Chapin Hall

Transition-Age Youth in Foster Care Benefit from Additional Supports in First Months after Leaving Care

The Youth Transitions Partnership (YTP) blends service coordination, intensive case management, and Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) to help transition-age youth in foster care in Alameda County, CA engage with supports and improve their outcomes. YTP was funded by the Children’s Bureau’s Youth At-Risk of Homelessness (YARH) grant program. This brief describes the relationship between placement stability and youth engagement in YTP. Explore all our YTP-related research our research collection page.

What We Did

We used program data linked to child welfare administrative data to examine placement instability among YTP participants. We defined placement instability as any move from one placement to another or any instance of running away. We explored whether placement instability varies by age at enrollment, when placement instability is most likely to occur, whether placement instability is associated with lower overall engagement, whether type of instability matters, and whether engagement is lower after youth experience placement instability. We focused on the 109 youth who first enrolled in YTP between March 1, 2016, and June 30, 2019, and who had a valid Child Welfare Information System (CWIS) ID.

What We Found

• Nearly half the youth who enrolled in YTP experienced placement instability while they were enrolled. However, placement instability was more common among youth who enrolled in YTP at age 17 or older.
• Placement instability was most likely to occur during the first 3 months after youth enrolled.
• First experiences with placement instability after program enrollment did not lead to lower overall engagement. In some cases, youth who experienced instability during this period were even more engaged. However, engagement in both intensive case management (ICM) and DBT was lower during the first 2 months after experiencing placement instability.
• Youth who experienced a step-up or runaway episode were less engaged in ICM or DBT than those who experienced a lateral placement change or a step-down.
• Half the youth whose initial experience with placement instability was a step-up or runaway episode exited the program within the next 2 months. None of the youth whose initial experience with placement instability was a step-down exited the program.

What It Means

Our analyses suggest that youth may benefit from additional supports during the first 6 months after enrollment, when their first experience with placement instability is most likely to occur. They may also benefit from additional supports during the 2 months immediately following their first experience with placement instability, when youth who have run away or stepped up are most likely to leave the program. A better understanding of the relationship between placement instability and program engagement may help improve the implementation of other programs for youth in foster care.

Read the brief