CFK reports from: Capitol Hill
Event: Congressional Briefing on Mental Health Services and Former Foster Care Youth
Organized by: The Casey Family Programs, Harvard Medical School and New America Foundation
Where/When: Washington, D.C., April 6, 2005

By Whitney Robie

On April 6, 2005 Harvard Medical School and Casey Family Programs held a Congressional briefing on mental health services and former foster care youth to release the Northwest Foster Care Alumni Study.

Over 542,000 children and youth are in foster care on any given day in the United States. The Northwest Foster Care Alumni Study focused on the long-term effects of foster care on individuals who are now young adults, ages 20-33, in the areas of mental health, education and employment. The study reviewed 659 alumni of foster care, 479 of whom they interviewed.

The study found that within the past 12 months, more than half (54.4%) of study participants reported clinical levels of at least one of the following mental health problems: major depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), social phobia, panic syndrome and drug dependence. Furthermore, one in five alumni had suffered from three or more of these problems. One striking result of the study is that the rate of PTSD among this group of former foster care children is twice as high as U.S. war veterans.

Education is another focus of the Northwest Foster Care Alumni Study. The researchers found that foster care alumni were more likely to receive GED diplomas than to graduate from traditional high schools. While the GED is a useful alternative for some young people who do not thrive in high school, national research has found that GED recipients are less likely to continue their education and receive a college degree than those who earn a high school diploma. Not only is postsecondary education more common among high school graduates, more opportunities and higher pay are also common benefits.

Frequent placement changes, often resulting in school transfers, are among the reasons that children in foster care often struggle to complete high school. Sixty-five percent of the alumni interviewed experienced seven or more placement changes while in care.

Ruth Massinga, President and CEO of Casey Family Programs, said that "These findings are a wake-up call for the nation to make foster care and the well-being of hundreds of thousands of our most vulnerable children a national priority."

Two primary goals for improving the prospects of children in care were emphasized at the briefing:

• Providing permanent families and connections: As Alfred Perez, foster care alumni and researcher for the Northwest study, put it: "The first placement should be the last placement."
• Fostering successful transitions to adulthood: Children in care must receive life skills training, health services and education before they age out of the system.

For more information, refer to the Casey Family Program website:

http://www.casey.org/MediaCenter/PressReleasesAndAnnouncements/NWAlumniStudy.htm [1]

http://www.casey.org/Resources/Publications/NorthwestAlumniStudy.htm [2]