Credit: John C. Osborn/EdSource Today

The vast majority of California'south foster youth plan to graduate from college, but a much smaller per centum of them accept the academic background they need to succeed, according to a new survey of 17-year-quondam foster youthin the state.

The CalYOUTH study, as it is known, is part of a five-year evaluation past researchers at the University of Chicago who surveyed 727 California youth to decide the impact of extending foster-care benefits to California youths beyond age xviii. Philanthropic foundations are funding the study post-obit passage of Assembly Nib 12 in 2010, which allows eligible foster youths to receive benefits until they are 21.

California policymakers and social service agencies plan to apply the youths' descriptions of their "assets, aspirations and needs" to develop policies to back up them as they transition to independence.

The report "provides usa with meaningful insights into our foster care arrangement," said Will Lightbourne, director of the California Department of Social Services, in a statement accompanying the written report, Findings from the California Youth Transitions to Adulthood Written report: Weather of Foster Youth at Historic period 17. "Understanding the experiences of youth currently in intendance will allow united states of america to implement policies that truly support successful transitions to adulthood."

"The good news is that four out of five foster youth want to get on in school," said the written report'due south lead author Marker Courtney. "Merely they are going to need a lot of help. Ane in five is a young woman with a kid."

Although other states take extended foster intendance services to age 21, "California has the largest state foster care population in the U.s.a., making what happens in California'due south child welfare arrangement of national significance," the written report notes.

Fifty-two percent of the students surveyed expect to graduate from college, with another 22 percent planning to continue their studies later on higher graduation. Yet, a 3rd of the students at one time were placed in a special educational activity classroom and a tertiary had repeated a form. 2-thirds of the students said they had received an out-of-school suspension. And more than half said they received mostly C's or D's, or lower.

"The skilful news is that four out of five foster youth want to become on in school," said the written report'due south pb author Mark Courtney. "Only they are going to demand a lot of assistance. One in five is a young woman with a kid." The report also shows that about of the youth will not be able to exist economically self-sufficient, with 2-thirds reporting having no work experience.

In addition, many of the youth surveyed have not received the mental wellness counseling they need, Courtney said. Before entering foster care, 45 percent of the girls reported they had been molested. Before entering foster care, one in v of boys and girls had a caretaker who attempted to choke, smother or strangle them, they said, and 17 percentage reported having been locked in a room or closet for several hours or longer.

Half of the girls and a quarter of the boys have thought about suicide, according to the survey, with xxx pct of the girls and fourteen percentage of the boys maxim they had tried to kill themselves.

"It's pretty obvious that the notion of extending care is a expert idea," Courtney said. Equally articulate, he said, is that the population is and so diverse that at that place are no policy solutions that will assistance all the youth.

Despite the odds against them, ix of ten foster youth expressed optimism about their future and look to proceed to rely on the government subsequently turning 18, with well more than half of them saying they were lucky to take been placed in foster care.

The University of Wisconsin Survey Center conducted the survey betwixt April 15, 2022 and Oct. 11, 2013.

The study was funded by the Stuart Foundation,* the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, the Walter S. Johnson Foundation, the Zellerbach Family Foundation and the Annie E. Casey Foundation.

*The Stuart Foundation provides funding to EdSource but has no control over editorial decisions.

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