Juvenile Law Center

When children are placed in foster care, current state and federal law require that they be returned home as soon as possible or, if that cannot be done safely, that they are placed in a loving home and family that can care for them, and guide and support them as they grow up. While the child welfare system is an essential safety net for children and families, children should not grow up in the foster care system. They need permanency and the support of family to maximize their opportunities to become competent and healthy adults.

“Permanency” provides youth with a clear legal status and supportive adult relationships that connect them to opportunities and provide a safety net in times of need.¹ These relationships are a source of moral, emotional, and financial support. Youth in the child welfare system cite family ties as an important and undervalued component of their time in care, and research shows that many youth maintain connections to their biological family both while in care and when they age out.² The Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997 requires that all reasonable efforts should be made to secure permanency for youth in the system. In addition, the Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008 (“Fostering Connections Act”) provides child welfare agencies with numerous tools to connect youth with relatives and other caring adults. The Fostering Connections Act also mandates that effective “transition planning” be done with and for youth who age out of the system as adults.

Nationwide, almost 30,000 youth “age out” of foster care annually without a connection to a family or a supportive network of caring adults.³ Without the moral and financial support of parents, relatives, and other supportive adults and a solid plan for their future, children face difficult odds as they transition to adulthood.⁴ In Pennsylvania, about 1,000 youth age out of foster care each year and risk facing homelessness, exposure to or involvement in the criminal justice system and reliance on public assistance. As the percentage of older youth entering the child welfare system grows,⁵ federal and state permanency mandates as well as the transition planning requirements must be rigorously enforced. Barriers to achieving permanency for older youth, in particular, must be directly addressed.

In 2012, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett signed into law legislation that provides greater opportunities and support to older youth in foster care. Act 80 amends provisions of the Public Welfare Code, extending guardianship and adoption subsidies to age 21 for eligible youth who enter those arrangements at age 13 or older. Act 91 amends various provisions of the Juvenile Act, expanding the criteria for youth to stay in care past age 18 and allowing youth to re-enter care before turning 21 if they aged out at 18 or older. Juvenile Law Center is currently working to effectively implement this legislation in Pennsylvania to benefit older foster youth. Our Fostering Connections in Pennsylvania page provides a wealth of information on this legislation, including legal resources, implementation tools, research, and resources for youth. 

Juvenile Law Center seeks to improve the outcomes and opportunities available to older youth in foster care by:

• Increasing the capacity of agencies to recruit families to adopt older teens and enhance the capacity of relatives to care for children in foster care
• Ensuring that planning for permanency and eventual transition to adulthood begins early and continues until the youth exits the system
• Ensuring that youth who haven’t achieved permanency and aren’t ready to be on their own have the opportunity to remain in care until age 21
•  Ensuring that courts play an active oversight role in planning for older youth
• Ensuring that foster youth have the assistance of competent counsel
• Facilitating youth engagement by ensuring that youth are aware of their rights and actively engaged in planning for their future
• Ensuring that older foster youth have the necessary support to facilitate their success in postsecondary education or career training opportunities

Juvenile Law Center seeks to meet its goals through:

• Training child-serving professionals, legal advocates, court personnel and youth about the rights of older youth and the obligations of public systems to these youth
• Advocating for legislative change
• Advocating for changes in court rules and administrative policies
• Advocating for quality representation for youth
• Doing litigation and appellate advocacy

¹Frey, Lauren. A Call to Action: An Integrated Approach to Youth Permanency and Preparation for Adulthood n. p.: Casey Family Servic3, 2007. Web. May 2011. http://www.aecf.org/upload/publicationfiles/casey_permanency_0505.pdf
²Courtney, M., et al. Midwest evaluation of the adult functioning of former foster youth: Outcomes at age 23 and 24.Chicago: Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago 2009. 12-13.Web.
³“The AFCARS Report: Preliminary FY 2009 Estimates as of July 2010 Data.” U.S. Department of Health and Human Services: Administration for Children and Families. Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System, 2010 Web. May 2011.
⁴Avery, Janice. “An examination of Theory and Promising Practice for Achieving Permanency for Teens Before they Age out of Foster Care.” Children and Youth Services Review 32.2 (2010): 399-408. Web. May 2011.
⁵Id.

Last updated January 2013