FOSTER YOUTH

There are well over 11,000 children in the Oregon foster care system every year, many of them considered to be the most vulnerable population of youth, often the victims of child abuse and neglect. In 2015 in Oregon, there were 11,430 youth recorded in the foster care system with 59% of them considered Priority Youth, those ages 6-15 at risk of disengaging from school.

Policy Brief

Foster Youth Policy Brief (pdf)
Foster Youth Position Paper (pdf)

Resources

Child Welfare’s data book for 2015 that covers information regarding Child Protective Services, Family Services, Foster Care, and Adoption and Guardianship Program.

A report from A Family For Every Child that offers a clear calculation of the societal and financial costs incurred when children languish in foster care.

Discusses the benefits of afterschool programs on a range of youth through a number of articles.

Successes and challenges that states are having supporting foster youth transition into adulthood.

Virginia’s analysis of the cost of foster care and their return on investment for their “Great Expectations” Initiative, which is an initiative to help foster youth develop skills and complete training to become more functional adults living and working in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

DHS Data reporting. An interactive system that allows you to compare variables within groups as recent as 2015 going back a decade.