The Children’s Data Network has announced the release of a new report, Transition-Age Youth and the Child Protection System: Demographic and Case Characteristics. Funded by the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation and developed in collaboration with the California Child Welfare Indicators Project, the California Department of Social Services, and the Los Angeles Department of Children and Family Services, this report provides comprehensive data on transition-age foster youth (ages 16–20) involved with the child protection system in Los Angeles County.

The report aggregates publicly available data from the California Child Welfare Indicators Project, providing demographic information on transition-age youth, rates of contact with the child protection system and service experiences in the system.

Among the findings, the transition-youth child welfare experience differs in several important ways from that of their younger counterparts. For instance, transition-age youth have longer median lengths of stay and less stable placements. Transition-age youth are also more likely to be placed in group homes or to have runaway status and less likely to be placed in family like settings. Transition-age youth are more likely to exit to emancipation or in other ways (i.e., running away, refusing services, incarceration or death), and less likely to exit to permanency (i.e., reunification, adoption, Kin-GAP and guardianship).

Transition-age youth are also more likely than their younger counterparts to have behavioral, mental health and educational issues, which may impact both permanency options and long-term adult outcomes.

The information gathered will be used to strengthen collaboration and alignment across the systems that influence foster youth outcomes and help policy makers, agency administrators and community providers better understand transition-age youth in an effort to increase their self-sufficiency through improved college and career readiness, stronger caregivers and special services for the most vulnerable.

Authors of the report include USC School of Social Work professors Emily Putnam-Hornstein and Jacquelyn McCroskey and MSW student Ivy Hammond, in addition to Stephanie Cuccaro-Alamin and Daniel Webster.

A California version of the report is also available.

The Children’s Data Network is a university, agency and community collaborative focused on the integration and application of data to inform programs and policies for children and their families. The Children’s Data Network is funded by First 5 LA and receives additional support from the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, housed at USC’s School of Social Work, and includes a partnership with the California Child Welfare Indicators Project.