Aging out of foster care

Youth Voices Rising Writing Contest essay finalist Beza Woche writes about laws that target folks who experience homelessness.

Systems-impacted youth and foster youth deserve to have their needs met. They also deserve love, happiness, and joy, writes Spring Keosoupha.

In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, Congress provided a critical lifeline to youth in foster care, including a moratorium on aging out of care. These measures should be permanent, writes Alex Chivescu.

For months since the eruption of the deadly coronavirus, youth and advocates have been imploring New York to allow young people in the foster care system to continue receiving financial and housing support beyond their 21st birthday.

With dozens of foster youth reaching their 21st birthday each week and job prospects still bleak, state legislators in New York and California advocates have introduced bills that would preserve young people’s access to essential support throughout the public health and economic crisis.

When she turned 21 last year, seven years after entering foster care in New York City, Jeanette Rivera suddenly found herself fending for herself — and her three young children.  “They didn’t wait to make sure that I was ready to be on my own, they didn’t make sure I had food, that my bills were paid or that I even understood how to pay my portion of my rent,” Rivera said.

By Anna Maier New research shows that California teenagers in foster care display a surprising optimism about their future, despite the many challenges they face. “In general young people [aging out of foster care] tend to be pretty optimistic, in that sense I don’t think they differ much from their peers,” said Mark Courtney, Professor in the School of Social Service Administration at the University of Chicago and director of the CalYOUTH study.