NCJ Number
114233
Journal
Child Welfare Volume: 67 Issue: 6 Dated: (November/December 1988) Pages: 589-594
Date Published
1988
Length
8 pages
Annotation
Adolescents leaving foster care to live on their own need aftercare services; the pilot project being conducted in Arizona is one effort designed to help meet that need.
Abstract
Foster children commonly experience educational deficits. One survey showed that only 28 percent of 257 adolescents completed high school or obtained a high-school equivalency certificate by the time of discharge from foster care. As a result, programs are extending services to young adults leaving foster care. Legislation and policy related to independent-living services and aftercare are evolving at the Federal, State, and local levels. In 1986, a total of 27 states were providing programs and services to youths moving out of foster care. Arizona developed and piloted an aftercare project in 1986 as an expansion of the Arizona Young Adult Program established in 1983. Basic living skills, group counseling, development of vocational training, identification of employment opportunities, the recruitment of volunteers, and development of community support are integral parts of the service. The program also made it possible to contact youths who had left agency care and were no longer eligible for the subsidy program because they had reached the age of majority. 9 references. (Author abstract modified)