The following is a quantitative study, with a convenience sample of 117 adults, ranging in age from 18-73, to gather information about the public’s perspective towards extended foster care (EFC) and emerging adulthood. Topics varied from when foster youth should emancipate to when emerging adult children should move out of their parents’ homes. There is very little literature regarding the topic of EFC, which could impact the sustainability of this program as its objective is to help emerging adults transition more successfully into adulthood and out of the child welfare system. An online survey was created through Qualtrics with 25 questions. The link to the survey was distributed through text message and the social media website, Facebook. The results showed that the participants appear to believe that foster youth should stop receiving services at the age of 18 and emancipate out of care at the age of 21while also suggesting that emerging adults, not in foster care, should be self-sufficient and moved out of their parents’ home by the age of 23. These views could be due to the lack of awareness of the general population regarding the reality of the impact abuse, neglect, and life in the child welfare system can have on a developing child. Furthermore, the implication for the future of EFC is that foster youth may need continued assistance until the age of 23, perhaps in the form of housing vouchers as opposed to financial assistance.

ABSTRACT This is a qualitative study that was conducted in conjunction with San Bernardino County to explore the experiences of you adults in Extended Foster Care. Extended Foster Care is an extension of foster care services offered from age 18 to 21 as a result of the passing of Assembly Bill 12. This study focuses specifically on the experiences of young adults deemed “successful” based upon their enrollment in school, work status, and overall plans for their future. The data was collected through telephone and face-to-face interviews with young adults currently involved with Extended Foster Care in San Bernardino County. The findings of this study indicated that successful young adults tend to demonstrate some level of resiliency and have an overall positive outlook, are self-motivated, have better relationships with their social workers, an overall good understanding of the program and services offered, stable supports, and all participants became involved in EFC immediately following regular foster care. Young adults also expressed a desire for more assistance in gaining work experience. The strengths of this study include the use of open ended questions and triangulation of analyzing data. Limitations of this study include participant self-selection bias and the briefness of the interview that may have not allowed for sufficient time for young adults to reflect intensely on their experiences. Recommendations for future social work policy, practice, and research based on the findings of this study include extending foster care services beyond age twenty-one, the importance of social workers roles in young adult clients’ lives, and the need for continued, more intensive research.

There has been extensive, mostly negative research on the outcomes of foster care youth. Due to the abundance of this research, Extended Foster Care (EFC) was created to help to provide additional resources and support to young adults in foster care until age 21. This is a fairly new program, therefore little research has been completed. One of the negative outcomes of foster youth is the high pregnancy and parenting rates. The purpose of this study is to be able to understand the knowledge and use of family planning services among the young adults participating in EFC. Understanding this information will help to improve services provided by the social workers who work with this population. This research used a quantitative questionnaire. The questionnaire was mailed to the young adults participating in EFC in San Bernardino County. A statistical analysis was completed using SPSS version 21. The study’s findings showed that on average, EFC participants have a good understanding of safe-sex practices but do not usually use safe-sex methods or go to family planning service organizations. The study also found that participant demographics do not have a correlation to their knowledge or use of family planning services, nor to the number of pregnancies or live births. However, there is a negative correlation between a participant's knowledge score and if they have children in their custody. Finally, 47% of participants reported being informed about family planning service organizations by their Social Worker.

The purpose of this study is to determine the effectiveness of the Extended Foster Care (EFC) Program in meeting the needs of emancipating foster youth by assisting them in becoming self-sufficient prior to emancipating out of the foster care system. The research method used for this study was a quantitative study design, using secondary data obtained from the County of San Bernardino, to assess the level of independent living skills foster youth obtain while participating in the program. The information was gathered on youth who were currently participating in the extended foster care program. The results of this study were inconclusive. Although the data showed that youth in the EFC program did seem better prepared to emancipate than those compare to previous research studies, the data sample was small, and more research is needed to determine if Extended Foster care is indeed effective.

