PERMANENCE:
The need to create lifelong family connections for youth in foster care
All children need the security of someone to rely upon for love, protection, and guidance. For more than half a million children in foster care across the country, however, this support either does not exist or has been fragmented by the instability and insecurity that can characterize life in foster care.
Most children learn to live independently by growing up in a family in which nurturing adults provide economic and emotional support to help them transition from childhood to adolescence to adulthood. However, in 2006, an all-time high of 26,181 youth transitioned directly from the nation's foster care system to being on their own.
Many of these young people were without lifelong, caring family connections and a solid support network. "I entered Florida's foster care system at age 13," said Tyler Bacon. "Over the next five years, I lived in 12 different group homes. I had no opportunity to build a relationship with a mom or dad and no one to offer the guidance I sorely needed to transition from being a teenager to becoming an adult."
Children and youth who live in foster care and have only a limited support system available to them are among the most vulnerable members of our society and are at significantly increased risk for experiencing negative outcomes as they grow up. Too many of these young people are unemployed and out of school. They may experience homelessness, early parenthood, economic insecurity, chronic health and mental health issues and are likely to find themselves involved with the criminal justice system.
In 2006, 40 percent of young people living in the foster care system were between 13 and 21 years of age. Like other youth preparing to assume adult roles in society, youth in foster care deserve the long-term benefits of a permanent family or, when that is not possible, a lifelong connection to a caring adult.
The National Foster Care Coalition and its broad base of member organizations recognize the critical importance of creating lifelong family connections for children and youth who have experienced foster care. NFCC advocates greater community involvement and efforts directed toward developing permanent, caring relationships for foster youth and increased availability of independent living services to support their transition to adulthood.
Contact:
Kathi Crowe
Executive Director
National Foster Care Coalition
kcrowe@nationalfostercare.org
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