State Benefits To Foster Care Youth Over Age 18

An OPEN MINDS Market Intelligence Report

Every year approximately 24,000 youth age out of the foster care system, the majority of whom are 18 years old. These foster care youth are more likely to have poorer outcomes than youth who either exit the foster care system or never enter the foster care system. The reason for this situation is attributed to a number of factors – but at the core is that these youth have little in the way of formal or informal support systems. They have less access to the physical and emotional resources they need – a place to stay, financial help, access to transportation, or mentors – to transition successfully to adulthood.

Without these supports, foster care youth transitioning out of the system are more likely to experience adverse outcomes. Statistics show that they are:

• Less likely to graduate high school, less likely to enroll in college, or obtain a degree
• More likely to lag behind peers academically and be old for their grade level
• More likely to be unemployed or underemployed
• Less likely to have exposure to healthy financial behaviors and banks
• More likely to age out of the system with median assets of $1003
• More likely to experience unplanned pregnancy – 71% of women who were in the foster care system become pregnant before age 21

Some federal initiatives have been implemented to try and change this trajectory for foster care youth aging out of the system. This report provides details on each program, as well as a list of states that have extended Medicaid benefits to all youth, a list of states that have opted to extend Title IV-E payments to age 21, and the Chafee Program budgets. The report also explains the following:

1. The number of youth who age out of the foster care system each year
2. The benefits that are available to foster care youth over age 18
3. How states provide Medicaid benefits for former foster care youth over age 18
4. How states provide Title IV-E benefits to former foster care youth over age 18
5. How states use “The John Chafee Foster Care Independence Program” to provide benefits to former foster care youth over age 18