Young adults who experienced the foster care system face struggles and challenges that others their age do not have to deal with. The foster care system does not give youth adequate resources, support, or guidance, either while they are in care or after they age out of care. As a result, within four years of aging out of the foster care system, about 25% of former foster youth will experience homelessness; 50% will have no earnings (and those who do earn an average of $7,500/year); and twice as many suffer from PTSD than U.S. war veterans. 

When children are placed in foster care, we as a society take on the obligation to properly parent, nurture, protect, and support them. Responsible parents understand that these obligations extend beyond age 18, as young adults are working toward becoming self-sufficient.

Let's call on policymakers to fix the foster care system to provide youth with a fair chance to succeed. For example, policymakers must

(1) allow youth in foster care to save for their future without jeopardizing their eligibility for federal benefits. For example, if a foster youth has more than $10,000 in total assets (a car, savings, etc.), the federal government will not support their basic needs while in foster care. As a result, they are discouraged or even prevented from exceeding that limit. Foster youth typically don't have a family safety net or support system to help them during the difficult transition to self-sufficiency, so we should be encouraging them to save for the future -- not limiting their ability to be self-reliant when they leave foster care.    

(2) require that states intercepting and collecting foster youths' Social Security benefits (available to disabled or orphaned foster children) use those funds to meet the youths' unique needs and conserve a portion of those funds for the youth’s use after exiting care.

(3) extend resources for former foster youth through their mid-20s (the average age when young adults become self-sufficient). 

(4) help former foster youth identify a stable adult in their lives who can guide them through the difficult transition to independent adulthood. 

For more information, visit www.fosteringfairness.org and follow us on Instagram.