Currently, there are thousands of foster youth in the child welfare system. When they reach the age of 18, some of these youth emancipate from the system, while some of them participate in extended foster care. The extended foster care system was implemented to support and provide services to young adults passed the age of 18, to provide them a couple more years to obtain stability in their lives. In order to participate in extended foster care, they have to meet a few requirements, and sometimes this is the minimum level of commitment and effort they contribute. These requirements include: school enrollment, employment working at least 80 hours per month, enrollment in a program for employment readiness or a documented medical condition that hinders the youth from any of the above. These young adults in extended foster care do not always have positive experiences and positive results. This study was conducted to explore this topic. This was an explorative study which conducted a qualitative analysis of interviews of young adults in extended foster care. These interviews were analyzed by using the Constant Comparative Analysis approach. The results provided a glimpse into the experiences of these young adults. Overall, their experiences are positive, but there is a need expressed by these youth, that more services and support would be helpful and in turn could produce more successful results for the extended foster care program, as a whole. Future research can build upon this study, by using a larger sample size, using a mixed methodology, and using a consistent interview method, to explore areas of concern in order to be able to generalize the results to all youth and extended foster care programs across the state of California.

This study examines whether participation in Extended Foster Care (EFC) or the Aftercare Program increase perceptions of independence in former and current foster dependents ages eighteen and older. Foster youth have historically experienced worse outcomes than the general population after reaching age 18. This study surveyed 72 young adults, 36 were in Extended Foster Care (EFC) and 36 were in the Aftercare Program in San Bernardino County. The areas examined were demographics, health care, employment, transportation, education, housing, mental health, pregnancy/parenting status, social support, services received in Independent Living Program (ILP), EFC, and/or the Aftercare Program and the young adults’ perception of the helpfulness of the programs, from whom they received information about these services, duration of participation in services, as well as, their confidence in their independence skills. The study found that overall young adults felt prepared for independence and they agreed that EFC or the Aftercare Program contributed to their feelings. The study also found that their outcomes in the aforementioned areas were more positive than previous research indicates. These findings were evaluated through quantitative data analysis of a questionnaire. The significance of this study is that it will determine the programs’ abilities to fit the needs of foster youth in overcoming their obstacles to independence. The implications for social work practice, policy and research are discussed.

This study explored the perceptions of former foster youth as a means to analyze the factors that contribute to the positive and negative outcomes of foster youth once aging out of the foster care system. Ten former foster youth were identified for the purposes of understanding how prepared foster youth feel towards aging out and transitioning into adulthood. The study utilized qualitative interviewing for data collection in efforts to gather the information about the experiences of each foster youth. Participants were recruited through San Bernardino County Children and Family Services Extended Foster Care (EFC) unit, as well as the local college- California State University, San Bernardino. Interviews were held for twenty to forty five minutes. Ten participants of various diverse backgrounds provided information about their perceptions and experiences within the foster care system and what factors contributed to how prepared they felt towards exiting the foster care system. All participants were either former or current foster youth between the ages of eighteen years old and thirty-three years old. The sample was comprised of six females, and four males. On average, participants spent 8.87 years in foster care. The total number of placements ranged from one to ten placements. The average number of placements was 4.13. With more foster youth aging out of the system rather than ever reunifying with biological families or gaining permanent placements, researchers explored what factors could enhance the future of foster youth who are increasingly aging out of the foster care system. These four factors were examined for the purpose of exploring the experiences of foster youth’s in regards to: access to effective mental health treatment, educational attainment, independent living programs, and social support from a variety of entities. Researchers presumed that access to these four factors might contribute to the outcome rates of foster youth who have recently and previously aged out of the foster care system. Throughout the interviews questions surrounding these four factors were discussed to examine the perceptions of each of former foster youth. This study’s findings revealed social support as the most influential factor that contributed to how prepared former foster youth felt towards aging out of the foster care system. Although all of the participants identified support amongst their friends throughout their experiences, participants identified social support from caregivers and social workers as the most needed during their experiences within the child welfare system. Most of the participants identified mental health treatment as the least helpful factor during their experience within the foster care system. Many of the participants expressed feeling uncomfortable receiving therapy from professionals they considered strangers, and preferred for support in the form of social workers, caregivers, friends, and individuals who could identify with their experiences. This study’s findings are important to understanding what factors contribute to how prepared foster youth are once aging out of the foster care system. If professionals can identify the factors that contribute to the outcomes rates of foster youth, professionals can then hopefully increase their level of competency to help these foster youth navigate through the foster care system and age out successfully.

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