The vast majority of California’s foster youth plan to graduate from college, but a much smaller percentage of them have the academic background they need to succeed, according to a new survey of 17-year-old foster youth in the state.
The CalYOUTH study, as it is known, is part of a five-year evaluation by researchers at the University of Chicago who surveyed 727 California youth to determine the impact of extending foster-care benefits to California youths beyond age 18. Philanthropic foundations are funding the study following passage of Assembly Bill 12 in 2010, which allows eligible foster youths to receive benefits until they are 21.
California policymakers and social service agencies plan to use the youths’ descriptions of their “assets, aspirations and needs” to develop policies to support them as they transition to independence.
The study “provides us with meaningful insights into our foster care system,” said Will Lightbourne, director of the California Department of Social Services, in a statement accompanying the report, Findings from the California Youth Transitions to Adulthood Study: Conditions of Foster Youth at Age 17. “Understanding the experiences of youth currently in care will allow us to implement policies that truly support successful transitions to adulthood.”
[For more of this story, written by Susan Frey, go to http://edsource.org/2014/surve...h/71002#.VIj-ZjHF-5V]
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