Foster Care Training Today
Fostering Dreams & Fostering Futures through
Effective Educational Advocacy
FREE REPORT
A Path Forward: How Educational Advocacy Transforms Futures for Youth Aging Out of Foster Care
In 2021, over 390,000 children were in foster care in the U.S., with
20,000 aging out annually.
Of those aging out:
25% will not graduate high school.
25% will experience homelessness.
20% will be incarcerated by age 21.
23% will be parents by the age of 21.
Only 57% will be employed either full- or part-time by the age of 21.
Only 3-12% will ever earn a college degree (associate or bachelor).
Former foster youth are 1.5 to 2 times more likely to engage in substance use than the general population.
20% or more will experience mental health issues into adulthood.
20-40% of former foster youth have their children enter the child welfare system at some point.
These statistics demonstrate the dire need for interventions that address both educational instability and the transition to adulthood for foster youth. Currently, the social cost of these adverse outcomes is estimated at $300,000 per foster alumni, totaling $6 billion annually (Annie E. Casey Foundation, 2024).
Improving the educational outcomes of children in foster care could change these statistics.
FREE REPORT
In 2021, over 390,000 children were in foster care in the U.S., with
20,000 aging out annually.
Of those aging out:
25% will not graduate high school.
25% will experience homelessness.
20% will be incarcerated by age 21.
23% will be parents by the age of 21.
Only 57% will be employed either full- or part-time by the age of 21.
Only 3-12% will ever earn a college degree (associate or bachelor).
Former foster youth are 1.5 to 2 times more likely to engage in substance use than the general population.
20% or more will experience mental health issues into adulthood.
20-40% of former foster youth have their children enter the child welfare system at some point.
These statistics demonstrate the dire need for interventions that address both educational instability and the transition to adulthood for foster youth. Currently, the social cost of these adverse outcomes is estimated at $300,000 per foster alumni, totaling $6 billion annually (Annie E. Casey Foundation, 2024).
Improving the educational outcomes of children in foster care could change these statistics.
© 2024 Foster Care Training Today - All Rights Reserved.