Objective:

Youth aging out foster care are at high risk of experiencing adverse outcomes. Federal funded programs have provided independent living services (ILSs) to these youth. This study evaluated the effectiveness of the continuity of ILSs at ages 17–19 in protecting youth aging out foster care from homelessness and incarceration at ages 19–21.

Method:

This study used data on 4,853 foster youth from the National Youth in Transition Database and the Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System. Logistic regression was used to regress two binary outcomes on seven ILS variables and covariates.

Results:

The results suggest that remaining in foster care, continuous receipts of academic support, and financial assistance services at ages 17–19 protected foster youth from experiencing homelessness. Remaining in foster care and continuous receipt of financial assistance services at ages 17–19 protected foster youth from incarceration at ages 19–21. But, surprisingly, continuous receipt of housing education and home management training, and health education and risk prevention training at ages 17–19 were each associated with increased risk of homelessness at ages 19–21. The results also showed statistically significant effects of several covariates.

Conclusion:

Implications are provided based on the importance of financial assistance and academic support services.

中文翻译：

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独立生活服务是否可以保护年老的寄养青少年免受不良后果的影响？使用国家数据的评估

客观的：

因寄养而老龄化的青年面临不良后果的风险很高。联邦资助的项目为这些年轻人提供了独立生活服务 (ILS)。本研究评估了 17-19 岁 ILS 的连续性在保护 19-21 岁的无家可归者和监禁的年轻人中的有效性。

方法：

这项研究使用了来自全国转型青年数据库和收养与寄养分析和报告系统的 4,853 名寄养青年的数据。逻辑回归用于回归关于七个 ILS 变量和协变量的两个二元结果。

结果：

结果表明，在 17-19 岁时继续接受寄养、持续获得学术支持和经济援助服务可以保护寄养青年免于无家可归。在 17-19 岁时继续接受寄养和持续接受经济援助服务可以保护寄养青年在 19-21 岁时免于监禁。但是，令人惊讶的是，在 17-19 岁时连续接受住房教育和家庭管理培训，以及健康教育和风险预防培训，都与 19-21 岁时无家可归的风险增加有关。结果还显示了几个协变量的统计显着影响。

结论：

根据经济援助和学术支持服务的重要性提供了启示。