Aging out: Youths’ perspectives on foster care and the transition to independence

Abstract

Foster youth in the United States face significant barriers in a transition to independence which is markedly abrupt compared to the ‘emerging adulthood’ that is expected of most young adults. While many of the difficulties that foster youth face in this transition are known at the larger demographic level, first-person narratives of the process of ‘aging out’ of foster care are largely missing from academic literature. To date, most qualitative studies rely on methods that are not grounded in trust-based relationships between researchers and youth (e.g. hit-and-run focus groups, interviews conducted by research assistants unknown to youth, indirect assessment of youths’ emotional states). In an attempt to advance youths’ own narratives, we used critical ethnography to engage youth in sharing their perspectives on the process of ‘aging out’ of foster care. Youths expressed anxiety about their subjective experiences of ‘aging out’, including economic challenges and housing instability, loss of social support, and pressure to be self-reliant. Youths’ narratives during the early stages of transition from foster care provide insights for professionals, policy makers, and future research.

Keywords

Aging out ethnography foster care transition to independence youths’ perspectives

The difficulties surrounding aging out, defined as the transition to adulthood for foster youth in the United States, are well-established in social work literature. Former foster youth experience unemployment, homelessness, criminal justice system involvement, and early parenthood at higher rates than young adults in the general population (Courtney and Dworsky, 2006; Courtney et al., 2007; Kushel et al., 2007; Pecora et al., 2006). Given the high levels of independence and mastery of social complexity required for successful adaptation to young adulthood in the United States, it is little surprise that young adults with a history of foster care placement experience difficulties in this transition. Adulthood is less likely to be regarded as a status conferred at an arbitrary age, and more likely to be seen as a process involving a series of gradual steps, often referred to as ‘emerging adulthood’ (Arnett, 2004). On average, young people in the United States establish financial independence in their mid-twenties (Krinsky, 2010); workforce entry is often delayed in early adulthood due to an increasing demand for higher education (Avery and Freundlich, 2009). The majority of young adults cannot afford to support themselves until well into their third decade of life.

The gradual shift to adulthood stands in stark contrast to the independence that is often expected of foster youth. Policy prompts emancipation from foster care at age 18 in most states, with a limited number of states extending services to 21, despite the passage of the Fostering Connections to Success Act in 2008 which provided matching funds for states to extend foster placement beyond the age of 18 (Avery and Freundlich, 2009; Courtney, 2009). Former foster youth seem to be particularly vulnerable during this transition from foster care to independence. Case records and large-scale studies of youth leaving foster care revealed a high level of developmental, mental health, social-emotional need among foster youth (Courtney and Dworsky, 2006; Leathers and Testa, 2006). Policies designed to support youth in the transition from foster care are relatively young and lack adequate resources to ensure that youth enter adulthood with a chance for success, with many recommending extending foster care to age 21 and beyond (Avery and Freundlich, 2009; Collins, 2004; Courtney, 2009).

Seeking the perspectives of foster youth

Although much is known about the difficulties foster youth face in the transition to adulthood, literature offers relatively few examples detailing the perspectives of former foster youth. Festinger (1983) described the need to hear from youth in her study of former foster youth:

Discussions about foster care and its assessment have most typically been carried on by interested professionals, sometimes by public officials, rarely by the biological or foster parents, but almost never by those about whom the arguments swirl – those who have firsthand information about life as a foster child. (p. xiv)

A handful of studies detailing the transition from foster care to independence have sought the perspectives of former foster youth. Focus groups involving case workers, educators, foster parents, and current and former foster youth revealed a need for collaboration between agencies serving foster youth, enhanced opportunities for youth self-determination and case planning, family connections and the maintenance of relationships to supportive others (Geenen and Powers, 2007; Scannapieco et al., 2007). The development of supportive relationships with biological family, foster family members, friends, or other contacts in community agencies that would be available after emancipation from care were emphasized.

Interviews with former foster youth revealed difficulties in trusting others and forming relationships, and enduring ‘relational wounds’ (Griffin, 2004; Unrau et al., 2008). While the potential for self-esteem development through relationships with foster parents was highlighted (Luke and Coyne, 2008), familial impermanence and experiences of loss are more common among former foster youth (Samuels, 2009; Samuels and Pryce, 2008).

