The Facts
The child welfare system is sometimes described as a highway to homelessness. Youth who age out of foster care face significant challenges, with high rates of homelessness, low educational attainment, and overrepresentation of Native children in the system. These vulnerabilities contribute to broader crises, including missing and murdered Indigenous peoples and human trafficking in Native communities.
General Statistics
1 out of every 4 youth in foster care will become homeless within 4 years of aging out of foster care according to National Foster Youth Institute.
1 out of 4
50% of the homeless population has spent time in foster care. 25% of youth who had been in foster care at age 17 and surveyed at age 21 said that they had been homeless at some point in the last two years.
Homeless
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Native children are overrepresented in state foster care at a rate almost three times greater than their proportion in the general population. (1)
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Two of the most dire public safety crises in Indian Country—missing and murdered Indigenous peoples (MMIP) and human trafficking (2)
References (1) & (2) are quotes from Patrice Kunesh, Commissioner of the Administration for Native Americans, and Deputy Assistant Secretary for Native Affairs on Native Americans.
Education Challenges
One study of 17-year-olds in foster care found that their average reading score corresponded to reading at a 7th-grade level.
Reading Scores
20% of youth who were in foster care at 17 and surveyed at age 21 had not earned an educational degree, diploma, certificate or license of any kind, according to the KIDS COUNT® Data Center.