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Home > Enhancing Permanency for Older Youth in Out-of-Home Care: A Bulletin for Professionals > The Importance of Focusing on Older Youth
Enhancing Permanency for Older Youth in Out-Of-Home Care
A Bulletin for Professionals
1. The Importance of Focusing on Older Youth Approximately half of the children in foster care are 11 years or older (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services [DHHS], 2005). Older youth in the foster care system remain in the system disproportionately longer than younger children, and their chances for achieving permanency decrease as they get older. Youth who age out of foster care have been in care an average of three times longer than children who leave foster care to join permanent families; at the time they exit foster care to independence, half have been in care for 45 months (3.75 years) or more. In order for States to decrease the numbers of children in foster care and move children and youth to permanent families more quickly, a concentrated effort must be made to address the large group of older children. All States need to address the problem of permanency for older youth in order to comply with outcomes on the Federal Child and Family Services Reviews (CFSRs). The National Resource Center for Youth Development conducted an analysis of findings from the CFSRs to identify trends concerning older youth in foster care (Winkle, Ansell, & Newman, 2004). While a majority of States had strengths on CFSR items that specifically mentioned youth, barriers to permanency were noted, including gaps in services for adolescents, lack of placement resources for adolescents, and problems with the quality and consistency of independent living planning.
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