Supporting THP+ for
California's Emancipating Foster Youth:
A Compilation of Statistics

Everychild Foundation
http://www.everychildfoundation.org

John Burton Foundation for
Children Without Homes
http://www.JohnBurtonFoundation.org May 2006

The Problem: The "Transition Cliff"

  • Many children with abuse and neglect histories never reunite with their families or find alternative permanent homes; this population of abused children graduate or "emancipate" from the child welfare system
  • Children who emancipate from the foster care system face disproportiately higher rates of:
    - Unemployment
    - Lower Educational Attainment
    - Incarceration
    - Dependence on public assistance
    - Substance abuse
    - Non-marital childbirth
    - Other high-risk behaviors.1
  • The lack of a "safety net" for these former foster youth - - now young adults - - means that they truly struggle to "make ends meet" often ultimately becoming a more burdensome and larger cost to society than if a much smaller, up-front investment had simply been made to better prepare and advise them during transition and the years preceding it.
  • One shocking statistic best explains how the system has failed them: over 70% of all State Penitentiary inmates have spent time in the foster care system according to the May 12, 2006 Select Committee Hearing of the California Legislature.
  • The public knows little or nothing about the difficulties facing this group of young adults.
  • The population of emancipated foster youth face unique challenges such as:
    - Lack of stable or affordable housing leading to homelessness
    - Lack of employment opportunities
    - Lack of medical care / coverage
    - Mental health problems
    - Early or unplanned pregnancies
  • When provided with information about the poor prospects for this population, most people say that the age at which the average young person is completely on their own is 23; 1/3 of respondents say it is 25 or older.2

This presentation includes a compilation of recent statistics (by no means exhaustive) to illustrate the significant ramifications of failing to assist these young adults.

Our position is that there are steps that the government and community can take to help ensure that these youth make a smooth transition and become productive members of the community.

The direct public expense of not doing so is enormous, according to various experts the authors queried who work closely with emancipated foster youth. Consider these typical annual costs they cited:

  • Housing an emancipated foster youth in a program providing support services (mental health, educational and vocational counseling, job placement, financial literacy and life skills training, mentoring) such as Hillsides in Pasadena - $20,000 - $25,000.
  • Incarceration for the same young adult - between $55,000 and $115,000 (depending upon the type of facility), according to the State's Safety and Welfare Remedial Plan filed in April of this year.
  • Residence in a mental health facility - $215,000.

The Basics:

  • Nationally, about 20,000 youth aged 16 or older make the transition from foster care to legal emancipation each year. 3
  • From January 1, 2004 to December 31, 2004, 4,255 children emancipated from foster care in California.4
  • Of these 4,255 emancipating youth 1,402 were located in Los Angeles.

Children who emancipate from the child welfare system are unlikely to find safe, affordable housing.

  • Within 2-4 years of emancipation, 25% of emancipated youth have been homeless for at least one night.5
  • In California, 65% of youth leaving care do so without a place to live.6
  • Nearly 40% of transitioning youth will be homeless within eighteen months of discharge.7
  • In Los Angeles and Alameda counties, 50% of emancipated youth will be homeless within six months.8
  • Without housing, youth are less likely to complete their education, find employment, and gain access to health care, all of which jeopardize their ability to make a successful transition to independence.9
  • Studies found that between 44 - 77 % of emancipating youth have completed high school as compared to 93% of non-foster care youth.10
  • Research shows that only 1% to 5% of foster youth ever graduate from college.11

Employment Problems: Children who emancipate from the child welfare system are unlikely to find employment opportunities.

  • Studies show that approximately 51% of youth are unemployed within 2-4 years of emancipation.12
  • According to the California Department of Social Services, as of December 2001, about 50% of emancipated foster youth were not employed.13
  • If employed, former foster care youth earn significantly lower wages than their low-income peers
  • One study found that emancipated foster youth earned an average of $6000 per year, which is well below the national poverty line of $7890.
  • Over a three-year period, no more than 45% of these foster youth reported earnings in any one quarter.