Unrau (2006) described the dearth of studies which include the viewpoints of foster youth in a review of the literature detailing placement stability of foster children and youth. The majority of studies relied on case record data, which largely overlooked the perspectives of foster youth. As a traditionally marginalized group, she found foster youths’ voices lacking in the literature. Although there is sufficient evidence that current policies are inadequate to support foster youth in the transition to adulthood, foster youths’ voices have been largely absent from the body of evidence used in policy-level discussion. In an effort to engage youths’ voices in the creation of developmentally appropriate policy, we combined semi-structured interviews with participant observation, aiming for data collection embedded in a relationship of trust and cooperation between researchers and participating youth. Given what is known about the difficulties youth face in transition from foster care, we anticipated that the experiences of aging out would be anxiety-provoking for many foster youth. This manuscript is our initial attempt at adding scholarly space for foster youths’ narratives of the process of aging out.

Method

Research with disenfranchised youth tends to pose severe communicative challenges due to a persistent lack of trust in adults (McLoyd and Steinberg, 1998). Mindful of this methodological challenge, we adopted a critical ethnographic approach, broadly defined, to the project of creating narrative space for youth aging out of the foster care system to voice their lived experiences in a trust-based relationship with researchers (Denzin, 1997; Kincheloe and McLaren, 1994). In short, critical ethnography combines the traditional elements of ethnographic submersion in contexts participants experience in everyday life, including the use of tools such as observations and interviews, with a researcher’s self-reflexive praxis (Freire, 1970/2000) of collaborative exchange with participants. We use critical ethnography as a guiding epistemological approach in order to focus on voices seldom heard. We realize there are variants of critical ethnography where researchers’ political agendas are at the forefront of their studies. In this study, however, we are using critical ethnography in a more targeted manner in an attempt to honor the experiences of a historically marginalized group (for more specific details on the critical ethnography approach we adopted in this study, please see Denzin, 1997, and Kincheloe and McLaren, 1994).

Sample

We joined an Independent Living Skills (ILS) program as volunteers in the summer of 2008. This ILS program has an enrollment of about 65 youths, ages 15 to 21, with a smaller core group of about 10 youths attending regular weekly activities. The program is marked by high mobility and rotation. From our observations and conversations with program staff, attendance is impacted by youths’ lack of access to transportation, youths’ schedules (e.g. employment), and the competing demands for time in the daily lives of foster families. Youth attending regular weekly activities tended to be younger, finishing high school and preparing to transition from foster care or in the early stages of independence. All regularly attending youth were invited to participate. This particular ILS program is led by a charismatic and well-liked director who has been active in creating trust bridges between foster youth and researchers. Ethnographic information about the ILS program were recorded via traditional field note-taking during the weekly meetings and special events (e.g. youth advocacy within legislative meetings, university visits). In order to secure confidentiality we refrain from naming the specific geographic area where this ILS program operates, or naming the program itself.

Narratives of first-hand foster care experiences were collected from a purposive sample of 6 key participants with whom the leading researcher established closer relationships over a period of several months of attendance in these activities. In addition to forming close trust-based relationships, these 6 key participants were the ones able to attend most ILS meetings, extra-curricular activities, and spend more time with the researchers. The 6 key participants had a range of placement experiences, from one placement that lasted six months to more than twenty placements over fifteen years. These participants also had a range of experience in the process of aging out. Jacob, the oldest participant, had been on his own for three years, and at age 21 had established a level of independence. Jennifer, at 19, had been on her own for one year. Ana, age 18 at the time of interviewing, was in the process of ‘aging out’. Three additional youths, Mathew, Sean and Mindi, all 18, anticipated aging out within the year, following completion of high school. All participants were given pseudonyms to protect their identities.

Interviews

A semi-structured interview was used to elicit narratives describing the process of aging out among adolescents and young adults in transition from foster care. Interviews were not time-limited, with interviews ranging from 20 minutes to an hour. Questions covered placement history, including a description of earliest experiences of foster care placement and placement moves; developmental stressors related to foster placement (‘What is/are the most challenging aspects of being in foster care as an adolescent?’) and emancipation (‘Describe the challenges that you faced/face leaving foster care’); and coping methods. Open-ended questions facilitated flexibility and depth in respondents’ answers. Minimal probing was necessary, with probes addressing placement history (age of first placement, returns to birth families), number of placements during adolescence, prompting to consider multiple aspects of aging out (employment, education, housing) and youths’ perceptions of what could have been done to assist them in the process of aging out. The semi-structured format allowed for the interviewer to pursue emergent, unexpected directions in participants’ answers.

