Supporting Successful Transitions into Adulthood for Youth in Foster Care - Reforming California’s Independent Living Program

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Rhys

Report examines barriers faced by California transition-age youth in foster care as they move into adulthood. It summarizes evidence on education, housing, and employment outcomes, highlighting school instability, learning loss, and lower attainment; persistent housing instability and homelessness even with extended foster care; and employment challenges despite benefits from remaining in care. Using input from about 175 youth in California’s ILP, it presents examples of county services and offers policy and program recommendations to improve ILP support.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages21

Reading Time53 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Education, housing, and employment outcomes amongst young people with foster care experience

Education challenges

Housing instability and homelessness

Employment outcomes

Supporting Successful Transitions into Adulthood for Youth in Foster Care: Reforming California’s Independent Living Program March 2023 Introduction As of October 2022, over 53,000 children and youth are in foster care in California, including approximately 13,000 youth between the ages of 16 and 21. 1 The State has an obligation to offer services and supports to help these young people transition into adulthood. The Independent Living Program (ILP) helps transition age youth currently or formerly in foster care move forward on a path to successful adulthood by providing services and supports in the areas of education, employment, financial and independent living skills, and housing assistance. Funded by the federal John H. Chafee Foster Care Program for Successful Transition to Adulthood and local funding, California’s ILP serves eligible youth ages 16 up to 21 years old. Although ILP has helped many young people, transition age youth with foster care experience continue to face challenges in their lives, and improvements to the ILP program could help better address some of these challenges. Transition services and supports are critical for youth with foster care experience because they face significant obstacles as they transition to adulthood. Youth with foster care experience face the long-term consequences of having experienced the trauma of child abuse or neglect and being removed from their homes. While youth are in foster care, they may have limited opportunities to gain real-world experience, develop stable relationships with supportive adults, and build the autonomy needed to be self-sufficient.2 Compared to their peers in the general population, transition age youth currently or formerly in foster care experience greater school instability, housing instability, difficulty finding and maintaining employment, behavioral and physical health challenges, and difficulty establishing and maintaining relationships with people they can rely on.3 In this report, we highlight recent data on education, housing, and employment outcomes for transition age youth with foster care experience that demonstrate the barriers these youth face in the transition to adulthood. We draw on input from about 175 transition age youth who have participated in ILP in California to identify ongoing challenges that young people face to engage in ILP and build selfsufficiency.4 We highlight examples of services and supports being offered by California county ILPs. Finally, we provide policy and program recommendations informed by the perspectives of youth whom we surveyed to help improve and expand ILP and make it a better resource for transition age youth with foster care experience. Education, housing, and employment outcomes amongst young people with foster care experience Transition age youth currently or formerly in foster care face obstacles in the areas of education, housing, and employment that negatively impact their transition to adulthood. In education, youth in foster care face unique challenges in their lives that make it difficult to stay on track in school, such as multiple changes in placements during their time in care, often leading to multiple school transfers. With each school transfer, students in foster care experience considerable learning loss. Moreover, due to the trauma and instability they have experienced, youth in foster care may have trouble focusing in school. Asa result of these unique challenges, youth in foster care are far less likely to earn a high school diploma in four years (61%) than students overall (87%) .5 In addition, although 93% of youth in foster care say they want to go to college, only 8% obtain an associate’s or bachelor’s degree by age 26.6 Due to their poor academic outcomes, youth with foster care experience have lower educational attainment than their peers when seeking employment, making it difficult to compete in the job market. In terms of housing, far too many transition

FAQs

What is California’s Independent Living Program (ILP) designed to do?

ILP provides services and supports to help eligible youth with foster care experience transition into successful adulthood, including education, employment, financial and independent living skills, and housing assistance.

Why do youth in foster care face difficulties in education outcomes?

Multiple placement changes often lead to multiple school transfers and learning loss, and trauma and instability can make it harder to focus in school.

How does housing instability affect youth during the transition to adulthood?

Housing instability and homelessness worsen well-being by increasing physical and mental health challenges and creating barriers to education and employment, even when foster care is extended.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Rhys