On Their Own: What Happens to Kids When They Age Out of the Foster Care System - Hardcover

Exposes what happens to foster children once they are discharged from the state's custody and serves as a call for action to improve their chances for success. Each year, as many as 25,000 teenagers "age out" of foster care, usually when they turn eighteen. For years, a government agency had made every important decision for them. Suddenly, they are on their own, with no one to count on. What does it mean to be eighteen and on your own, without the family support and personal connections that most young people rely on? For many youth raised in foster care, it means largely unhappy endings, including sudden homelessness, unemployment, dead-end jobs, loneliness, and despair. On Their Own tells the compelling stories of ten young people whose lives are full of promise, but who face economic and social barriers stemming from the disruptions of foster care. This book calls for action to provide youth in foster care the same opportunities on the road to adulthood that most of our youth take for granted-access to higher education, vocational training, medical care, housing, and relationships within their communities. On Their Own is meant to serve as a clarion call not only to policymaker

Martha Shirk spent twenty-three years as a reporter for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, where she wrote extensively about children's issues. She lives in Palo Alto, California. Martha Shirk spent twenty-three years as a reporter for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, where she wrote extensively about children's issues. She lives in Palo Alto, California.Gary Stangleris executive director of the Jim Casey Youth Opportunities Initiative and served as director of the Missouri Department of Social Services from 1989 to 2000. He lives in St. Louis, Missouri. Martha Shirk of Palo Alto, California, is an award-winning journalist, formerly with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, who specializes in children's and family issues. Neil G. Bennett is director of demographic research for the National Center for Children in Poverty, Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University. J. Lawrenece Aber is director of the National Center for Children in Poverty, Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University.