IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/cysrev/v115y2020ics0190740919314793.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Making the transition: How asset building services can promote positive adult outcomes for foster youth

Author

Listed:
  • Nadon, Melanie L.

Abstract

Foster youth in the U.S. often face a multitude of adverse outcomes, including low educational attainment, elevated rates of adult poverty, and disproportionately high levels of adult homelessness. One newer area of social policy research and advocacy, asset building, may help explain some of these disparities. Foster youth face several barriers to asset building. For example, many youth have several placements during their stay in care, resulting in youth receiving inconsistent schooling, mentoring, and support, and facing limited opportunities to work, save money, or build academic and professional networks. This paper examines the frequency with which transition-age foster youth receive asset building services and whether the youth who receive services experience improved outcomes compared to those who do not. Analyzing data from the National Youth in Transition Database and using a Propensity Score Matching methodology, this study finds that youth receiving Budgeting and Financial Education Services and Post-Secondary Education Services experience significantly improved outcomes, including reduced likelihood of homelessness and increased likelihood of employment and educational enrollment. However, only 29% of youth receive Budgeting and Financial Education Services, and only 19% of youth receive Post-Secondary Education Services. Service receipt also covaries with demographics, including race/ethnicity and education level. These findings have noteworthy implications for both policy and practice as asset building for foster youth is a potentially promising realm for public service expansion.

