March 2, 2009

California's Fostering Connections to Success Act and the Costs and Benefits of Extending Foster Care to 21

Authored by Mark Courtney, Amy Dworsky, and Clark Peters, this report analyzes the potential costs and benefits of allowing foster youth to remain in care until age 21, the policy encouraged by the Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act and proposed in California's Assembly Bill 12, the California Fostering Connections to Success Act. Our estimates of the costs of extending care are based on the experience of Illinois in providing care past age 18 and data on public assistance receipt by youth aging out of foster care. Our estimates of the potential benefits of extending care are based on college participation rates at age 21 suggestive of the effect of extending care on post-secondary educational attainment as well as data on increased work-life earnings associated with post- secondary education.