Aging Out Part 1: The Sad Reality

30 Aug Aging Out Part 1: The Sad Reality

This article is the first in a three-part series on youth who age out of the foster system.  

In Alabama when a child in foster care reaches the age of 19, they are considered to be “aged out” of the system and are often left to fend for themself. According to the National Foster Youth Institute, foster children with “a diagnosed disability of any kind, including a learning disability, are twice as likely to age out of the foster care system” as children with no disabilities (nfyi.org). While going through foster care is hard at any age, it is especially difficult for those who age out and are between 19-21. They are cut off from the programs that were assisting them and are faced with a new set of obstacles that they are seldom prepared to confront. Senior foster care caseworker at Salvation Army Children’s Services in Allentown, PA, Nicole Hirschman, says, “They do become homeless. They get into drugs and alcohol—falling back into the problems of their biological families—or sometimes end up incarcerated” (socialworktoday.com). 

Despite having seemingly endless resources, foster kids are rarely made aware of them and often end up imprisoned or trafficked. Jaxzia Perez with the Criminal Law Practitioner writes, “over 50% of foster children will have an encounter with the juvenile legal system through arrest, conviction, or detention” and “25% of youth in foster care will be involved with the criminal legal system within two years of leaving foster care” (crimlawpractitioner.org). In most cases, older ex-foster children are even more likely to be in trouble with the law. As stated by Jason Baron, Assistant Professor at Duke University in the Center for Economic and Policy Research, “about 70% of youth who exit foster care as legal adults are arrested at least once by age 26” (cepr.org). In addition to being incarcerated, these children are also more susceptible to being trafficked. According to estimates from the National Foster Youth Institute, “up to 60% of child sex trafficking victims are or have been in foster care” (stateline.org). Moreover, the foster care system is often, unfortunately, seen as a pipeline to trafficking due to some parents giving their foster children the mindset that they are nothing more than a paycheck. Elia Meltzer at Etactics explains, “this teaches the children that their worth and value isn’t intrinsic and that they’re only worth the money they bring in. The development of this mindset sets foster children up as easy prey for traffickers” (etactics.com).  

Along with their increased vulnerability to being jailed and trafficked, those considered to be aged out of foster care are also statistically more likely to become homeless. Research by Dworsky, Napolitano, and Courtney from the National Library of Medicine suggest that “between 31% and 46% of [youth exiting foster care] had been homeless at least once by age 26” (pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov). Ex-foster kids are also more likely to be homeless for significantly longer periods than those that didn’t come from the foster care system. An article from youth.gov states, “Young people with a history of foster care, on average, experience homelessness for a longer time compared with their peers with no foster care history (27.5 months vs. 19.3 months)” (youth.gov). 

The next article in this series will provide resources and discuss potential solutions.