This brief highlights historical federal child welfare policy achievements and urges policymakers to champion new reforms that promote lasting benefits for all young people in and transitioning from foster care.
The document opens by calling on Congress to build on the important, but temporary, changes mandated by the Supporting Foster Youth and Families Through the Pandemic Act. This act offers continuous and comprehensive support that all young people deserve on an ongoing basis — not just during emergencies. For instance, it gives state agencies a threefold funding increase via the John H. Chafee Foster Care Program for Successful Transition to Adulthood, which directs significant federal resources to serving youth and young adults.
The Casey Foundation advises federal policymakers to act quickly to extend these pandemic-relief resources and build a comprehensive approach that can better support all young people and their lifelong success. Advancing such an approach will involve:
The Foundation closes its brief by recognizing Congress and its steadfast commitment to improving the odds for youth and young adults in foster care. It notes that federal policymakers have a tremendous opportunity to enact lasting reforms that can address inequities, accelerate effective solutions and offer child welfare agencies the capacity and guidance needed to improve how young people receive services and achieve permanency, healing and economic security.
Young people and families of color face persistent and harmful disparities in the U.S. foster care system. For example:
Accordingly, the brief offers and advocates for solutions that explicitly address long-standing racial injustices that have led to consistently worse outcomes for youth of color in foster care.
