless, incarcerated or unemployed. The articles that I found are studies that

show correlations between the youth aging out of foster care and risky behaviors, homelessness

and unemployment. The articles also showcase the use of programs and the associations of the

participation of programs and the behaviors and outcomes listed above.

Post-Research Discussion
AGING OUT OF FOSTER CARE 4

The one theme that stood out the most was, unfortunately, how flawed the child welfare

system is in the United States. The number of children within the system and the number of

youths aging out is immense. The correlations of instability within placements for youth and

substance use, incarceration and unemployment are high. Each article highlights the negative

aspects of a flawed system and how it can potentially affect the youth overall. However, the

articles also highlight the positive aspects of programs utilized, stable living environments and

overall support and how beneficial they can be for the youths within the child welfare system.

The first article examines the associations of homelessness of aged out foster youth and

their secondary education and employment status. The article was specified for the particular

youth who had aged out and became homeless and how their lives were affected overall. The

main point of the conclusion of this article was that unfortunately what happens the most is once

the youth have reached the age, the child welfare system cannot always support them within that

particular system and that more programs need to be in place to help the homeless youth. The

second article was about the social connectedness of youth aging out of the system and the

potentially positive associations of independent living services. Once again, it was pointed out

that independent living services may be of help to some youth, it does not always support the

youth who need it the most. The third article highlights the correlations of the legal system and

the lives of the youth aging out. It was noted that the legal system should be contributing more

typical and positive opportunities to the youth. The fourth article demonstrated the positive

outcomes of youth empowerment programs within the foster care system. The fifth article was

specifically about placement instability and the associations of risky behaviors within the aging

out of foster care youth. It highlights that placement plays a huge role for the child in the foster
AGING OUT OF FOSTER CARE 5

care system and with greater support and stability there is a high possibility of having a positive

effect on the adolescent as well as the youth who are aging out.

Annotated Bibliography

Rosenberg, R., & Kim, Y. (2017). Aging Out of Foster Care: Homelessness, Post-Secondary

Education, and Employment. Journal of Public Child Welfare, 12(1), 99–115. doi:

10.1080/15548732.2017.134755

This article is a study that examined the correlations between homelessness and two

outcomes, post-secondary education and employment status for the transitioning of youth

aging out of foster care. (Rosenberg &Kim, 2017) The study was conducted by utilizing

secondary data from the National Youth in Transition Database (NYTD) and The

Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS). (Rosenberg

&Kim, 2017) The NYTD collected data for older youth in foster from all of the fifty

states as well as the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico and it contained two types of

data, service data and outcome data. AFCARS provided data on the demographic

information for youth in foster care and their foster care history information. (Rosenberg

&Kim, 2017) The study was conducted with the data sources: “1)Wave 1 (2011), Wave

2(2013), and Wave 3 (2015) from the NYTD outcomes; 2) NYTD service data in

September 2012; and 3) AFCARS data in 2011” (Rosenberg &Kim, 2017). The sample

that was used was youth in foster care who, by 2011, turned seventeen years old.
AGING OUT OF FOSTER CARE 6

The overall study sample consisted of 4,235 youth and about one third of those were

currently enrolled or had been enrolled in a post-secondary education at the age of 21and

51% were either enrolled or were working full time. About 27% of the sample had

experienced homelessness “between the ages of 19 and 21, more than the age of 17

(17.6%) and between the ages of 17 to 19 (19.3%)” (Rosenberg &Kim, 2017). Overall,

the article stated that the study found that youth who had experienced homelessness

between the ages of nineteen and twenty-one were “less likely to have post-secondary

education or full-time employment” both controlled for individual and foster care

characteristics.

This article was chosen because it focused on youth aging out of foster care and the

affects of homelessness. It was also chosen because the study was done on a high

number of youth aged foster care and in the United States.

Lee, J. S., & Ballew, K. M. (2018). Independent living services, adjudication status, and the

social exclusion of foster youth aging out of care in the United States. Journal of Youth

Studies, 21(7), 940–957. doi: 10.1080/13676261.2018.1435854

This article is a survey study that examines the associations between independent living

services adjudication status, and the early adult outcomes for youth who are aging out of

foster care. The study used a social exclusion framework and the outcomes and

independent living services data was from the National Youth in Transition Database

(NYTD). (Lee & Ballew, 2018) There was also chi-square tests and logistic regression

models that was used to analyze the relationships among “adjudication status,
AGING OUT OF FOSTER CARE 7

independent living, social exclusion, and social connectedness at age 19” (Lee & Ballew,

2018). The data used was from the two sources, NYTD and Foster Care Analysis

Reporting System (AFCARS) and it was collected from all fifty states as well as District

of Columbia and Puerto Rico.

The study was during the 2011 fiscal year of youth aging out of foster care and it

followed youth from 2011 through 2013. The data was conducted by administrating all

voluntary surveys that included in person interviews, internet, or over the phone. The

beginning stages were youth interviewed at seventeen who were on their way of aging

out of foster care and then were interviewed again at the age of nineteen. They were to

include information about educational attainment, positive connections with adults, and

incarceration. (Lee & Ballew, 2018) Social connectedness was determined on whether

the youth was working or enrolled in school. The final sample number of youths was

7,412. (Lee & Ballew, 2018) The findings of the survey showed that “postsecondary

education support and education financial services” (Lee & Ballew, 2018), were

associated with a higher probability of being social connected and lower chances of being

socially excluded by the age of nineteen. However, being an adjudicated delinquent and

receiving education and career services were related to a low probability of being socially

connected. (Lee & Ballew, 2018)

This article was chosen because of the specific study and the topic of the study. It related

to youth aging out of foster care and how it affects them on a more social aspect. One

thing that was mentioned in this study was that independent living services can help
AGING OUT OF FOSTER CARE 8

aging out of foster care youth but may not fully assist the youth who are struggling the

most or are needing it the most.