The Impact of Failing Our Emancipated Youth: The Cost of Benefits and Incarceration

  • The State must bear the following significant economic and other costs of youth who end up incarcerated:
    Criminal justice costs (i.e., operation of criminal justice system in terms of police, prosecution, courts, probation, incarceration, parole etc.)14
    - Medical costs borne by the government
    - Property damage
    - Loss of productivity to society
    - Loss of work time by victims, their families and the offender
    - Loss of property values in areas of high crime
    - Pain and suffering of crime victims and society

The Impact of Failing Our Emancipated Youth: The Cost of Benefits and Incarceration

  • 40% of former foster youth are a cost to the community.15
  • The cost to the community occurs within 2-4 years of emancipation because 40% of emancipated youth have been on public assistance or incarcerated by that time. 16
  • Several studies reveal that girls who emancipate from foster care are far more likely (approximately 3X) than their peers to have a child by 19. 17
  • Approximately 50% of females in the foster care system receive AFDC/TANF Medi-Cal within one to six years of emancipation. In contrast, approximately 6% of all females age 19-29 in California received TANF in 1999.18

1 http://www.covdove.org/Inside/Statistics.htm, Covenant House California Statistics (retrieved February 2006).
2 http://www.financeproject.org/Publications/foster%20care%20final1.pdf
3 http://www.casey.org/MediaCXenter/MediaKit/FActSheet.htm, Child Welfare Fact Sheet published by Casey Family Programs (based on data from a period ending September 30, 2001).
4 Child Welfare Service Reports for California (2005). Retrieved in February 2006 from University of California at Berkeley Center for Social Services Research Website. URL: http://cssr.berkeley.edu/CWSCMSreports/. See also, http://calwv.org/jjds/chap6.html, Juvenile Justice in California, Part II: Dependency System, Chap. VI, Prepared by the League of Women Voters of California, July 1998.
5 April 2003 Press Release from the Office of the Governor of California, reprinted on http://www.buildingc3.com/item.asp?id=196. See also Finessa Ferrell, Life After Foster Care, http://www.ncsl.org/programs/pubs/slmag/2004/04OctNov_Fostercare.pdf (2004).
6 Issue Brief, Ensuring Access to Healthy Young Adults Program for Transitioning Youth, citing a California Department of Social Services 2002 Study: Report of the Housing Needs of Emancipated Foster/Probation Youth; California Department of Social Services. (2002) Report on the Survey of the Housing Needs of Emancipated Foster/Probation Youth. Independent Living Program Policy Unit, Child and Youth Permanency Branch.
7 U.S. General Accounting Office. (1999) Foster Care: Effectiveness of Independent Living Services Unknown. (GAO/HEHS-00-13). Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office. See also, Juvenile Justice in California Part II: Dependency System, 1998, http://calwv.org/jjds/chap6.html.
8 Covenant House of California statistics available at http://www.covdove.org/Inside/Statistics.htm (2004).
9 Los Angeles County Economy and Efficiency Commission. (2002) A Review of Emancipation Services. Los Angeles, CA: Author. Available online at http://eec.co.la.ca.us/pubfiles/cntyops/0202-EmancipationServices.htm.
10 Id.
11 Finessa Ferrell, Life After Foster Care, http://www.ncsl.org/programs/pubs/slmag/2004/04OctNov_Fostercare.pdf (2004).
12 April 2003 Press Release from the Office of the Governor of California, reprinted on http://www.buildingc3.com/item.asp?id=196. One study showed that 23% of California former foster care youth were unemployed within a 13-month period.
13 http://www.familiesforchildren.org/statistics/htm.
14 See http://www.lao.ca.gov/1995/050195_juv_crime/kkpart6.html.
15 Id.
16 April 2003 Press Release from the Office of the Governor of California, reprinted on http://www.buildingc3.com/item.asp?id=196.
17 See http://www.teenpregnancy.org/resources/reading/pdf/Fostering_Hope.pdf.
18 Youth Emancipating from Foster Care in California: Findings Using Linked Administrative Data, July 31, 2002, Summary of Findings by the Research and Evaluation Branch, Research and Development Division of the California Department of Social Services.