Foster care policy and homelessness among youth transitioning to adulthood from foster care

Abstract

Background: Youth aging out of foster care experience troubling rates of homelessness.

Objective: This study examines whether policies directed towards youth transitioning to adulthood from foster care, Extended Foster Care (EFC) and Supervised Independent Living Placements (SILPs), reduce the risk of homelessness.

Participants and setting: Participants were 595 youths aging out of foster care in California.

Methods: Data from interviews conducted with the youths, and state child welfare administrative data on their involvement with the child welfare system, were used to examine predictors of homelessness between ages 17 and 19. Cox proportional hazard regression models, controlling for the characteristics of the youths, were used to identify associations between time in EFC, and in SILPs, and the hazard of homelessness.

Results: Approximately 18 % of the youth experienced homelessness during this period. Controlling for youth characteristics, youths who left care were at much higher risk of homelessness during the study period than were those who remained in care past their 19th birthday (Hazard ratio [HR] = 3; p < 0.01). Furthermore, youths living in transitional supportive housing (HR = 0.20; p < 0.01) and therapeutic foster care settings (HR = 0.19; p < 0.05) exhibited a lower hazard of homelessness than those who had left care.

Conclusions: Our findings suggest that EFC, and particularly the living arrangements offering extensive support in EFC, reduce the risk of homelessness for youth aging out of foster care.

Keywords: Extended foster care; Homelessness; Independent living placement; Transition-age foster youth; Transitional housing placement.