Analysis

Personal narratives were digitally recorded from on-going one-on-one, private conversations between the leading researcher and key participants, following approved Institutional Review Board (IRB) guidelines on freedom of participation and confidentiality. Individual narratives were transcribed and analyzed for patterns shaping and informing these foster youths’ experience of aging out. Based on the literature, it was anticipated that experiences of economic struggle and difficulty meeting basic needs would be present in youths’ narratives, as well as coping with an abrupt transition to independence. During analysis the loss of social support and high levels of self-reliance as a coping mechanism emerged as additional themes within youth narratives. To increase reliability, both researchers individually examined the transcripts multiple times and contrasted and compared emerging themes across narratives in order to achieve triangulation. The results we present in this exploratory ethnographic study are based on this consensual thematic agreement between us, the researchers, and reflect experiences of aging out, framed primarily as anxiety over economic insecurity, loss of social support, and perceived pressure toward high levels of self-reliance.

Results

Economic insecurity

The experiences of aging out were the overall focus of the study, and youths’ narratives reflected both the actual experiences of, and anticipation of, economic struggles. After five foster placements in two years, a young adult who ran away from his last placement describes the abrupt transition to adulthood:

Right away there were challenges: no money, no job, no school … I was left on my own, and not prepared. It was a real struggle – no food, no money, nowhere to go – I had to figure it out quick. The people that had given me the little bit of help that I’d had, weren’t really there. I was on my own night and day, trying to figure out what I was going to eat, where I was going to wash my clothes, where I would work, and watching out for myself at night, you know, staying safe. (Jacob, 21 years old)

He reflects on his decision to leave, ‘Maybe for someone who stays in foster care, for somebody who is prepared, it’s different.’

Youth preparing for the transition to independence following foster care often did so with an awareness of the risks surrounding the move to independence. ‘There’s a lot of statistics out there about kids in foster care … we use drugs, and we don’t graduate from high school, and stuff,’ Mathew (18 years old) shared as he anticipated leaving his foster home at the end of the school year. Mathew was adamant that the ‘statistics’ were not true, though, explaining that:

People say that foster kids don’t graduate high school, that might be true for some, but then there are other options they can go to, like me; I’m going to go to the Job Corps, hopefully. So then, if I don’t graduate this year, I can go there and get my high school diploma, and then I’ll also get job experience.

Although he personally felt that those statistics were not true and spoke about the options he had through job training programs, he also shared that, ‘I have worries about being homeless … that’s one of my greatest fears; being homeless … I don’t want to be on the streets.’

Mathew’s fears of homelessness were echoed in the experiences of young adults who had already made the transition to adulthood.

Probably the biggest challenge was not having a place to live. I had to go live with a friend. I was still in high school … basically, just not having a place to live, and not having a job that helps,’cause I don’t have the money to pay rent. (Jennifer, 19 years old)

Jennifer recounted the series of moves that she made in the year following her foster placement:

I lived with my brother for six months … then my older sister’s house, I lived with my older sister for a month, then I lived with one of my really good friends for six months … then I moved in with my best friend and her guardian … I moved in with another friend for a week, and then I moved into the house I live in now. But me and my brother moved three times when I lived with him, so … I’ve moved a lot!

Jennifer adds ‘This is the first time since December of last year [thirteen months] that all of my stuff has been in the same place!’

Concerns about housing were expressed by hundreds of youth who gathered in the state capitol in a demonstration of self-advocacy during the 2009 legislative session. Several key informants from this ILS program joined other foster youth in sharing their experiences with lawmakers considering the passage of bills which would retain a program providing foster care to a limited number of youth until the age of 21 (HB 1961) and Independent Youth Housing (HB 1492) (Mockingbird Society, 2009). Prior to meeting with legislators, youth gathered in a tent in the cold, early morning air to share their stories with each other. Addressing the crowd of youth, a conference leader slowly drew a large black garbage bag out of a box and held it up in the air, asking ‘Does anyone recognize this?’ A collective groan rose from the crowd, the trash bag a symbol associated with movement between foster placements. One girl remarked wryly ‘That’s my suitcase when I turn 18.’ A need for some form of housing assistance, whether it was through extending foster care or providing independent youth housing, emerged in youths’ testimonies throughout the day. Later that afternoon a key informant delivered a carefully prepared statement to three legislators urging the passage of a bill that would allow her to remain in foster care after her 18th birthday. Emerging from one office and taking a seat in the hallway to await her next speaking appointment, she explained, ‘I really need this bill to pass. My mother’s in La-la land [addicted to drugs] and my father can’t keep a roof over his own head. If I can stay in my foster home I might be able to go to college and get a job.’

