Free Your Mind Radio Show invited The Fostering Imagination organization and Jeanette Yoffe to Anaheim to have a conversation about Foster Care Awareness month with Brian and Wendy.
- On any given day, there are nearly 437,000 children in foster care in the United States. Here in California, there are over 60,000 children in the foster care system.
- Many children in California’s foster care system experience frequent placement changes. For children who are in foster care for 24 months or longer 15% experienced 5 or more placements and 44% experienced 3 or more placements.
- Youth exiting foster care shared that they often lacked strong and supportive relationships. While extending foster care until age 21 has improved outcomes for youth, many youths still exit care without the support and guidance they need to successfully transition.
- Children in foster care have experienced abuse, neglect, and other adverse childhood experiences that can negatively impact their health. In fact, half of all kids in foster care have endured four or more adverse childhood experiences.
- Unique challenges can prevent students in foster care from attending school. Youth in foster care are more likely to be chronically absent (miss 10% or more days of school) than other underserved youth, due to home placement changes, school transfers, court hearings, and parental visitation.
- In California, the statewide average high school graduation rate by youth is 83%. For students in foster care, only 53% will graduate on time.
- It’s estimated that one-third of all the nation’s unaccompanied homeless youth are in California.
- Research indicates foster youth experience rates of homelessness ranging from 11% to 38%, disproportionately higher than that of the general population.
