Foster Care Transitions Project

Principal Investigator:
Laura Lein, Ph.D.

Duration: 99 - 00

The Center for Public Policy Priorities and the Annie E. Casey Foundation, The Casey Family Program Southern Regional Office, San Antonio Division and Austin Division, and Making Connections, Neighborhood Transformation Project in San Antonio, and the Center for Social Work Research of the The University of Texas at Austin are undertaking research efforts aimed at understanding the issues and the barriers that youth face as they transition out of foster care. This effort will focus on youth in the San Antonio/Austin region when they reach their 18th birthday - the age of independence. Children who age out of the foster care system face an inordinate number of challenges. Many of these challenges are faced by all young adults, however, former foster kids often don't have the support of a family or the skills to help them toward independence and self-sufficiency. The goal of the project is to increase understanding about:

The availability of existing data on youth that transition out of care and what that data tell us about the whereabouts and occupation of those young people.
The methods currently available for tracking youth that transition out of care.
The services available to help youth that transition out of care.
The challenges faced by this population and the strategies they currently use to face those challenges.

In cooperation with partners and stakeholders in this effort, we will make recommendations that will inform the creation of a new service and tracking system for children who age-out of the foster care system. Recommendations will include ways to improve data collection and ways to bring about immediate systemic improvements that will help children in the transition from out-of-home care to independence.

Sponsor:
Annie E. Casey Foundation
Casey Family Program

Keywords: child welfare, families, children, youth