Report: Benefits Outweigh Costs 2 - 1 In Providing Foster Care Support, Services To California Youth To Age 21 Report Strengthens Push for Foster Care Legislation Published on Mar 9, 2009 - 11:41:39 AM
SACRAMENTO, CA Mar. 9, 2009 - According to a new report released today, continuing support for older youth in foster care can create substantial cost savings for California while helping build better lives and futures for some of the state's most vulnerable young people. The report estimates that California could realize at least a 2-1 benefit-to-cost ratio in extending foster care for youth to age 21. Released at a Sacramento briefing featuring legislative leaders Assembly Speaker Karen Bass (D-Los Angeles) and Senate President pro Tem Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento), Supreme Court Justice Carlos Moreno, Assembly Health Services Committee Chair Jim Beall, Jr. (D-San Jose), Assemblymember Danny Gilmore (R-Hanford), Assemblymember Nathan Fletcher (R-San Diego), children's advocates, including John Burton of the John Burton Foundation for Children Without Homes, and former foster youth, the report provides additional support for implementing AB 12 (Beall, Bass), legislation recently introduced in the California Assembly to draw down newly-available federal funds to provide enhanced support for relative caregivers and foster youth from age 18 to 21.
REPORT HIGHLIGHTS
The report, California's Fostering Connections to Success Act and the Costs and Benefits of Extending Foster Care to 21, chronicled the positive outcomes experienced by youth who were allowed to remain in care past the age of 18 in Illinois, versus those who exited the system at 18 in Wisconsin and Iowa. The report found that youth who remained in care until age 21 experienced the following positive outcomes:
- Three times more likely to enroll in college.
- 65% less likely to have been arrested.
- 38% reduction in the risk of teen pregnancy.
In contrast, emancipated youth who do not receive assistance are more likely to be incarcerated, unemployed and/or homeless, which results in extraordinary costs to public systems. The challenges faced by youth who age out of foster care in California and across the nation include:
- 1 in 4 become incarcerated within two years of leaving foster care.
- Less than 50% graduate from high school; fewer than 5% graduate from college.
- 1 in 5 experience homelessness within a year and a half of aging out of foster care.
The report states that the net cost of extending foster care to age 21 in Illinois and other Midwestern states is approximately $37,948 per youth. (This figure reflects the total cost of overall program participation.) Available information suggests that the cost of extending care in California may be less. Under the federal-state partnership created by recent passage of federal legislation, the federal government is expected to pay approximately 50% of these costs. The report was co-authored by Dr. Mark Courtney of the University of Washington and Amy Dworsky and Clark Peters of the University of Chicago. The report was underwritten by the Walter S. Johnson Foundation.
STATEMENTS OF PARTICIPANTS
"This report along with historic federal legislation has provided us with a unique opportunity to realize our vision for foster youth in California," said Bass. "AB 12, the California Fostering Connections to Success Act, would enable us to improve outcomes for older foster youth while maintaining our firm commitment to fiscal responsibility."
"The evidence is clear: it pays to support foster youth," said Steinberg. "AB 12 allows California to provide older youth in foster care with the health, education and other supports and services they need, and helps our state save substantial money in future costs."
"No responsible parent would cut their child off at age 18 or 19, and say to them ‘You are an adult now, and you can no longer return home, rely on my support or turn to me for guidance,'" said Justice Moreno, who serves as Chair of the California Blue Ribbon Commission on Children in Foster Care and as a relative caregiver himself. "But that is exactly what California does to its foster youth." In its final recommendations, the Blue Ribbon Commission has urged the state to extend foster care supports to youth up to age 21.
"California's leadership on child welfare issues provides us an opportunity to capture savings and reinvest them in our foster youth," said Beall. "AB 12 lets California use newly available federal funds to assure that youth in foster care can realize their full potential, while saving the state money at the same time."
"I am very pleased to co-author AB 12 with Assemblymember Beall. So many former foster youth and those who are aging-out of foster care are ill-equipped to be out on their own, with little to no adult support or assistance with things that other young people take for granted. This bill will help foster youth access resources that will help to give them a brighter future," said Gilmore.
"By supporting AB 12 and opting into an existing Federal program we reduce the likelihood of foster youth experiencing homelessness, involvement with the legal system, and unwed pregnancy," said Fletcher. "This is an investment in our youth that will dramatically pay off."
"Every $1 invested in continued foster care supports and services results in a return of $2.40," said Dr. Courtney. "Our research shows that supporting foster youth to 21 increases their ability to become educated, productive, taxpaying members of society, and increases their lifetime earning potential by at least $92,000."
"Providing transitional support services to foster youth until age 21 will give more youth the chance to be prepared to leave the system and survive on their own. The devastating statistics we know too well of our former foster youth no longer have to be true, and AB 12 is their chance," said former foster youth Kevin West. "I truly believe that every foster youth deserves the chance I had been given. Finally, having some stability in my life has enabled me to go back to school, I currently attend community college and I plan to transfer to a four-year university to eventually become a social worker."
AB 12 HIGHLIGHTS
AB 12 would enable California to implement provisions of recent landmark federal legislation reforming the way the nation's foster care system is funded. AB 12 has two key provisions:
- Modifying California's successful state-only funded Kin-GAP program to align with new federal requirements, allowing the use of federal dollars to support relative guardians.
- Reinvesting the savings realized from this modification -- as well as accessing new federal funding -- to provide transitional support for eligible California foster youth until age 21. The Legislative Analyst's Office estimates these saving to be between $31 to $36 million during 2009-2010 phase-in, $70 million in 2010-2011 and annually thereafter. These savings more than offset the costs to the State of California for extending support.
Each year, more than 5000 youth "age out" of California's foster care system at 18 or 19 years of age, depending on whether they are close to high school graduation. Young people emancipating from California's foster care system face a difficult transition to adulthood completely on their own, with no family to rely on for support and guidance. Foster youth are no more ready for independence at age 18 or 19 than their peers outside the foster care system. Research reveals that most Americans do not consider a person an adult until age 26 or until he/she had finished school, started a full-time job and begun to raise a family.
AB 12 is sponsored by the Alliance for Child and Family Services California Youth Connection, the Children's Law Center of Los Angeles, the County Welfare Directors Association of California, the John Burton Foundation for Children Without Homes, the Judicial Council of California, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) State Council and the Youth Law Center. To read the full report and learn more about AB 12, visit: www.cafosteringconnections.org
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