At a time when there is increasing attention being given to systematically integrating the well-being of children with the goals of safety and permanence in child welfare, little is known about the psychosocial functioning of foster youth transitioning to adulthood from substitute care. This article systematically reviews 17 peer-reviewed articles and/or research reports to identify lifetime and past year prevalence rates of mental health disorders and service utilization. At ages 17 or 18, foster youth are 2 to 4 times more likely to suffer from lifetime and/or past year mental health disorders compared to transition aged youth in the general population. Findings show that mental health service use declines at ages when the prevalence rate of mental health disorders is peaking. The findings of this review suggest the need to focus future efforts in three main areas: 1) Setting a common research agenda for the study of mental health and service use; 2) Routine screening and empirically supported treatments; and 3) Integration and planning between child and adult mental health service systems.
This study examines a sample of foster youth at the onset of the transition to adulthood and explores how social bonds are related to the risk of arrest during adulthood. Drawing from official arrest records, event history models are used to examine the time to arrest. Because individuals may be at risk for different types of crime, competing risk regression models are used to distinguish among arrests for drug-related, nonviolent, or violent crimes. Between the ages of 17–18 and 24, 46% of former foster youth experience an arrest. Arrests were evenly distributed across drug, nonviolent, and violent crimes columns. Although findings fail to support the significance of social bonds to interpersonal domains, bonds to employment and education are associated with a lower risk for arrest. Child welfare policy and practice implications for building connections and protections around foster youth are discussed.
In light of the poor prospects facing many former foster youth during the transition to adulthood, it is surprising that so little attention has been given to substitute care contexts during child welfare system involvement. A review of child welfare research finds that many former foster youth go through an alarming number of placement changes and report a high rate of placement into congregate care settings and other unplanned events. Future research should take explicit account of substitute care contexts in designing and carrying out studies examining the adult outcomes of aging out foster care populations. Interventions intended to circumvent high rates of movement in foster care should also be broadened to target multiple aspects of substitute care contexts.
Keywordsaging out foster youth; former foster youth; youth who reach the age of majority in foster care; substitute care contexts; place; timing; duration; and sequence of placements During the past three decades, foster youth who reach the age of majority during child welfare system involvement have attracted considerable attention from policymakers. The poor prospects facing foster youth during the transition to adulthood, along with obligations state child welfare agencies assume when foster youth are removed from their biological families, have led policy makers to ask what steps can be taken to maximize the life chances of former foster youth? Extending the safety net provided to foster youth during the transition to adulthood reflects one important part of an intervention aimed at improving prospects. That the transition to adulthood is increasingly being viewed as less of an isolated period in the life course and as more connected to earlier experiences and later outcomes (Shanahan, 2000) underscores the need for greater understanding of substitute care contexts and the services that prepare foster youth for adulthood.One aspect of the substitute care context provided to foster youth is the stability of placements leading up to the transition to adulthood. Emerging research, seeking to incorporate the voices of foster youth into research, reveals some of the lingering ways in which placement disruptions cast a dark shadow over future possibilities. With each move, foster youth recall experiencing a loss of control over the direction of their lives (Unrau, Seita, & Putney, 2008) and a growing disconnection from peers, families, and social institutions (Hyde & Kammerer, 2008;. The cascading effects of placement instability occurring during a developmental period that is characterized by rapid physical changes, cognitive and emotional maturation, and heightened sensitivity to Publisher's Disclaimer: This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proof before it is published in its final citable form. Please note that during the production ...
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