Suggested Citation

  • Nadon, Melanie L., 2020. "Making the transition: How asset building services can promote positive adult outcomes for foster youth," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 115(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:cysrev:v:115:y:2020:i:c:s0190740919314793
    DOI: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2020.105083
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0190740919314793
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.childyouth.2020.105083?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Pecora, Peter J. & Kessler, Ronald C. & O'Brien, Kirk & White, Catherine Roller & Williams, Jason & Hiripi, Eva & English, Diana & White, James & Herrick, Mary Anne, 2006. "Educational and employment outcomes of adults formerly placed in foster care: Results from the Northwest Foster Care Alumni Study," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 28(12), pages 1459-1481, December.
    2. Watt, Toni & Kim, Seoyoun, 2019. "Race/ethnicity and foster youth outcomes: An examination of disproportionality using the national youth in transition database," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 251-258.
    3. M. Robin Dion, "undated". "A Framework for Advancing the Well-Being and Self-Sufficiency of At-Risk Youth," Mathematica Policy Research Reports ac3dba1a70bb45eba8d8715c2, Mathematica Policy Research.
    4. Salazar, Amy M. & Jones, Kevin R. & Amemiya, Jamie & Cherry, Adrian & Brown, Eric C. & Catalano, Richard F. & Monahan, Kathryn C., 2018. "Defining and achieving permanency among older youth in foster care," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 9-16.
    5. Dworsky, Amy, 2005. "The economic self-sufficiency of Wisconsin's former foster youth," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 27(10), pages 1085-1118, October.
    6. repec:mpr:mprres:7720 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Mihalo, Jennifer R. & Strickler, Amy & Triplett, Dawn R. & Trunzo, Annette C., 2016. "Treatment foster parent satisfaction: Survey validation and predictors of satisfaction, retention, and intent to refer," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 105-110.
    8. Day, Angelique & Willis, Tamarie & Vanderwill, Lori & Resko, Stella & Patterson, Debra & Henneman, Kris & Cohick, Sue, 2018. "Key factors and characteristics of successful resource parents who care for older youth: A systematic review of research," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 152-158.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Greeno, Elizabeth J. & Gould-Kabler, Carrie & Bowman, Sara & Strubler, Kevin & Harburger, Deborah S., 2023. "Enhanced-youth transition planning: An innovative practice change with transition-age youth involved with child welfare in a rural setting," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 149(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Schelbe, Lisa, 2018. "Struggles, successes, and setbacks: Youth aging out of child welfare in a subsidized housing program," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 298-308.
    2. Stewart, C. Joy & Kum, Hye-Chung & Barth, Richard P. & Duncan, Dean F., 2014. "Former foster youth: Employment outcomes up to age 30," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 220-229.
    3. Gypen, Laura & Vanderfaeillie, Johan & De Maeyer, Skrallan & Belenger, Laurence & Van Holen, Frank, 2017. "Outcomes of children who grew up in foster care: Systematic-review," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 74-83.
    4. Mersky, Joshua P. & Janczewski, Colleen, 2013. "Adult well-being of foster care alumni: Comparisons to other child welfare recipients and a non-child welfare sample in a high-risk, urban setting," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 35(3), pages 367-376.
    5. Griffiths, Austin & Holderfield-Gaither, Emily & Funge, Simon P. & Warfel, Erin T., 2021. "Satisfaction, willingness, and well-being: Examining the perceptions of a statewide sample of public and private foster parents," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 121(C).
    6. Naccarato, Toni & Brophy, Megan & Courtney, Mark E., 2010. "Employment outcomes of foster youth: The results from the Midwest Evaluation of the Adult Functioning of Foster Youth," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 32(4), pages 551-559, April.
    7. Lindner, Abigail Rose & Hanlon, Ryan, 2024. "Outcomes of youth with foster care experiences based on permanency outcome – Adoption, aging out, long-term foster care, and reunification: A systematic review," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 156(C).
    8. Havlicek, Judy & Lin, Ching-Hsuan & Villalpando, Fabiola, 2016. "Web survey of foster youth advisory boards in the United States," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 109-118.
    9. Colacchio Wesley, Bridget & Pryce, Julia & Barry, Johanna & Hong, Philip Young P., 2020. "Steadfast benevolence: A new framework for understanding important adult-youth relationships for adolescents in care," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 118(C).
    10. Greeson, Johanna K.P. & Thompson, Allison E. & Ali, Samira & Wenger, Rebecca Stern, 2015. "It's good to know that you got somebody that's not going anywhere: Attitudes and beliefs of older youth in foster care about child welfare-based natural mentoring," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 140-149.
    11. Watt, Toni & Lord, Kayli & Bustillos, Sheila & Gavin-Williams, Regina & Greeson, Johanna & Hail, Toni & Hoffman-Cooper, Angela, 2023. "Campus liaisons for students who have experienced foster care: Lessons learned from Texas legislation," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 153(C).
    12. Byrne, Thomas & Stephen, Metraux & Kim, Minseop & Culhane, Dennis P. & Moreno, Manuel & Toros, Halil & Stevens, Max, 2014. "Public assistance receipt among older youth exiting foster care," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 307-316.
    13. Marinescu, Ioana & Tan, Fei & Greeson, Johanna K.P., 2023. "Economic conditions and the number of children in foster care," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).
    14. Harwick, Robin M. & Lindstrom, Lauren & Unruh, Deanne, 2017. "In their own words: Overcoming barriers during the transition to adulthood for youth with disabilities who experienced foster care," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 338-346.
    15. Refaeli, Tehila, 2017. "Narratives of care leavers: What promotes resilience in transitions to independent lives?," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 1-9.
    16. Williams, Kimberly A. & Lewis, Ericka M. & Feely, Megan, 2023. "Stay just a little bit longer: A scoping review of foster parent engagement in the U.S," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 146(C).
    17. Narendorf, Sarah C. & Brydon, Daphne M. & Santa Maria, Diane & Bender, Kimberly & Ferguson, Kristin M. & Hsu, Hsun-Ta & Barman-Adhikari, Anamika & Shelton, Jama & Petering, Robin, 2020. "System involvement among young adults experiencing homelessness: Characteristics of four system-involved subgroups and relationship to risk outcomes," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 108(C).
    18. Mountz, Sarah & Capous-Desyllas, Moshoula, 2020. "Exploring the families of origin of LGBTQ former foster youth and their trajectories throughout care," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 109(C).
    19. Havlicek, Judy, 2011. "Lives in motion: A review of former foster youth in the context of their experiences in the child welfare system," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 33(7), pages 1090-1100, July.
    20. Dworsky, Amy & Gitlow, Elissa, 2017. "Employment outcomes of young parents who age out of foster care," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 133-140.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:cysrev:v:115:y:2020:i:c:s0190740919314793. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/childyouth .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.