Coming of Age: Employment Outcomes for Youth Who Age Out of Foster Care Through Their Middle Twenties
Studies of former foster youth who age out of care find that these youth generally experience high unemployment, unstable employment patterns, and earn very low incomes in the period between ages 18 and 21 (Cook, 1991; Courtney et al., 2001; Dworsky and Courtney, 2001; Goerge,Bilaver, Lee, Needell, Brookhart and Jackman,2002). The Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) requested this study to examine employment and earnings outcomes for youth, through their mid-twenties, who age out of foster care. The key question and focus of the study is whether foster youth catch up or continue to experience less employment and significantly lower earnings than their peers even into their midtwenties.
The study linked child welfare, Unemployment Insurance (UI), and public assistance administrative data to assess employment outcomes and welfare receipt for youth who age out of foster care. Child welfare data allow researchers to identify youth who age out of foster care, while the UI data provide information on employment and earnings. Public assistance data reveal later welfare receipt. Information is linked between sources using youths’ social security numbers. Analyses are conducted in three states: California, Minnesota, and North Carolina. The sample of interest is youth who were 17 years old and in foster care in one of the participating states on December 31,1998, and who eventually aged out of care. A comparison group of youth from low-income families is created using the public assistance data, and baseline national estimates are derived from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY97).