Lee, J. S., Courtney, M. E., Harachi, T. W., & Tajima, E. A. (2015). Labeling and the effect of

adolescent legal system involvement on adult outcomes for foster youth aging out of care.

American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 85(5), 441–451. doi: 10.1037/ort0000090

This article is a surveyed case study that used the labeling theory to analyze the role that

adolescent legal system involvement could be initiating a development of social

exclusion that leads to higher levels of adult criminal behaviors among the youth who

have aged out of foster care. (Lee, Courtney, Harachi, & Tajima, 2015) The data was

used from Midwest Evaluation of the Adult Functioning of Former Foster Youth

(Midwest Study) that sampled 732 youth from Illinois, Iowa, and Wisconsin that were

about to leave the foster care system at seventeen or eighteen. They were then re-

interviewed at the ages of nineteen, twenty-one, and twenty-three or twenty-four. (Lee,

Courtney, Harachi, & Tajima, 2015) There was self-reported adult criminal behaviors

from juvenile legal system through the structural equation model. (Lee, Courtney,

Harachi, & Tajima, 2015)

The final findings of the study showed that the path model determined that legal system

involvement from juvenile was correlated with a small chance of having a high school

diploma at the age of nineteen and it was also associated with the lower likelihood of

employment and a high probability of increased criminal behaviors at the age of twenty-

one. (Lee, Courtney, Harachi, & Tajima, 2015)

AGING OUT OF FOSTER CARE 9

While this study was only conducted in three states, it was still chosen because of the

data. This article concerns youth aging out of foster care and what can potentially happen

when the legal system is involved but not properly contributing to the lives of the youth.

It also examines the associations between aging out of foster care and social exclusion.

However, it was noted in the article that the legal system involvement should be

contributing more and providing more conventional opportunities to the youth aging out

of foster care.

Batista, T., Johnson, A., & Friedmann, L. B. (2018). The Effects of Youth Empowerment

Programs on the Psychological Empowerment of Young People Aging Out of Foster

Care. Journal of the Society for Social Work and Research, 9(4), 531–549. doi:

10.1086/700275

This article is a study that examines the effects of youth empowerment programs (YEPs)

on the “psychological empowerment of young people aging out of foster care” (Batista,

Johnson, & Friedmann, 2018). The method that was used was a two-group, cross-

sectional survey that examined the impact of youth empowerment program support on the

psychological empowerment of aging out of Florida’s foster care youth. The sample

consisted of 193 young adults. Of those adults, 99 were YEP participants and the other

94 were non-YEP participants; the participants were aged from 18-24. (Batista, Johnson,

& Friedmann, 2018) There were four dependent variables that characterized four

dimensions of psychological empowerment: “perceived control, motivation to influence,

sociopolitical skills, and participatory behavior” (Batista, Johnson, & Friedmann, 2018).
AGING OUT OF FOSTER CARE 10

The results of this study showed that the youth that participated in the empowerment

programs had a higher perceived control, motivation to influence their environments,

self-efficacy, and participatory behavior than the youth that did not participate. The

study even showed that with the findings, the non-YEP participants were less even when

controlling for “age at program entry, gender, race, time in foster care, number of

placements, and geographic location” (Batista, Johnson, & Friedmann, 2018).

This article was chosen because it showed the potential positive effects of a youth

empowerment program with foster care children, especially for youth aging out of foster

care and how it mainly focused on the positive aspects of youth. The conclusion from

this article stated that the child welfare system should have a program that will help youth

who are aging out of foster care. Unfortunately, this study was only done in Florida so

there is a curious thought if there are youth empowerment programs in other states to

help aging out of foster care youth find their sense of empowerment.

Stott, T. (2011). Placement Instability and Risky Behaviors of Youth Aging Out of Foster Care.

Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal, 29(1), 61–83. doi: 10.1007/s10560-011-

0247-8

This article was a study that wanted to determine if there was a correlation between foster

care placement stability and substance use and risky sexual behaviors in youth. (Stott,

2011) The data sample consisted of 114 young adults who had aged out of foster care.

The data was collected by interviews of quantitative and qualitative questions. The

substance abuse data was measured by asking the type of substances that were used (or
AGING OUT OF FOSTER CARE 11

not), the frequency of it, and last time. The risky sexual behaviors were measured by

questions of consensual sexual intercourse, number of partners and the number of

partners within the last three months as well as contraceptive use and number of

pregnancies. The placement history was taken from administrative files. (Stott, 2011)

The results of the study showed that participants with foster care instability placement

had a higher probability of risky sexual behaviors and increased the likelihood of the

young adults to abuse substances. (Stott, 2011)

This article was chosen because it showcases that youths time during foster care and their

placement plays a huge role in how it potentially negatively affects them once they age

out. The article suggested that child welfare practitioners can possibly decrease the

vulnerability of the youth aging out population by supporting them with greater stability

during their time in foster care and during their adolescence. (Stott, 2011)
AGING OUT OF FOSTER CARE 12

References

Foster Care. (2020). Retrieved from https://www.childrensrights.org/newsroom/fact-

sheets/foster-care/