Extended Foster Care Policies and Practices That Boost Young Adults’ Participation

Extended foster care programs are most beneficial when their implementation fosters the development of young adults with foster care experience and meets them where they are in life. This blog highlights three policies and practices—automatic enrollment, program re-entry after exit before age 21, and robust supportive housing services—that some states have implemented to boost participation and provide these young people with greater access to life skills training and foundational supports.

Extended foster care programs provide a variety of supports to young people ages 18 to 21 as they transition out of foster care and into young adulthood.[1] Nearly all states, Washington, DC, Puerto Rico, and nine Tribes have some form of federal- or state-funded extended foster care program. Programs typically provide young people with case management; referrals to services for education, employment, and well-being; and a monthly stipend for housing, basic needs like food, and other expenses like transportation and recreation. Programs also typically require participants to either be employed, participate in workforce training, or attend school or vocational training. Participation is voluntary, and young people may choose to decline the program and exit foster care at or after age 18. States choose the services and eligibility requirements for their extended foster care program, and implementation varies widely across the country.

Automatic enrollment

Some states automatically enroll eligible foster youth in their extended foster care program, allowing young people to “opt out” of the program instead of requiring them to self-enroll or “opt in.”[2] Automatic enrollment policies for programs like Medicaid have been shown to lower barriers to entry and increase participation, and can reduce paperwork burden for program participants and administrators. Such policies applied to extended foster care could help caseworkers and foster youth focus on other tasks as the youth turn 18—for example, seeking employment and educational opportunities. Automatic enrollment can also reduce reliance on program staff members’ capacity to connect youth to services. This shift could help ensure that eligible foster youth from all backgrounds can more reliably access their state’s program without relying on already overburdened caseworkers to help them complete time-consuming paperwork.

Program re-entry after exit

States choose whether to allow foster youth who exit foster care at or after age 18 to re-enter extended foster care before age 21. Currently, 38 states allow re-entry, a practice that respects young adults’ autonomy to manage their own lives while creating a safety net. Young adults are tasked with many significant life decisions. Past experiences with the child welfare system—including the level of restrictiveness associated with the system and specific placement types—might initially discourage young people from participating in extended foster care. However, after exiting care and trying to navigate young adulthood without support, some youth may decide that they want the supports and services available through extended foster care. In states that do not allow program re-entry, young people who change their mind no longer have this option.

Supportive housing services

Many foster youth report experiencing housing instability and homelessness after leaving foster care. Stability to pursue life goals and build self-sufficiency starts with stable housing, and housing instability has a cyclical relationship with lower well-being. One of the first tasks that most young adults encounter—regardless of whether they have foster care experience—is to find and maintain safe, adequate, affordable housing. Family Unification Program (FUP) vouchers are available to cover housing costs for youth in extended foster care, and Foster Youth to Independence (FYI) vouchers are similarly available to young people ages 18 to 25 after leaving foster care. These voucher programs, however, can be difficult to navigate and use. Truly robust supportive housing services go beyond simply paying for housing; rather, they help people throughout the housing process understand their housing options, search for and secure adequate housing, and maintain that housing once secured.

Extended foster care programs can use these three policies and practices to inform a youth-centered implementation approach that recognizes the developmental needs of young adults transitioning from foster care. Automatic enrollment, program re-entry after exit, and supportive housing services reduce barriers to entry, increasing the likelihood that young adults can access available services. These policies and practices also meet young adults where they are in life and promote stability and preparation for the responsibilities of adulthood.

For more information on extended foster care, please see our other blogs in this series. One blog, “Increased Use of Extended Foster Care Allows More Young People to Benefit,” explores the importance of ensuring that every eligible young person gets connected to extended foster care. The other, “Most Youth in Extended Foster Care Live in Supervised Independent Living Placements,” explores types of placements among youth in extended foster care.

Footnotes

[1] Some states offer extended foster care up to age 22.

[2] Automatic enrollment could be defined in several ways, so it is difficult to get an accurate count of states with this policy.