Foster Care & Extended Foster Care

Summer 2024 Edition: On the Threshold of Change Updates for Extended Foster Care

We are writing to update you on news related to On the Threshold of Change: Forces that Could Transform Future Conditions for Youth in Extended Foster Care by the year 2035. We appreciate your partnership in our efforts to redesign our extended foster care systems into ones that truly prepare young people to be future ready, are co-designed with young people and are built to prepare young people for a rapidly changing world where they can thrive.

We wanted to share more news of legislation and advocacy that is moving us closer to a transformed extended foster care system. Below are a few examples of seeds of change that we as advocates can push further and use to uplift the urgent need for change.

Washington State’s New Law

Now that Washington’s new extended care law is in effect–SB 5908– we wanted to highlight a key element of the law that is likely to be transformative. For states to receive federal TItle IV-E reimbursement for extended foster care, young people must be going to school, working, engaged in programming or not able to meet these requirements due to a disability. While being engaged in these activities is a reasonable goal for young people, these criteria are often used in a punitive fashion and can result in youth not engaging in extended foster care or being pushed out when they need support.

Washington state’s new law recalibrates things in a way that is youth-centered and responsive to learnings of adolescent development. Young people do not need to meet these criteria to be eligible for extended foster care. Instead, they must engage in planning and work with their team to set and meet individual goals. In most cases, these goals will involve school and work, but shifting them to the case planning arena removes the punitive nature of the eligibility criteria and puts the onus on the system in partnership with the young person to achieve goals.

This partnership is akin to how parents and caregivers navigate and support their transition aged children. Importantly, the removal of these eligibility criteria provide young people an element of security and stability that is often missing from their lives. The new law also incentivizes the agency to provide support to ensure youth will meet those federal criteria and that the agency can request federal reimbursement.

Updates on the Foster Youth to Independence (FYI) Program

Foster Youth to Independence Vouchers (FYI) are Housing Choice Vouchers–formerly referred to as Section 8 vouchers– that can be provided to young people with experience in foster care when they are age 18 or older – and can last up to five years. On Friday, July 26, HUD announced it “awarded $3.4 million to 38 Public Housing Agencies (PHAs) for 257 vouchers and administrative fees to provide housing assistance to young adults who left foster care or are transitioning out of foster care and are experiencing, or at risk of experiencing homelessness” through the FYI Initiative.

The FYI program was created in response to the advocacy of young people with experience in foster care. ACTION Ohio, a youth-led organization, and the National Center for Housing and Child Welfare, partnered with young people to develop the proposal that became the FYI program in 2019 and was made federal law in 2020.

Among the innovations proposed by young people, and which are now more of a reality as a result of the July 26 announcement from HUD, was the “on demand” voucher distribution mechanism to allow Public Housing Authorities to request FYI vouchers as they are needed and distribute them to young people in a responsive way.

HUD and Congress have continued to expand and invest in the program. Nevertheless, most states are not maximizing these vouchers. A recent investigation by ProPublica uncovered that, despite the great need for affordable housing for youth leaving foster care in Georgia, FYI vouchers were not being used in large numbers. The frustration of advocates is clear. An advocate in Georgia stated it well: “To have housing vouchers for youth aging out of care — that is an incredible opportunity for all of us to come together and figure this out.”

Maximizing FYI vouchers brings us closer to providing guaranteed housing for youth as they transition to adulthood. Ensuring safe and affordable housing that young people can rely on provides stability of place, but also allows them time and space to devote to meeting their goals related to education, employment, family and healing. States that maximize FYI vouchers and work to create a bridge to affordable housing after the five years of the voucher are taking steps to provide housing as a guarantee to youth as they transition to adulthood.

New Homes for Young Adults Act Introduced by Congress

On June 12th, New Jersey’s Representative Bonnie Watson Coleman introduced the Homes for Young Adults Act, HR 8722 in Congress. The bill is co-sponsored by Representatives Barbara Lee (CA), Henry “Hank” Johnson (GA), Bennie G. Thompson (MS), André Carson (IN), Delia Ramirez (IL), Stacey Plaskett (US VI), Kweisi Mfume (MD) and Jonathan Jackson (IL). This bill would create an entitlement to a Housing Choice Voucher for any young adult (18-30) who is eligible for a voucher. The bill removes multiple administrative barriers to accessing vouchers, provides access to support services and provides incentives to Housing Authorities who are able to achieve positive outcomes related to employment and other indicators.

Representative Watson Coleman said “nobody should be forced to suffer the trauma of homelessness or the tumult of unstable housing, least of all our young people. This bill marks the first step towards closing the gap between housing assistance eligibility and access.” While this partisan bill is at its initial stage, having the goal of guaranteed housing proposed for transition aged youth in a federal bill is an important marker.

Extended Foster Care and Health Insurance

An early signal of transformation in the treatment of transition aged youth with experience in foster care was present in the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Paralleling the provision that allowed young people to stay on their parents’ health insurance until age 26, the ACA created a new Medicaid coverage category for youth who were in foster care at age 18 or older and aged out. Youth are categorically eligible for this coverage no matter their income, which means they can rely on coverage, and not fear losing coverage due to income changes.

Despite this coverage, the process of Medicaid renewal itself can lead to gaps in coverage. Young people are mobile; not responding to mail or returning forms can lead to losing health care insurance. To address this concern, Arizona has applied for a Medicaid Waiver that will allow the state to automatically renew Medicaid coverage for former foster youth until age 26. If the YATI (Young Adult Transitional Insurance) Waiver is approved, youth will stay enrolled in Medicaid from the time they leave foster care until age 26 unless they leave the state, die, or ask to be disenrolled. Implementing a policy like automatic renewal moves us closer to making the guarantee of health insurance a reality by being responsive to the challenges that young people face.

We will keep you updated as we continue to pursue our vision 2035 for extended foster care. In the meantime, we encourage you to share our report and its companion short film (the report can be found here and the film can be found here).