Youth Leaving Foster Care

Youth Leaving Foster Care PDF Author: Wendy B. Smith
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190452048
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 320

Get Book Here

Book Description
Each year more than 25,000 youth age out of the American foster care system to face uncertain futures as young adults. Many of them have experienced the trauma of abuse, neglect, disrupted family relationships, and multiple foster care placements. The past two decades have seen increased funding and services in a society-wide attempt to mitigate the effects of such childhood adversity, but a consistent pattern of loss and broken attachments adds up. Development and education are severely compromised. A quarter of youth experience homelessness after exiting care; 25-50% will not complete high school, and only 3-6% will graduate college. Four years after leaving care, less than half are employed, and their earnings remain well below the poverty line. Rates of mental health disorders, early pregnancy and parenthood, and involvement in the criminal justice system are all heightened. Youth Leaving Foster Care is the first comprehensive text to focus on youth emerging from care, offering a new theoretical framework to guide programs, policies, and services. The book argues that understanding infant, child, and adolescent development; attachment experiences and disruptions; and the impacts of unresolved trauma and loss on development are critical to improving long-term outcomes. It provides an overview of the foster care context, detailed discussion of the effects of maltreatment on development from infancy through young adulthood, and common mental health problems and treatment recommendations. It includes a discussion of delinquency and the juvenile justice system, as well as issues facing pregnant and parenting youth, LGBT youth, and youth with disabilities. Presenting the best practices in transitional living programs and policy and research recommendations, this crucial guide also reviews and summarizes the latest research, which are enhanced with illustrative case vignettes. Each mental health and program chapter concludes with key practice principles reflecting the relationship-based approach. Presenting a multidimensional, integrated perspective that gives greater consideration to psychological and interpersonal needs, this vital guide offers an approach that will strengthen the capacity of youth leaving care to transition into successful adult lives.

Youth Leaving Foster Care

Youth Leaving Foster Care PDF Author: Wendy B. Smith
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190452048
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 320

Get Book Here

Book Description
Each year more than 25,000 youth age out of the American foster care system to face uncertain futures as young adults. Many of them have experienced the trauma of abuse, neglect, disrupted family relationships, and multiple foster care placements. The past two decades have seen increased funding and services in a society-wide attempt to mitigate the effects of such childhood adversity, but a consistent pattern of loss and broken attachments adds up. Development and education are severely compromised. A quarter of youth experience homelessness after exiting care; 25-50% will not complete high school, and only 3-6% will graduate college. Four years after leaving care, less than half are employed, and their earnings remain well below the poverty line. Rates of mental health disorders, early pregnancy and parenthood, and involvement in the criminal justice system are all heightened. Youth Leaving Foster Care is the first comprehensive text to focus on youth emerging from care, offering a new theoretical framework to guide programs, policies, and services. The book argues that understanding infant, child, and adolescent development; attachment experiences and disruptions; and the impacts of unresolved trauma and loss on development are critical to improving long-term outcomes. It provides an overview of the foster care context, detailed discussion of the effects of maltreatment on development from infancy through young adulthood, and common mental health problems and treatment recommendations. It includes a discussion of delinquency and the juvenile justice system, as well as issues facing pregnant and parenting youth, LGBT youth, and youth with disabilities. Presenting the best practices in transitional living programs and policy and research recommendations, this crucial guide also reviews and summarizes the latest research, which are enhanced with illustrative case vignettes. Each mental health and program chapter concludes with key practice principles reflecting the relationship-based approach. Presenting a multidimensional, integrated perspective that gives greater consideration to psychological and interpersonal needs, this vital guide offers an approach that will strengthen the capacity of youth leaving care to transition into successful adult lives.

On Your Own without a Net

On Your Own without a Net PDF Author: D. Wayne Osgood
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226637859
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 416

Get Book Here

Book Description
In the decade after high school, young people continue to rely on their families in many ways-sometimes for financial support, sometimes for help with childcare, and sometimes for continued shelter. But what about those young people who confront special difficulties during this period, many of whom can count on little help from their families? On Your Own Without a Net documents the special challenges facing seven vulnerable populations during the transition to adulthood: former foster care youth, youth formerly involved in the juvenile justice system, youth in the criminal justice system, runaway and homeless youth, former special education students, young people in the mental health system, and youth with physical disabilities. During adolescence, government programs have been a major part of their lives, yet eligibility for most programs typically ends between the ages of eighteen and twenty-one. This critical volume shows the unfortunate repercussions of this termination of support and points out the issues that must be addressed to improve these young people's chances of becoming successful adults.

On Their Own

On Their Own PDF Author: Martha Shirk
Publisher: Basic Books
ISBN: 0786722029
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 338

Get Book Here

Book Description
Each year, as many as 25,000 teenagers "age out" of foster care, usually when they turn eighteen. For years, a government agency had made every important decision for them. Suddenly, they are on their own, with no one to count on. What does it mean to be eighteen and on your own, without the family support and personal connections that most young people rely on? For many youth raised in foster care, it means largely unhappy endings, including sudden homelessness, unemployment, dead-end jobs, loneliness, and despair. On Their Own tells the compelling stories of ten young people whose lives are full of promise, but who face economic and social barriers stemming from the disruptions of foster care. This book calls for action to provide youth in foster care the same opportunities on the road to adulthood that most of our youth take for granted-access to higher education, vocational training, medical care, housing, and relationships within their communities. On Their Own is meant to serve as a clarion call not only to policymakers, but to all Americans who care about the futures of our young people.

