JoAnn S. Lee

Distinct Subgroups of Former Foster Youth during Young Adulthood: Implications for Policy and Practice

Social policy concerning foster youth making the transition to adulthood has evolved significantly since the late 1980s (Courtney, 2009). The Independent Living Initiative of 1986 provided states funds for soft services intended to help prepare older adolescents in foster care to live independently by age 18. The Foster Care Independence Act of 1999 increased funding for such services, but recognized the need for continuing support past age 18 by encouraging states to provide the services up to age 21. That law, and its later expansion through the Education and Training Voucher (ETV) program, also expanded the kinds of support states could provide beyond soft services to include housing, health insurance, and direct support for postsecondary education. The Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008 (Fostering Connections Act) fundamentally changed the nature of federal support for young people in state care by extending entitlement funding March 2010

Multiple Jeopardy Poor, Economically Disconnected, and Child Welfare Involved

Although the welfare literature reveals a growing number of parents who are economically disconnected, meaning neither employed nor receiving cash assistance, little is known about the prevalence and impacts of disconnection among child welfare–involved parents. This study took advantage of a statewide survey of child welfare–involved parents to examine economic disconnection in this population and to explore the relationship between disconnection and parent engagement in child welfare. One fifth of the sample reported that they were economically disconnected, with several patterns differentiating disconnected caregivers from those who received benefits or earned income through employment. Disconnected caregivers were younger and more frequently had children in out-of-home placements as opposed to receiving services in home than economically connected caregivers. They also reported higher unmet needs for basic services, such as housing and medical care, but were more likely to report financial help from their informal network. Finally, disconnected caregivers reported lower engagement in child welfare services even when controlling for demographic characteristics, chronic psychosocial risk factors, placement status, and maltreatment type. The findings document economic disconnection among child welfare–involved parents and raise important questions about the implications of disconnection for families and for child welfare outcomes.

An Institutional Framework for the Study of the Transition to Adulthood.

The transition to adulthood has received the attention of scholars, practitioners, and policy makers in recent years. For some, the transition is an extended period during which commitments to adulthood institutions are delayed, termed emerging adulthood. For others, the transition is brief and commitments to adulthood institutions begin without delay, termed accelerated adulthood. Institutions play an important role in accumulating advantages or disadvantages for individuals, influencing the likelihood of an emerging or accelerated adulthood. This article introduces an institutional framework that explores the link between institutional forces and individual outcomes. This article proposes the concept, institutional constellation, which is the specific set of institutions operating in an individual’s life, and their lived experience of/within that institutional constellation. The degree of integration within the institutional constellation and the degree to which the institutional constellation is aligned to dominant social norms influence the resources that will accumulate advantages or disadvantages for an individual.

Pubertal Timing and Adolescent Substance Initiation

We tested 3 competing hypotheses regarding the relation between pubertal timing and substance initiation in adolescence: the early timing, off-time, and stressful change hypotheses. We used longitudinal data from the Developmental Pathways Project (N = 521). Youth reported whether they had ever tried alcohol, tobacco, or marijuana at baseline, and then again at 6-, 12-, 18-, 24-, 36-, and 72-month follow-up interviews. We estimated interval censored parametric survival models and tested interactions between pubertal timing and gender and race variables. We found robust support for the early timing hypothesis, but no support for the off-time and the stressful change hypotheses.

The Intersections of Marginalized Social Identities in the Transition to Adulthood A Demographic Profile

Studies focusing on emerging adulthood suggest that young adults from marginalized populations are more likely to assume adult roles earlier or struggle to assume adult roles altogether, both of which increase the likelihood of a challenging transition to adulthood. Demographic profiles of young adults do not simultaneously consider multiple marginalized identities. This study examines how the transition into key adult statuses differs by the intersections of social statuses. We use data from the American Community Survey 2010 to provide population estimates of rates of young adults, ages 18–35, reaching five key adult role statuses (completing school, joining the labor force, establishing independent homes, marriage, or parenting) by race or immigration status, gender, and poverty status. Our analyses reveal complex patterns in the adoption of adult role statuses. The general trends suggest that nonpoor young adults “become adults” at increasingly higher rates than poor young adults throughout the transition period.

Labeling and the effect of adolescent legal system involvement on adult outcomes for foster youth aging out of care.

This study uses labeling theory to examine the role that adolescent legal system involvement may play in initiating a process of social exclusion, leading to higher levels of adult criminal activities among foster youth who have aged out of care. We used data from the Midwest Evaluation of the Adult Functioning of Former Foster Youth (Midwest Study), a prospective study that sampled 732 youth from Illinois, Iowa, and Wisconsin as they were preparing to leave the foster care system at ages 17 or 18. The youth were interviewed again at ages 19, 21, and 23 or 24. We used structural equation modeling to examine pathways to self-reported adult criminal behaviors from juvenile legal system involvement. The path model indicated that legal system involvement as a juvenile was associated with a lower likelihood of having a high school diploma at age 19, which was associated with a reduced likelihood of employment and increased criminal activities at age 21. Legal system involvement is more common among foster youth aging out of care, and this legal system involvement appears to contribute to a process of social exclusion by excluding former foster youth from conventional opportunities.

Dual-System Families: Cash Assistance Sequences of Households Involved With Child Welfare

Dual-system families, those involved with the child welfare system and receiving public cash assistance, may be more vulnerable than families connected to only one of the two systems. This study advances our understanding of the heterogeneous and dynamic cash-assistance histories of dual-system families in the post–welfare reform era. With merged administrative data from Washington over the period 1998–2009, we use cluster analysis to group month-to-month sequences of cash-assistance use among households over the 37-month period surrounding child removal. Close to two thirds of families who received any assistance either had a short spell with Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) or lost TANF. Smaller percentages had steady support. Families who lose assistance are less likely than average to reunify while those who connect to benefits are more likely, suggesting that coordination between systems may serve dual-system families well.