Steps towards independence often mentioned by youth centered on finding employment. Ana (18 years old), who had aged out the month before we spoke in an in-depth interview, shared that she felt ‘pretty good’ about aging out because ‘I’ve had a job – so I know what it feels like.’ However, youth struggled to find employment that would provide sufficient income for meeting their daily needs as independent adults. Jennifer related the difficulties she faced living on her own while finishing high school: ‘paying the rent over the summer was like half of my check … I didn’t really make a whole lot of money, I was only paid minimum wage, I could only work, like 32 … 38 hours out of the week, and … it really wasn’t a whole lot of money.’ Mathew, anticipating emancipation at the end of the school year, shared that the most difficult aspect of being in foster care as an adolescent was:

Getting the experience you need for everyday life, like a job … ’cause your parents are the ones that teach you all that stuff, and I haven’t had the chance to learn that,’cause I’ve been in group homes for most of my teen years when I would have learned that stuff.

Mathew shared that the practice provided for him in group homes, such as mock job interviews, did not give him the level of support that would be necessary in securing employment. As he imagined life after foster care, his options included job training programs which provided housing and the promise of training in everyday skills, such as working and driving.

Most youth interviewed spoke about education, but it was often in wistful or vague terms.

What I would tell myself, if I could go back, knowing what I know now … get your education, go to school. I wish I would have graduated. (Jacob, 21)

Just keep doing what you want to do,’cause maybe you’re the one that wants to go to college, and if you keep, like, driving for that then it’s going to end up happening. (Ana, 18)

I’m gonna do everything in my power to be, you know, the college student, and the registered nurse that I want to be. (Mindi, 18 years)

For youth, finishing high school was often a more immediate challenge, leaving little energy to devote to college. As mentioned throughout, several youth made the transition out of foster homes prior to completing high school.

Social support: Losses and opportunities

Within youths’ narratives a loss of social support emerged as a specific anxiety tied to experiences of aging out. A young adult describes his reactions to initial placement in foster care and the loss of social connections. ‘I was ripped away from everything – my house, my friends, my family, everybody I knew … after about two years, I kind of checked out on my own. I went back to my family, but not by the courts’ (Jacob, age 21).

It was not uncommon for youth to seek connections with biological families as they approached and experienced emancipation, although these connections did not offer support for many of the youth that we spoke with. One teenager facing emancipation remarked that he could not depend on relatives because, ‘My real family, I’ve been reunited with them, but they’re not really stable … Dad got out of jail, and … I don’t know if he’s getting into the right things.’

Another youth in the midst of transition remarked that ‘I just got to see my mom … for the first time since I was five or six, just seeing her made me feel like … she did love me, but then she just needed out.’ Approaching the transition to adulthood, youth recognized the reasons for their separation from biological family and the role this played in their transition to adulthood. Making the transition to independence was easier for Ana in foster care, she explained, because:

… If I were to have my family actually around, like my mom and dad, I think that would actually make it much harder, because I’ve read some of my files … when you’re 18, they give you all your records … and so, like reading that and hearing what the state had to say about my parents, really didn’t make me too happy, but, it’s not like I can be like, ‘Oh, that’s not true,’ because I know my parents. If I had to deal with that [family substance use] while I was in foster care and still try to do what I had to do, it’d be a whole lot harder, because knowing, I don’t know if my Dad would have been like, ‘Hey, Ana, come with me, you know, do the drugs,’ or whatever, I don’t know how that would have gone.

