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In any given year in San Diego County, nearly 300 youth of the 6000 in foster care, turn 18 and are emancipated from the system.
Can you imagine -- what it’s like to be totally alone in the world and without a family? Unlike most youth, for whom leaving home is a gradual process, foster teens must immediately begin to care for themselves when they turn 18 and "age out" of the foster care system. (In our society, most young adults are not fully independent until age 26.) Without some kind of support, a shocking number of these young adults will end up on the street.
At the 2010 National Child Welfare’s Symposium, the most comprehensive study in two decades revealed an alarming reality for foster youth who have been out of foster care an average of four years.
- Only 48% were working, compared with 72% of their peers, and median income was $8,000 compared to $18,300 for their peers
- About 37% had been homeless or had couch-surfed during this period
- Nearly 25% did not have a high school diploma or a GED
- 60% of the young men had been convicted of a crime, compared to 10% of their peers
- 50% reported at least one hardship in the past year, such as an eviction or utility shut-off
- 33% didn’t have enough to eat at some point in the past year
- Less than 50% had a bank account compared with 85% of their peers.
The Cities, Counties and Schools (CCS) Partnership studied the plight of emancipated foster youth specifically in California (2007) and found that:
- Within 18 months of emancipation, 40-50% of former foster youth become homeless
- 60% of youth emancipate into destitution, earning incomes at or below $6,000 per year. 50% experience high rates of unemployment within five years
- 33% of youth have no form of health insurance
- 70% of youth report wanting to go to college, while only 10% attend and less than 1% graduate
- 25% of foster youth will be in prison within two years of emancipation.
While there is some support for emancipated foster youth in the form of housing, college scholarships, and other services, JIT’s extended family model, coupled with its comprehensive array of services, has shown to substantially counter these statistics. As a family would typically do for its own children, JIT and its programs, powered by an army of volunteers, ensure that our youth stay on the path to self-sufficiency. JIT recognizes the need to have lifelong relationships with caring adults, to obtain an education and launch a career, to learn fiscal management, save and build assets, and to acquire basic needs such as the setting up of a household and the purchase of a vehicle. And as the statistics also show us, any delays in meeting these minimal yet essential needs can result in a far greater cost to our community.
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