Numbers of Youth Aging Out Increases

Number of Youth Aging out of Foster Care Continues to Rise;
Increasing 64 percent since 1999

In 2008, 29,000 youth or ten percent of the children exiting the system were emancipated from foster care (this is also referred to as ―aging out‖ of foster care) at the age of 18 or older without a safe, permanent family. In the ten years since the passage of the Adoption and Safe Families Act and the Chafee Foster Care Independence Act of 1999, the number of children who age out of the system has increased steadily, with a nearly 64 percent increase. Since 1999, approximately 228,000 youth have ―aged out of foster care nationally.
Aging Out Increases