Regardless of the obvious needs for separation from biological families, youth also shared their pain at separation from family during foster placement in the years preceding the transition to adulthood. Mindi described the stress of being in foster care, and wanting to be ‘where I’m loved, where I know what I am and who I am … being with people that I know, and not people that I don’t know’. Ana tells a story of another teen in foster care:

I know this one person who … it was kind of awful watching it happen, because I watched him go to a visit [with biological family] one time … one of my old friends, she invited me to come with them, and he was going to see his parents in the park, and he went and got high before he saw them, and I asked her, ‘Why is he getting high, I mean, isn’t he scared his mom and dad are going to find out?’ … she was like, ‘No, he does that because it’s hard for him to come, it’s okay for him to go and see them, but if he wasn’t on the drug when he went to come see them, then for him to come back, it would be really, really emotional. And for him to do the drug before he goes to see them … it’s easier for him to come back to the stage he’s in now, the system.’

Connections to foster families were tenuous during and often dissolved in the months following the transition to independence. One teen described her greatest anxiety in the months approaching her 18th birthday as preparing to talk to her foster mom about moving out. She shares that many youth she lived with in this foster home had similar issues with talking about the separation that was inevitable:

… the last foster home that I was in, I’ve had a couple of people turn 18, just last year … One of the people, who I was friends with in this foster home, she didn’t know how to tell the foster mom that she wanted to move out, so one day she just up and left. (Ana, 18 years)

She shares that the nervousness she felt about talking with her foster mom: ‘How am I going to tell [foster mom] I’m leaving?’ and the belief that her foster mother doubted her ability to survive independently. ‘She kind of has this thing in her mind where if the girls leave and they haven’t graduated, then they’re not gonna graduate.’ Other teens were eager to end relationships with foster families where they felt disrespect or felt that they were only cared for ‘for the money’. For some, frequent moves made it difficult to establish ties with foster families or community members which may have provided support.

I don’t remember all the people’s names,’cause I’ve been in so many homes. (Mathew, 18 years old)

I’ve been in more than eight homes, the last time I counted … I’ve been in more schools than – I can’t even count how many schools I was in,’cause when I was with my dad – it was a lot! (Ana, 18 years old)

I think of it, it’s my life, and all these moving homes, all it does is mess me up, and mess up my chances of making something of myself, because I’m just getting from one place to another, from another to another, and it gets to the point where it’s almost tiring, you get sick of it, and I’m to that point now, where if I was to have to move again, I’d be like, ‘You guys, go away, leave me alone.’ (Mindi, 18 years old)

The most challenging parts of being in foster care as a teen are – being in group homes. Foster kids have to make a lot of social adaptations – moving a lot. And there were a lot of staff changes, a lot of turnover, in group homes, so we had to get used to new people that way too. (Sean, 18 years old)

Youth also expressed positive connections to foster families, although these connections usually did not extend beyond emancipation. ‘I loved my foster family. I was really close with my foster mom,’ shared Jennifer. ‘When they moved [out of state], it was really sad … If it wasn’t for me still being in foster care, and not 18, I probably would have moved with them, just because. It didn’t really work out the way we wanted it to.’ Mindi also expressed the desire to return to a former foster family.

If I could go back to the, my first home, she was willing to take me back, it all comes down to the caseworker, then I would go, because they, I mean, even now, I still keep in contact, I’m still her daughter in a way, and it’s like, they’re going on trips and they want me to go, and it’s, it’s nice to have people that actually cared.

Sean demonstrated the importance of ties to foster families, explaining that one of the most important questions to ask youth in care was ‘What is your relationship with your foster parents like?’

The loss youth felt most strongly was connections with siblings. Youth that we spoke with were all placed separately from siblings, and faced aging out without regular contact with their siblings. Jennifer felt that aging out ‘probably would have been easier for me if I would have been able to see my siblings, and got to talk to them.’ She shares that, one year after emancipation:

Everything else is just kind of over and done with for me, and I think the only thing that still really depresses me is that I haven’t seen the two youngest ones in almost two years, and it’s like they’re so young that by the time I get around to like, or even pass them on the street, or see them in the store, they’re not gonna know who I am at all … that’s really the only thing that really still bothers me. Now that I’m aged out, I can’t really do anything about seeing them because they’re still in foster care.

Ana shares that the pressures of being newly independent are balanced by thoughts of her brothers, placed in separate homes, ‘I want to be the one for them,’cause I’m the oldest, out of the siblings, so I want to be the one toward them, to look up upon, instead of looking up on my parents.’ She reflects on her decisions to move from a placement with a sibling:

… when we were little we used to write letters to the judge, and I actually got a copy of it [the letter] the other day, of one where he said ‘I want to stay with my sister wherever she goes’. And I didn’t know that until I got the letter so I kind of look back and I feel really bad … if I would have known that, then maybe I would have stayed,’cause I want to do what my brothers want. I want to do what’s best for them, not what’s best for them, but what’s best for me, but it’s kind of more my brothers right now,’cause they still need help.

