Care leavers are children who have left custody or no longer receive support from the state. In most countries, they receive help until the age of 18 or 21, but statistics show they struggle with education, employment, and basic life skills. Some organizations and programs attempt to bridge the gap, but more support is needed to help care leavers succeed.
Care leavers are those children who have left custody or who at age 18 no longer receive custody or housing as wards of the state. The term is most common in the UK and Australia, but is starting to be used in the US. More commonly, children and young adults considered care leavers in the United States are referred to as “agers” of the system.
In most countries where foster care exists, there is help for children who reach 18 and find themselves homeless. Some countries will do their best to provide these children with financial assistance and housing assistance up to the age of 21. Yet there are disturbing statistics about care leavers.
In the UK, some care leavers decide to live alone at the age of 16 or over. These children have an alarmingly low high school graduation rate compared to their peers who are not in the care system. Also, in the United States, older kids are less likely to attend college, hold jobs for a year or more, and are more likely to commit crimes and go to prison. Even when Medicare has been excellent, care leavers are less likely to have good financial management skills and basic care knowledge such as knowing how to cook, shop, or do laundry.
These statistics alone suggest that the type of care provided to these children is inadequate to prepare them for adulthood. Additionally, what many of these young adults lack is a familiar environment to which they can return for support and advice. There are organizations, online and through various state agencies, that can help bridge this gap for some care leavers, but some have been harmed by the very system that supported them, due to inadequate care in homestay families or foster family settings. Even when foster homes and foster homes provide a great deal of care, children in foster care are usually present due to difficult circumstances in their primary family, and the damage to the psyche caused by parents found to be abusive or inadequate cannot be underestimated.
There are some tremendously good foster parents who engage with their foster children as they turn 18 and step in as role models and support for these children. They may not get extra financial help from the state for children who have aged, and sometimes large foster parents simply can’t afford to continue caring on the same level with children who are legal adults. Some pilot programs have attempted to work with care leavers, sometimes creating housing situations for them together, or finding adoptive parents or mentors who are willing to provide that home environment. These programs appear to be successful but they are not universally adopted and there are many ex-boyfriends of the system who do not have access to such programs.
Care leavers continue to pose a challenge to society. As former wards of the state, they are essentially the state’s young adults or “village” children. Advocates for these young adults suggest that more programs are available for these new adults to help them navigate the world, continue to pursue education, and make healthy choices that will benefit not only them but society as a whole. Most importantly, these new adults need support, counseling and ongoing access to government services to help them get on the road to personal success.
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