Who are Care Leavers?
Care leavers are those children who have left foster care, or who at 18 are no longer provided with foster care or housing as wards of the state. The term is more common in the UK and in Australia, but is beginning to be used in the US. More commonly, kids and young adults considered care leavers in the US are referred to as having “aged out” of the system. In most countries where foster care exists, there is some help for kids who reach 18 and find themselves without homes. Some countries will do their utmost to help provide these kids with financial assistance and housing assistance until they are 21. Yet there are disturbing statistics about care leavers. In the UK, some care leavers decide to live on their own at the ages of 16 years or up. These children have an alarming low rate of high school graduation opposed to their peers who are not in system care. Moreover, in the US, aged out kids are less likely to attend college, to maintain jobs for a year or more, and are more likely
