For many minors, turning 18 is an exciting milestone. Around this age, there tend to be high school graduations, celebrations with family, preparations for college, registering to vote and gaining a new sense of independence as an adult. For a large majority of youth in foster care, turning 18 means aging out of the system.
They will need to find a place to live, food to eat, an income that can accommodate their cost of living, a bank account, perhaps a driver’s license, and car, some may still need to graduate high school, others plan for college, obtain medical and dental insurance, and all of the other things it takes to be self-supporting. At 18 years old, there are few who are ready to go out into the world alone, with no support and no place to call home and no family, but for many 18-year-olds aging out of the foster care system, they have no choice but to be ready.
About 24,000 youth age out of the foster care system each year in the United States. Roughly 50 percent of those will have graduated from high school by the time they turn 18. While 84 percent aspire to go to college, only 20 percent will be able to go, and less than 3 percent will graduate with a bachelor’s degree.
“Close to 36 percent will experience homelessness by the age of 26, more than 60 percent of males will have been convicted of a crime and nearly 70 percent of females will have had at least one child by the age of 21. While the odds seem to be stacked against the young adults aging out of the foster care system, it doesn’t have to be this way,” Torrie A. Taj, CEO of Child Crisis Arizona.
In 2008, the Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act was passed. Part of this act allows youth to stay in the foster care system until the age of 21 if they choose, as long as they meet education and employment requirements and participate in a program to remove barriers to employment. The Affordable Care Act, effective in January of 2014, allows Medicaid coverage to all foster care youth until the age of 26.
For secondary education, there is the Arizona Tuition Waiver, for foster youth and former foster youth attending public community college, four-year colleges and universities in the State of Arizona, as long as specific qualifications are met.
Child Crisis Arizona’s Foster Care & Adoption program is committed to helping children in out-of-home care by licensing and certifying parents for foster care and adoption. The range of services and support along with realistic training prepares families for the placement of children of all ages and backgrounds. Child Crisis Arizona offers exceptional support and services. We provide education and training, child-family matching services and post-placement support. We welcome single and two-parent families and have no limitations on religious beliefs, ethnicity or sexual orientation. We provide extensive support to families who are raising kin. To learn more, visit our website, childcrisisaz.org/what-we-do/adoption-foster-care/
