Aging out
Encyclopedia
Aging out is American popular culture
Popular culture
Popular culture is the totality of ideas, perspectives, attitudes, memes, images and other phenomena that are deemed preferred per an informal consensus within the mainstream of a given culture, especially Western culture of the early to mid 20th century and the emerging global mainstream of the...

 vernacular
Vernacular
A vernacular is the native language or native dialect of a specific population, as opposed to a language of wider communication that is not native to the population, such as a national language or lingua franca.- Etymology :The term is not a recent one...

 used to describe anytime a youth
Youth
Youth is the time of life between childhood and adulthood . Definitions of the specific age range that constitutes youth vary. An individual's actual maturity may not correspond to their chronological age, as immature individuals could exist at all ages.-Usage:Around the world, the terms "youth",...

 leaves a formal system of care designed to provide services below a certain age level.

There are a variety of applications of the phrase throughout the youth development field. In respect to foster care
Foster care
Foster care is the term used for a system in which a minor who has been made a ward is placed in the private home of a state certified caregiver referred to as a "foster parent"....

, aging out is the process of a youth
Youth
Youth is the time of life between childhood and adulthood . Definitions of the specific age range that constitutes youth vary. An individual's actual maturity may not correspond to their chronological age, as immature individuals could exist at all ages.-Usage:Around the world, the terms "youth",...

 transitioning from the formal control of the foster care
Foster care
Foster care is the term used for a system in which a minor who has been made a ward is placed in the private home of a state certified caregiver referred to as a "foster parent"....

 system towards independent living
Independent living
Independent living, as seen by its advocates, is a philosophy, a way of looking at disability and society, and a worldwide movement of people with disabilities working for self-determination, self-respect and equal opportunities...

. It is used to describe anytime a foster youth leaves the varying factors of foster care, including home, school and financial systems. The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services
United States Citizenship and Immigration Services
United States Citizenship and Immigration Services is a component of the United States Department of Homeland Security . It performs many administrative functions formerly carried out by the legacy United States Immigration and Naturalization Service , which was part of the Department of Justice...

 defines an "aging out" case as, "a situation referring to a person's petition to become a permanent legal resident as a child, and in the time that passes during the processing of the application, the child turns 21 and ages out.

Usage

Often used to highlight the problems traditional foster care approaches face, aging out affects foster youth in a variety of ways. An estimated 30,000 adolescents age out of the foster care system each year in the United States.

Aging Out is also used in reference to Drum Corps International's rules which state that drum corps' members above the age of 21 are denied the ability to compete in World Class.

Statistics

The Child Welfare League of America
Child Welfare League of America
The Child Welfare League of America or CWLA is the oldest child welfare organization in the United States. The organization's primary objective is to "Make Children a National Priority...

 reports that as many as 36% of foster youth who have aged out of the system become homeless, 56% become unemployed, and 27% of male former foster youth become jailed. The San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco Chronicle
thumb|right|upright|The Chronicle Building following the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake|1906 earthquake]] and fireThe San Francisco Chronicle is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, but distributed throughout Northern and Central California,...

reports that less than half of emancipated youth who have aged out graduate
Graduation
Graduation is the action of receiving or conferring an academic degree or the ceremony that is sometimes associated, where students become Graduates. Before the graduation, candidates are referred to as Graduands. The date of graduation is often called degree day. The graduation itself is also...

 from high school
High school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....

, compared to 85% of all 18- to-24-year-olds; fewer than 1 in 8 graduate from a four-year college
College
A college is an educational institution or a constituent part of an educational institution. Usage varies in English-speaking nations...

; two-thirds had not maintained employment for a year; fewer than 1 in 5 was completely self-supporting; more than a quarter of the males spent time in jail; and 4 of 10 had become parents as a result of an unplanned pregnancy.

Responses

In 1970, Title X
Title X
The Title X Family Planning Program, officially known as Public Law 91-572 or “Population Research and Voluntary Family Planning Programs” was enacted under President Richard Nixon in 1970 as part of the Public Health Service Act...

 of the Public Health Service Act
Public Health Service Act
The Public Health Service Act is a United States federal law enacted in 1944. The full act is captured under Title 42 of the United States Code "The Public Health and Welfare", Chapter 6A "Public Health Service"....

 started providing for the federal family planning
Family planning
Family planning is the planning of when to have children, and the use of birth control and other techniques to implement such plans. Other techniques commonly used include sexuality education, prevention and management of sexually transmitted infections, pre-conception counseling and...

 program, designed to provide resources for health services and counseling to low-income or uninsured individuals
Insurance
In law and economics, insurance is a form of risk management primarily used to hedge against the risk of a contingent, uncertain loss. Insurance is defined as the equitable transfer of the risk of a loss, from one entity to another, in exchange for payment. An insurer is a company selling the...

 who may otherwise lack access to health care
Health care
Health care is the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disease, illness, injury, and other physical and mental impairments in humans. Health care is delivered by practitioners in medicine, chiropractic, dentistry, nursing, pharmacy, allied health, and other care providers...

, including young people aging out of foster care. The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development
United States Department of Housing and Urban Development
The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, also known as HUD, is a Cabinet department in the Executive branch of the United States federal government...

's Family Unification Program, or FUP, provides Housing Choice Vouchers
Section 8 (housing)
Section 8 of the United States Housing Act of 1937 , as repeatedly amended, authorizes the payment of rental housing assistance to private landlords on behalf of approximately 3.1 million low-income households...

 to young people aging out of the foster care system.

The Administration for Children's Services, or ACS, and the federal Office of Housing Policy and Development, in cooperation with the New York City Housing Authority
New York City Housing Authority
The New York City Housing Authority provides public housing for low- and moderate-income residents throughout the five boroughs of New York City. NYCHA also administers a citywide Section 8 Leased Housing Program in rental apartments...

, has a Section 8
Section 8 (housing)
Section 8 of the United States Housing Act of 1937 , as repeatedly amended, authorizes the payment of rental housing assistance to private landlords on behalf of approximately 3.1 million low-income households...

 Priority Code for young people aging out of the foster care system.

In 1999, President Clinton signed the Foster Care Independence Act
Foster Care Independence Act
The Foster Care Independence Act is an Act of Congress signed into law by President Bill Clinton on December 14, 1999.The Act supports provision of health insurance to former foster children, up to the age of 21, by way of states using Medicaid funds. It permits such youths to have assets up to...

, which doubled federal funding for independent living
Independent living
Independent living, as seen by its advocates, is a philosophy, a way of looking at disability and society, and a worldwide movement of people with disabilities working for self-determination, self-respect and equal opportunities...

 programs and provides funding for drug abuse prevention and health insurance
Health insurance
Health insurance is insurance against the risk of incurring medical expenses among individuals. By estimating the overall risk of health care expenses among a targeted group, an insurer can develop a routine finance structure, such as a monthly premium or payroll tax, to ensure that money is...

for former foster care youth until age 21.

Now programs and laws such as the CFCIP—the Chafee Foster Care Independence Program—are starting to make headway into ways to compensate foster children who have become adults. $140 million is to be funded for this program including states matching 20%.

External links

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