Separation from siblings continued after emancipation from foster care for youth, separated by distance or the wishes of adoptive parents who might limit visitation between siblings.

Often this sense of family was reported as an intangible loss as well, as Mathew explained, ‘I haven’t had the feeling of a family that was stable and there for me,’cause I was taken out of the home when I was like three.’ Still, without actual and perceived social support from their families, these youths will have to negotiate the transition into young adulthood and the high level of self-reliance it requires.

Perceived pressure toward high levels of self-reliance

The value placed on autonomy and independence was echoed in many of the statements youth made about their lives in the years prior to aging out of foster care.

I just want to live out what I’ve got left of it and just be on my own, and that’s one thing that’s big about me is that I’m an independent person.

I just liked to be independent and do what I needed to get done, because I didn’t want anyone interfering with me. And I didn’t want to interfere with anyone else … I kind of always did what I wanted, like what I needed to do. (Ana, 18 years old)

Ana continues, sharing that her self-reliance may have been the reason why she experienced so many placements.

Well, I’ve kind of realized now, that it’s kind of my fault for leaving those homes, because every time they would want to adopt me or get legal guardianship, for some reason I wouldn’t let them, but I wouldn’t tell them that,’cause I didn’t want to end up hurting their feelings … So they’re thinking, ‘Yeah, we’re going to adopt this child, or get legal guardianship’, but then I end up pulling out, saying I need out of the home, because I don’t want to face them and tell them that I don’t want to be ‘theirs.’

Ana shares her fears about losing adoptive family members through the possibility of future family break ups such as the divorce which occurred after she left an adoptive family, saying:

I didn’t want to be committed to someone, and now that I’m 18, I feel that I made the good decision by not getting adopted or having legal guardianship … I don’t have to worry about trying to say goodbye to them … yeah, I’ll keep in contact, but I’m not gonna live there and stay there forever.

Self-reliance was also exhibited through youths’ reluctance to share their emotions with others. Mathew shared that ‘I’ve learned to become tough and hold myself, hold my emotions. I don’t show my emotions … nobody knows how I really feel.’

Youth also shared that their self-reliance stemmed from adult-like responsibilities during adolescence. ‘I had to grow up really fast. I cooked dinner, I cleaned the house … my mom, she worked night, she worked graveyards.’ Mindi described her self-reliance as part of her perception of herself as holding responsibilities beyond that of a teenager, ‘that’s the thing that people don’t realize, I mean, I’m not a teenager, in my own eyes, I’m an adult. That’s all I know is being an adult.’

Youth also received messages of their need to operate independently of social support from biological relatives, such as Mindi’s father, who told her ‘that I needed to step up and be a woman … I stepped it up. Since I was like 13, I’ve done nothing but been, you know, as mature as I could be at 13, but more of an adult than anything.’ Another teen shared that her family’s response to her placement in foster care as an older teenager was, ‘Oh, well when she turned 18, she was planning on moving out anyway.’ She shares the frustration she felt at the idea of facing adulthood alone:

I still had a year of high school! I-I’m 19; I don’t even have my license yet. And, just like, what – where am I supposed to go? There’s no way I would be able to support myself, if I moved out at 18. (Jennifer, 19 years old)

As he reflected on the experience of aging out, Jacob felt that self-reliance was the only response to the homelessness that he experienced after leaving foster care. When asked how he coped with aging out, Jacob responded with:

… find it – that was all I could do. The only way to make the situation better was to get it, get what I needed. I wasn’t open for help; it’s hard for me to ask for help. I didn’t want to talk to anyone, I just wanted to rely on myself … I never wanted to ask for help, I didn’t want to be shot down.

Returning to the story of his transition to adulthood, he recalled the strain of looking for housing and food while maintaining a sense of safety without a home or a social network to provide support. ‘I’d say that I did the best I could, with the tools that I had, I did the best I could.’

Sean, a teen who anticipated aging out within the year, described the experience of aging out as ‘… one day. To go from unorganized to organized. One magic day.’

