Abstract
Background
The Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008 created the option for U.S. states to extend the foster care age limit up to the 21 st birthday. The law provides foster youth extra protections while they transition to adulthood.
Objective
To inform states’ efforts to better design and implement extended foster care (EFC), we examine the impact of the policy change on length of EFC stay and factors associated with youth’s time in EFC.
Participants and setting
We use two samples of foster youth in California that extended the foster care age limit to 21 in 2012: 37,827 youths who turned 18 between the years 2008 and 2014 and 711 youths who participated in an interview-based panel study.
Methods
Leveraging California’s child welfare administrative data and California Youth Transitions to Adulthood Study's (CalYOUTH) survey data, we investigated predictors of months youths remained in EFC with linear regression and Cox proportional hazard regression.
Results
Almost half of youth eligible for EFC remained in care until their 21 st birthday. These cohorts stayed in foster care up to 16 months longer (p < .001) than previous cohorts without an EFC option. Multiple individual factors were associated with youths’ length of stay in EFC. However, a youth’s county of placement made a greater difference on their time in EFC—up to 16 months (p < .05).
Conclusions
Our findings underscore the importance that placement location has on how long youth remain in EFC, and expands our understanding of how county and state context shape EFC participation.