An estimated 24,000 children per year "age out," that is, turn 18 and are released from the child welfare system in the United States. These former foster children face long odds of leading productive lives.
CRIME AND PUNISHMENT
Within two years of being "emancipated" from the system, one in four former foster children will be in jail. If 48,000 former foster children are within two years of leaving foster care, 12,000 of them will be in or will have spent time in prison.
EDUCATION
Of those 24,000 cut loose of government care, 70 percent -- or 16,800 -- will have finished high school. Only 13 percent of former foster children attend college, or 2,184. Of those entering college, only 3 percent will graduate, or an even smaller raw number of 66. (Another study shows that 37 percent of former foster children attend some college, but those numbers include people who have grown into middle-age.)
HOMELESSNESS
One in five of former foster children will be homeless sometime after age 18. Within the first year, that means the number is 4,800 of 24,000. Females are more likely to move in and out of friends' homes, going from couch to couch.
Sources: The Pew Charitable Trusts' "Time for Reform: Aging Our and On Their Own." Casey Family Programs, Orphan Foundation of America, National Foster Care Coalition.
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