Passports to Success

Assuring Positive Educational Experiences
For Children in Out-of-home Care


Module 7: Page 2 of 8
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Youth in care become adults

The majority of children who leave out-of-home care return to their families. But every year, about 8% or 9% of those leaving care do so because they have “aged out”: they have turned 18 and are no longer under the jurisdiction of the court or in the care and custody of the county agencies.

Less than 3 in 5 former foster care youth from Wisconsin have a high school diploma at age 19 years. Almost 1 in 4 did not have a diploma by age 21 years.

What are the outcomes for former foster youth in Wisconsin?

  • Fewer than 1 in 8 former foster care youth are enrolled in 2-year or 4-year colleges, compared to 1 in 2 of their same age peers.
  • More than 7 in 10 young women raised in foster care reported a pregnancy by age 21. More than 3 in 5 pregnancies were repeat pregnancies.
  • Youth aging out of the foster care system are 10 times more likely to be arrested than their same age peers.
  • At the age of 19 only 43% are employed full or part time.
  • 29% of the youth who were surveyed at age 17 and then again at age 19 had been homeless at some point in those two years.
  • Half of the Wisconsin former foster care youth who aged out of care reported at least one of these serious hardships by age 21 years.

Staying in Care After Turning 18

Recent legislation allows youth who have an Individualized Education Plan in effect and who have not yet graduated from high school can stay in care until they receive a high school diploma or high school equivalency diploma, or turn 21, whichever occurs first.


Wisconsin law also allows all youth in care who are in high school at the time of their 18th birthday, attending full-time and expected to graduate by their 19th birthday to stay in care until graduation or their 19th birthday, whichever comes first.

 

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