The Facts

In the United States there are over half a million children in foster care and each year, approximately 25,000 of those children turn 18 and must leave the child welfare system.

• of children leaving foster care, 25-50% experience homelessness, joblessness and will not graduate from high school
• former foster children experience panic attacks at three times the rate of the general population
• former foster children experience drug dependency at over seven times the rate of the general population
• alcohol dependence is twice as likely to occur in a former foster child than in the general population
• young women leaving foster care are more likely to become pregnant and birth a low-weight baby
• young people in America's general population do not live independently until they are between 23 and 26 years old

In a recent nationwide Child Welfare League of America survey, housing was identified as the greatest needed, yet least available, service for youth struggling to transition into adulthood and independence.