Facts about Foster Care

• Approximately 19,000 older youth "Age out" of foster care each year without family to support them
• Nearly a third of foster children will become homeless at sometime within the first year after they leave the system at age 18
• Unemployment rates for emancipated youth are estimated at 50%
• Approximately one third of foster children will be on public assisstance shortly after aging out of the system
• About one fourth of these youth will be encarcerated within the first two years after they leave the system
• 46% of foster youth fail to complete high school, compared with 16% of non - foster youth
• Fewer than 10% of foster youth enroll in college