It's Okay to Wonder

It's Okay to Wonder PDF Author: Rhonda Wagner
Publisher: Joy of Avery
ISBN: 9781632963437
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 40

Get Book Here

Book Description
"I'm excited to be a sister in our foster family, but I'm worried about new rules. I feel happy and sad at the same time. What about when our help isn't needed anymore?" 'It's Okay to Wonder' is a story about Avery, a loquacious girl whose parents have decided to become foster parents. While Mom and Dad attend another foster training class, Avery shares with her Nana and Pop about her mixed-up feelings. She and her grandparents learn together what it might be like to become a foster family--that it's okay to feel two emotions at the same time and that it's okay to wonder! 'The Joy of Avery' series offers resources for foster care families and brings the world of foster care to life by exploring Avery's feelings as her family welcomes foster children into their home. 'It's Okay to Wonder' is the first book in the series.

Foster Care Independence Act of 1999

Foster Care Independence Act of 1999 PDF Author: United States
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Foster children
Languages : en
Pages : 14

Get Book Here

Book Description


Emancipating from the Care of Strangers

Emancipating from the Care of Strangers PDF Author: John Seita
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780982451014
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

Get Book Here

Book Description
Eleven mini-memoirs of foster care alumni who share their experiences, insights and recommendations about how to prepare youth to successfully transition from foster care to independent living.

Hawaii's Young People

Hawaii's Young People PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Children's literature, Hawaiian
Languages : en
Pages : 1238

Get Book Here

Book Description


On the Frontier of Adulthood

On the Frontier of Adulthood PDF Author: Richard A. Settersten Jr.
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226748928
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 608

Get Book Here

Book Description
On the Frontier of Adulthood reveals a startling new fact: adulthood no longer begins when adolescence ends. A lengthy period before adulthood, often spanning the twenties and even extending into the thirties, is now devoted to further education, job exploration, experimentation in romantic relationships, and personal development. Pathways into and through adulthood have become much less linear and predictable, and these changes carry tremendous social and cultural significance, especially as institutions and policies aimed at supporting young adults have not kept pace with these changes. This volume considers the nature and consequences of changes in early adulthood by drawing upon a wide variety of historical and contemporary data from the United States, Canada, and Western Europe. Especially dramatic shifts have occurred in the conventional markers of adulthood—leaving home, finishing school, getting a job, getting married, and having children—and in how these experiences are configured as a set. These accounts reveal how the process of becoming an adult has changed over the past century, the challenges faced by young people today, and what societies can do to smooth the transition to adulthood. "This book is the most thorough, wide-reaching, and insightful analysis of the new life stage of early adulthood."—Andrew Cherlin, Johns Hopkins University "From West to East, young people today enter adulthood in widely diverse ways that affect their life chances. This book provides a rich portrait of this journey-an essential font of knowledge for all who care about the younger generation."—Glen H. Elder Jr., University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill "On the Frontier of Adulthood adds considerably to our knowledge about the transition from adolescence to adulthood. . . . It will indeed be the definitive resource for researchers for years to come. Anyone working in the area—whether in demography, sociology, economics, or developmental psychology—will wish to make use of what is gathered here."—John Modell, Brown University "This is a must-read for scholars and policymakers who are concerned with the future of today's youth and will become a touchpoint for an emerging field of inquiry focused on adult transitions."—Jeanne Brooks-Gunn, Columbia University

No Way to Treat a Child

No Way to Treat a Child PDF Author: Naomi Schaefer Riley
Publisher: Bombardier Books
ISBN: 1642936588
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 305

Get Book Here

Book Description
Kids in danger are treated instrumentally to promote the rehabilitation of their parents, the welfare of their communities, and the social justice of their race and tribe—all with the inevitable result that their most precious developmental years are lost in bureaucratic and judicial red tape. It is time to stop letting efforts to fix the child welfare system get derailed by activists who are concerned with race-matching, blood ties, and the abstract demands of social justice, and start asking the most important question: Where are the emotionally and financially stable, loving, and permanent homes where these kids can thrive? “Naomi Riley’s book reveals the extent to which abused and abandoned children are often injured by their government rescuers. It is a must-read for those seeking solutions to this national crisis.” —Robert L. Woodson, Sr., civil rights leader and president of the Woodson Center “Everyone interested in child welfare should grapple with Naomi Riley’s powerful evidence that the current system ill-serves the safety and well-being of vulnerable kids.” —Walter Olson, senior fellow, Cato Institute, Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies

LGBTQ Youth in Foster Care

LGBTQ Youth in Foster Care PDF Author: Adam McCormick
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 9781315717159
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 198

Get Book Here

Book Description
Representing an often overlooked population in social work literature, this book explores the experiences of LGBTQ youth as they navigate the child welfare system. Adam McCormick examines the entirety of a youth's experience, from referral into care and challenges to obtaining permanency to aging out or leaving care. Included throughout the book are stories from LGBTQ youth that address personal issues such as abuse, bullying and harassment, and double standards. Filled with resources to foster resilience and empower youth, this book is ideal for professionals who are hoping to create a more inclusive and affirming system of care for LGBTQ youth.