By Extending Support Into Early Adulthood, Idaho Is Investing in Prevention Instead of Waiting for Young People to Fall into Crisis
The deck has long been stacked against 18-year-olds aging out of the foster care program and entering the adult world completely on their own. In response to the statistics showing that up to one-third of young people leaving foster care were homeless by their mid-20s, Idaho lawmakers have stepped up to offer more support to vulnerable youth.
Instead of aging out of the system abruptly and facing a cliff edge at 18, young people up to the age of 23 will have access to case management, housing support, education assistance, and job training.
Disrupting the Foster Care to Homelessness Pipeline
Foster care is an often-overlooked vector that leads to homelessness later in life for a large number of people. Nationwide, 50% of homeless people report that they have spent time in foster care at some time in the past. You heard that correctly—half of all people who are currently homeless are former foster care youth. That is extremely significant data that cannot be ignored.
Many factors contribute to the shocking vulnerability young people in foster care face when it comes to homelessness later in life. First of all, foster care is often in itself a form of housing instability, with youth sometimes bouncing from home to home—if there is a home available for them at all. In some cases, youth are placed in “emergency housing” inside government buildings or even jails, meaning foster care can even be a type of homelessness in itself.
Of course, when you’re being shuffled from place to place on other people’s schedule, it’s difficult to hold down stable employment or even focus on schoolwork to get grades good enough for college admission.
Even when stably housed, foster care youth often lack the safety net that helps other kids their age transition smoothly into adulthood. Basic things like not having a co-signer to add to your apartment application can shut them out of housing, even if they would be able to afford the rent payments.
Idaho’s expanded foster care program aims to disrupt the foster care to homelessness pipeline by giving youth more time and more support to get into stable housing of their own.
A Strong First Step
Idaho lawmakers have introduced a number of programs in recent years that provide greater support for youth transitioning into young adulthood. One such program is Continuous Foster Care or CFC, which allows youth to stay in foster care from the ages of 18 to 23 if they choose. A similar program, Voluntary Post-18 Foster Care of VFC, is available to those in the same age range who initially leave foster care at age 18 but later decide that they want to return. Both of these programs fall under the umbrella of Extended Foster Care (EFC) and can be accessed through communication with a caseworker.
EFC options are flexible according to the individual’s needs. Arrangements may include staying in an existing foster care placement or living with extended family members, friends, or living independently with a monthly maintenance payment to help subsidize room and board costs.
In order to access these programs, youth must meet at least one of the following conditions:
- Completing a high school diploma or a program leading to an equivalent credential, such as a GED;
- Enrolled in an educational institution that provides post-secondary or vocational education;
- Participating in a program or activity designed to promote, or remove barriers to, employment;
- Employed for at least 80 hours per month, OR
- Incapable of doing any of the activities described above due to a documented medical condition.
If at any point while enrolled in the program, a young adult isn’t meeting any of these criteria, there will be a 30-day grace period during which they must meet one of the criteria, or they will be removed from the program.
Early Results Are Promising
The changes that have been phased in are already having a noticeable effect on the lives of youth transitioning out of foster care. Since the program began its pilot in 2021, 157 Idaho youth have accessed services through it, including the 80 who are currently enrolled.
Participation in extended foster care programs has been proven to reduce the risk of homelessness by 30 percent. It also has other benefits, like a 41% reduction in arrest rates, a 28% reduction in unplanned pregnancies before the age of 21, and it increases an individual’s odds of completing a year of college by 3.5 times!
The programs have been well received by advocates for foster youth in Idaho and beyond, though many acknowledge that this is just a first step and more support will be necessary to ensure that no one is falling through the cracks.
Anonymous advocates have mentioned that, “A successful transition for aging out youth requires a community of supporters, mentors, and friends who will assist these young people in securing safe and stable housing, transportation, further education, finding employment, and learning life skills of building a healthier relationship,” and “All aging-out youth should have the opportunity to transition into a society that understands their adversity and supports them in becoming loving adults.”
The four-year period covered by Idaho’s extended foster care program is a critical period in life when the foundations for a future begin to be laid. Additional support during that transitional period pays dividends over the course of a person’s entire life.
On a societal level, it’s much easier and more cost-effective to prevent potential problems in the future than to try to fix the situation once it’s already snowballed out of control.
We don’t need to wait until someone is chronically homeless to offer them housing support. We can instead take preventative measures to ensure that it never gets that far, so that emergency measures are not needed later on. Ensuring foster youth have time to heal, build life skills, and rely on a safety net like their peers is a smart investment.