Aging Out - Challenges After Foster Care
When times are hard, many return home as adults to have a safe place to plan for a fresh start. Others may remain home a few years into adulthood in order to be prepared for starting out on their own. But when many foster children age out of care, these safety nets are not there for them. For those who do not reunify, connect with other family members, or get adopted, emancipation is the end goal of their foster experience. Ready or not, they are independent adults. In Oregon, data for 2021 shows that 60% of 16 to 21-year-olds who left foster care were emancipated (1). The Oregon Department of Health and Human Services has published a page with resources for those transitioning out of foster care (2). In 2022, they published a follow-up with 21-year-olds who formerly were in foster care. Of those who continued to respond at the 3 year mark, 24% of the respondents had experienced homelessness in the last 2 years, and only 9% were employed full or part-time (3). These are grim numb...