Public Shelter Admission among Young Adults with Child Welfare Histories by Type of Service and Type of Exit

Abstract

This study examines the prevalence and associated factors of New York City public shelter use among young adults with histories of out-of-home care or nonplacement preventive services as teenagers. The study finds that 19 percent of former child welfare service users entered public shelters within 10 years of exit from child welfare. Persons with out-of-home placement histories are twice as likely to enter public shelters (22 percent) as those who received nonplacement preventive services only (11 percent). Persons exiting child welfare through absconding from child welfare have the highest rate of shelter use, followed by those discharged to independent living. Comments

Difficulties in the Transition to Adulthood: Using Propensity Scoring to Understand What Makes Foster Youth Vulnerable

“…Research suggests that between 12 percent (Courtney et al 2001) and 22 percent (Pecora et al 2003) of former foster youth are homeless for at least one night after emancipation. Researchers in another study estimate that almost 20 percent of former child welfare service users in New York entered the city's public shelters within 10 years of leaving the child welfare system (Park et al 2004). …”

An examination of theory and promising practice for achieving permanency for teens before they age out of foster care

“…Because homelessness is a significant threat to this population (Park, Metraux, Brodbar, & Culhane, 2004) successful reunification with kin prior to exit from care may save these youth from being on the streets. Although family reunification is a core objective during the time children and youth are in care, the process of reunifying with families after leaving care is outside the scope of the child welfare system and often neglected in child welfare case planning.…”

A Retrospective Examination of Child Protection Involvement Among Young Adults Accessing Homelessness Services

“…Homeless adults retrospectively self‐report higher rates of history of maltreatment and foster care placements than the general population (Bassuk et al., ; Winkleby, Rockhill, Jatulis & Fortmann ). Prospectively, between 11% and 46% of maltreated youth who age out of the foster care system go on to experience homelessness during young adulthood (Dworsky, Napolitano & Courtney ; Fowler et al., ; Park, Metraux, Brodbar & Culhane ; White et al., ).…”

“…In an earlier analysis of the same administrative data, Park et al. () prospectively followed youth who had been placed in out‐of‐home foster care or had an in‐home CPS preventive services case to track risk of homeless shelter use in young adulthood. They identified young people who were discharged from the child protection system in New York City after age 16 and tracked entry into public single‐adult or family homeless shelters in the city after leaving care.…”

“…First, the availability of data concerning all reported maltreatment allegations allows us to examine a more complete record of a homeless youth's involvement with child protective services. Previous studies have tended to use more restricted definitions consisting of foster care placements or open in‐home cases (Park et al., , ). In this study, and consistent with trends away from substantiation (Kohl, Jonson‐Reid & Drake ) and research suggesting relatively small differences in outcomes of children with unfounded versus substantiated maltreatment allegations (Putnam‐Hornstein, ), we examined how many homeless youths had been reported to CPS as an alleged victim of maltreatment, regardless of whether the allegation was screened in, substantiated, or a placement in foster care occurred.…”