Discussion

‘… no money, no job, no school … I was left on my own, and not prepared. It was a real struggle – no food, no money, nowhere to go …’

The youth we spoke with described a transition to adulthood that was immediate and complete, lacking the series of small steps toward autonomy that is common among emerging adults in contemporary societies (Arnett, 2004). Furthermore, the independence experienced by foster youth clashes with research highlighting the brain development which continues into adulthood, and the impact of trauma on emotional regulation and decision-making (Avery and Freundlich, 2009). Youth struggled to meet their basic needs, describing unemployment, hunger, and homelessness. For the youth interviewed, securing employment held a special significance as the difference between housing and homelessness. Youths’ experiences of aging out often centered on their preparedness for, or lack of preparation, to secure living wage jobs. The emphasis on employment among the youth we spoke with runs counter to the trend of delayed workforce entry among young adults (Furstenberg et al., 2005).

The loss of connections to others was another common theme in youths’ stories. Like many foster youths (Collins et al., 2008), some were able to maintain contact with parents and other family members. Alongside the losses they shared, youths’ stories were not without positive connections. Youth spoke of relationships with siblings, foster family members, and the affirmation that came in some cases from reunification from birth parents. However, most youth experienced high levels of social network disruption, citing frequent moves and the loss of family and home. The loss that youths spoke about most frequently was separation from siblings. Older siblings expressed fear and a sense of responsibility for their younger siblings, even in the face of having to meet basic needs on their own. The lack of contact with siblings is particularly painful considering that most foster youth report closer relationships with their siblings than with parents (Courtney et al., 2007; Reilly, 2003) and sibling relationships are typically the most enduring across the lifespan (White, 2001). Relationships with siblings may be especially important to foster youth, who have already experienced an overwhelming amount of disruption in relationships. The strain of separation presents an additional barrier to youth already burdened with the difficulty of achieving rapid, early independence.

The multiple losses in the lives of foster youth and the stress of enduring these long-term losses impacted the transition to adulthood, a transition full of challenges. While youth expressed a general sense of unpreparedness for this transition, they also invariably spoke of the importance of meeting challenges on their own. The self-reliance youth expressed was extreme, with their anxiety about dependence on others evident in statements such as the fear of being ‘shot down’ when asking others for help, or the need to avoid permanent connections to others through adoption or legal guardianship, in order to protect themselves from further loss. The possible reality of being homeless and living on the streets illustrates the extreme anxiety that youth may feel over the transition to independence, and the need for developing autonomy beyond that expected of most youth and young adults in our society. The level of self-reliance expressed by youth interviewed mirrors the ‘survivalist self-reliance’ described by Samuels and Pryce (2008) which illustrates the resilience of youth but also presents a risk, as youth resist relationships with others who might provide support. In particular, the authors noted that youth were especially resistant to seeking emotional support from others. High levels of self-reliance among foster youth are encouraged by a policy approach which has emphasized independence, most typically at age eighteen (Avery and Freundlich, 2009; Courtney, 2009; Samuels and Pryce, 2008).

The process of ‘aging out’ asks a segment of the population which is arguably less prepared for independence, through repeated experiences of loss, to achieve complete independence quickly. The social and economic consequences of this policy are well known, and illustrate the need for policy changes that allow youth to remain in care beyond the age of 18 or provide concrete transitional services such as guided independent living. Former foster youth, by virtue of their experiences and the difficulties they face in establishing independence, lack a voice and visibility in society. Even worse, foster youth often get blamed for poor individual choices, lack of perseverance, or other forms of personal weakness, a reflection of our tendency to focus on person-oriented experiences rather than the impacts of a system (Boss, 1999). In fact, all scholarly and experiential evidence suggests that the problem is not of individual children growing up into uncontrollable family contexts, but one of systemic inadequacy in acting mindfully to create and maintain safety nets for such children.

As unheard young citizens, too many foster youth will continue to transition into adulthood suffering from a perennial shortage of resources and lasting human connections. Socially conscientious developmental scholarship must do its part in bringing foster youths’ voices and narratives of lived experience to the public imagination. The inclusion of current and former foster youths’ experiences in the adolescent and emerging adulthood literature may shed some missing light in lives less visible.

Footnotes

Funding

This investigation was supported in part by funds provided for medical and biological research by the State of Washington Initiative Measure No. 171.

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