Every year, 20,000 young people exit care with no family, leading to high rates of homelessness, joblessness, and suicide. This crisis reflects a failure of the state to keep children safe and secure their right to a family. Our solutions address a multitude of problems that prevent children from being placed in loving, adoptive homes. We also work to ensure that teens who age out of care have the support and resources they need to succeed.
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More than sympathy, Fostering the Future Accounts offer hope
Published in The Hill. History does not always arrive with fanfare. Sometimes it arrives softly and humbly, and only in hindsight does the landmark moment become clear. That is how it came earlier this month, when First Lady Melania Trump announced Fostering the Future Accounts, a new path to savings accounts for children in foster care. [...]
Cash Accounts Can Help Youth Aging Out of Foster Care Succeed
Tens of thousands of American children age out of foster care each year with little more than the clothes on their backs. These orphaned teens disproportionately end up trafficked, incarcerated, and homeless. Policymakers can help these teens succeed by opening and funding flexible bank accounts, according to a new idea brief released by the Center [...]
Isaac hadn’t had a mom in 13 years. When I tried to adopt him, he was told it was too late
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Problem Nationally, over 90% of children in foster care leave the child welfare system via reunification with biological parents, guardianship, kinship placements, or adoption.1 The remaining children – approximately 9% of teens and young adults – “age out” of the child welfare system without a permanent family. 5-Permanency Project - final - c
Overview: Nearly 10% of children in our nation’s child welfare system “age out” of the system, leaving foster care without a family, meaningful adult connections, or adequate support. Outcomes for these young adults are dismal, with statistics showing startling rates of homelessness and incarceration by age 21. 4-Reinstatement Larger Write Up - final - c [...]
Frequent and unnecessary delays in the court cases of Arizona’s foster children add years to a child’s time in state care. Each court continuance delays permanency for a child up to four months. Timely hearings are a matter of due process for all parties and delays are costly to families, children, and taxpayers alike. Senate [...]
The adoption process can be slow, sometimes taking longer than a year. This largely administrative activity swallows precious time that foster children, especially older kids, don’t have to waste. Older kids are among the most difficult to place in a permanent home and face terrible odds without a family. Twenty-five percent of children who “age [...]