Extended Foster Care for Young Adults Aged 18+ Transitioning from Foster Care and Other Out-of-Home Placement Settings: A Review of the Literature

Background

The 18^th birthday officially marks the transition from adolescence to early adulthood, and for those in out-of-home care, it marks the end of that placement. Legal exit points based on age do not take into account the readiness of young people to begin independent lives, or their developmental, economic, and emotional capacity to make this transition. Therefore, care leavers (young adults who have aged out of foster care) may experience a sudden and abrupt transition to adulthood, which can be long and fraught with difficulties. In the past two decades, awareness of the needs of care leavers has grown around the world, and many countries have adopted legislation and developed policies and programs aimed at assisting this group. This review of those efforts was commissioned by the Foster Care Service in the Administration of Personal and Social Services of the Ministry of Welfare and Social Affairs.

Objectives

This review aims to provide professional knowledge to policymakers and professionals in the field of child welfare and foster care services in order to assist them in developing policies and programs that will improve the support for young adults transitioning from foster care and other out-of-home placement settings. The goal of the review was to examine promising approaches and models from around the world and to identify best practices.

Method

The review is based on the academic literature and a systematic reviews of extended foster care policies and programs for care leavers (hereinafter, extended care). In addition, the grey literature on extended care programs was reviewed. The information was collected between May and July 2024.

Main Findings

In the last 15–20 years, there have been significant policy reforms in many countries with the aim of providing care leavers with the conditions to gradually and successfully transition to adult life. The most common and promising policy is extended care, which provides care leavers with the stability, time, and support they need to develop the skills and confidence to live as adults. This policy is based on legislation that allows or empowers the state or local authority to extend the stay in foster care or in supervised independent living settings until age 21 and provides a variety of support services. In some cases, the law includes eligibility criteria for receiving this service, and in others, it specifies the responsibilities of the state or local authority to implement it. In most cases, the law determines the budget to be allocated by the state to programs and support services for the benefit of care leavers.

There is no universal structure for extended care policy, and its implementation varies from one country to another. Nonetheless, several principles and practices are common across most models, as identified in the literature. The key components of extended care programs include: housing (whether in the placement setting before age 18 or in supervised independent living settings); financial assistance (e.g., a monthly stipend for living expenses, grants for specific purposes such as education, subsidized health insurance, etc.); the development of a personalized transition plan while still in placement and the monitoring and updating of that plan; case management; involvement of the young adults in decision-making processes and in developing and updating the transition plan; building and strengthening support systems; and continuity in providing support services.

The developments in the support of care leavers have been driven by research evidence and by insights from the young adults themselves, as well as by the translation of this knowledge into legislation and policy. Legislation that is translated into policy and legal procedures can prevent situations in which placement ends before the individual feels ready, or in which they seek support but do not receive it due to lack of funding, program unavailability, or a lack of services. The literature shows that in many cases, private foundations or social welfare organizations have initiated campaigns to regulate care and promote policies and practices that best meet the needs of young people transitioning to adulthood.

The literature suggests several measures to promote extended care policy and ensure its sustainability over time: adopting an approach based on the readiness of young people to live independently and avoiding the use of eligibility criteria that exclude the more vulnerable; tailoring support to the developmental needs of the young people and the losses they have experienced, while creating support systems that will continue to accompany them; grounding policy in legislation that gives the local authority or some other entity the mandate to support care leavers; building partnerships with a variety of bodies, both public and private, and increasing community involvement; preparing young people to participate in decision-making and efforts that will improve their outcomes (e.g. education, employment, housing, and health), and involving them in shaping policies that will affect their lives; using data to initiate processes and make decisions, as well as to spread knowledge that will help promote extended care policy; establishing administrative data systems to monitor progress and policy outcomes; and conducting evaluation studies to identify best practices.

Citing suggestion: Ben Simon , B. (2024). Extended Foster Care for Young Adults Aged 18+ Transitioning from Foster Care and Other Out-of-Home Placement Settings: A Review of the Literature. RR-017-24. Myers-JDC-Brookdale Institute. (Hebrew)