Municipal Action Guide to Help Cities Support Foster Youth Transitions
by Carlos Becerra
 Each year, more than 20,000 youth across the nation “emancipate” from foster care systems at around 18 years of age. Already having faced the trauma of removal from their birth families and possible multiple placements, these youth face numerous pitfalls as they transition to independent adulthood. Compared with their peers, they run a higher risk of becoming homeless, dropping out of school or college, becoming unemployed and relying on public benefits and becoming involved in crime as they seek to make it on their own.
While most city governments do not administer foster care systems, they are increasingly making transitioning foster youth a priority, since these young people form a disproportionate number of the at-risk youth that cities seek to reach through education, employment, housing, health and crime prevention initiatives.
To bolster city efforts, NLC’s Institute for Youth, Education and Families has published a Municipal Action Guide on “Supporting Foster Youth Transitions to Adulthood.” The guide, made possible by support from the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation and the Walter S. Johnson Foundation, aims to help city officials assume greater leadership roles in helping this uniquely vulnerable population of youth stay on track.
Included in the publication are an overview of the policy landscape, including: federal programs and funding sources targeted toward transitioning foster youth; recommended strategies and action steps for city leaders to consider; a list of relevant national and regional resource organizations; and a snapshot of promising practices from five cities.
Opportunities for City Leadership
The Municipal Action Guide describes four key action steps that cities can take in partnership with state and county agencies and other local service providers:
- Become knowledgeable about local foster youth transitions and use this information to set goals and track progress over time;
- Connect transitioning foster youth to existing programs and services;
- Make the case for supporting foster youth transitions to adulthood; and
- Take a cross-system approach to service planning and delivery.
These strategies provide a road map for addressing the housing, employment and education needs of foster youth making the transition to adulthood. For instance, city officials who are unfamiliar with foster youth trends in their communities may start by working through a checklist of questions, such as how many foster youth become independent each year, what is known about their housing and employment situations after they leave the child welfare system, which local agencies are already providing them with services and whether there are existing committees or task forces focused on foster youth.
Armed with this knowledge, cities can take specific actions to support foster youth, such as setting aside slots for foster youth in relevant city housing and employment programs or recruiting municipal employees as mentors.
Promising Strategies in Action
Various examples of city leadership included in the guide demonstrate the powerful role that municipal officials can play in supporting foster youth transitions.
In Corpus Christi, Texas, the city housing authority and local nonprofits have teamed up to open a conveniently located one-stop center, and also give priority for access to housing vouchers to the 150 foster youth emancipating each year. On a daily basis, young people visiting the one-stop center can get access to emergency resources and basic services such as housing information, educational guidance, employment help and counseling. The City of Fremont, Calif., blends general revenues, Community Development Block Grant social services grants and tenant-based rental assistance funds to provide transitioning foster youth with case management and rental subsidies for up to three years.
New York City officials, aware of the job search challenges faced by foster youth, have created Passport to Success, an intensive 16-week education and work readiness program, operated in conjunction with the city’s Administration for City Services. Youth benefit from the support of life coaches, intensive job training and job placement assistance.
In San Francisco, foster youth in high school benefit from an interagency agreement between the city and county, school district, juvenile courts and state child welfare agency that helps provide better coordination and a seamless transition from one school to another when the youth are placed in a new home.
Finally, the guide provides an in-depth description of Philadelphia’s innovative Achieving Independence Center, a unique one-stop gateway to a full range of services for youth aging out of the foster care system.
Details: To download the Municipal Action Guide, visit www.nlc.org/iyef. To request print copies or learn more about NLC’s Municipal Network for Disconnected Youth, contact Carlos Becerra at (202) 626-3160 or becerra@nlc.org.
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