Title
Authorizing the Committees on Public Health and Human Services and on Children and Youth to hold joint hearings examining current and best practices to ensure youth have a successful transition from foster care to thriving adulthood.
Body
WHEREAS, Foster youth are moving out of foster homes and into homelessness at an alarming frequency. Each year, approximately 20,000 youth in the United States leave foster care without permanent family connections. About 28% of them will experience homelessness, and nearly 40% will experience homelessness and/or housing instability. According to the Pew Research Center, 52% of American youth between 18 and 29 lived with at least one parent as of July 2020 (up from 47% in February). Youth without stable family connections-most youth in the foster care system-do not have the liberty of having stable housing after 18; and
WHEREAS, The COVID-19 pandemic has most negatively impacted young adults aging out of the foster care system. According to a survey published by the Field Center in April, about 25% of foster youth in America had to relocate due to the pandemic, nearly half lost their jobs or had their hours greatly decreased, over half reported that they were food insecure, and over half revealed that they were struggling with depression and anxiety; and
WHEREAS, In Pennsylvania, thousands of youth are leaving the State's care without adequate support. A third (8,639) of the State's foster care population are between ages 14 and 21, generally referred to as "transition age youth". Almost half (49%) of Pennsylvania's transition age youth "age out" of the foster care system without being reunified or connected to a permanent family. By age 21, 37% of them will experience homelessness or unstable housing, and only 44% will have full-time or part-time employment; and
WHEREAS, According to the Annie E. Casey Foundation, 25% of transition age youth have been in two or more placements while in care and 42% have been in three...
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