Family Resources and Supports

Home»Family Resources and Supports»Older Youth and Launching to Adulthood»Aging Out and Transitioning from Foster Care
Aging Out and Transitioning from Foster Care2019-11-01T15:22:20-04:00

Aging Out and Transitioning from Foster Care

Essentially, “aging out” is the process that occurs when youth must leave the foster care system because they were never adopted and are too old to stay in care. In New York, youth can sign themselves “out” of foster care at age 18, however, they can choose to reenter the system again until they are 21. At age 21, all New York State youth in foster care, do “age out” of the system.

Without the love and support of a family to fall back on, many teens who aged out of foster care find themselves struggling to succeed on their own. It’s not easy for the youth who do age out without support. The statistics are devastating. By age 26, only three to four percent of youth who aged out of foster care earn a college degree. One in five of these youth will become homeless after turning 18. Only half will obtain employment by 24. Over 70 percent of female foster youth will become pregnant by 21, and one in four former foster youth will experience PTSD.

The number of youth who age out of foster care has risen steadily over the past decade, even in the wake of increased efforts to achieve permanence for all children in foster care. For far too many youth, aging out of care results in homelessness, work instability, and a lack of stable, loving relationships with adults.

Also see resources for Permanency for Older Youth

Below are some resources on practice and policy issues that support effective permanency planning and decision making with adolescents in foster care.

More Information and Resources:

45 Suggested Supports for Youth Transitioning From Care

“Permanency is a feeling that is different for everyone, it is not bound by time nor can it be measured. It has to be discovered and often times it has to be tested, and rejected more than once before permanency can be established. Permanency is so hard to understand because it is a conceptual idea of an emotion and is received on both ends very differently for every person. There is no straight “by the book” definition of permanency because the emotions I feel cannot be felt by anyone else, and that’s the great thing about it.”

Young Adults Leaving Home

One of the chief emotional issues adoptees face throughout their lives is learning how to cope effectively with the feelings that are associated with separation and loss. Leaving home is the ultimate separation, and not only has its own complicated challenges, but can trigger all of the feelings the adoptee may have about their own separation from the birth family and subsequent separations from foster families.

Go to Top