Fostering Change commissioned this research to provide an economic perspective on the challenges and opportunities associated with youth aging out of government care. The three reports consider: (1) current educational, economic, social and wellness outcomes; (2) the costs of those outcomes; and (3) the costs of increased supports in relation to the potential savings and benefits they offer.
This series of reports offers important new insights into the economic consequences and issues for youth aging out of care in British Columbia, Canada.
The findings are very clear. First, youth aging out of government care do not receive the same financial, social and other supports that most young people receive from their parents. Second, educational, economic, social and wellness outcomes are poor for many youth aging out of government care. Third, the immediate and long-term costs of these adverse outcomes are very high — hundreds of millions of dollars every year. Last, the cost of increased supports is small relative to the potential savings and benefits to youth from care, and to society as a whole.
The adverse educational, economic, social and wellness outcomes for youth aging out of care identified in the first phase of this Fostering Change Economic Analysis Project impose significant costs for the youth themselves, government (taxpayers), and society as a whole. The purpose of this second phase report is to describe and, to the extent possible, provide estimates of the magnitude of these costs.
