Each year the New York City foster care Esystem discharges approximately 650 young people between the ages of 18-21 to live on their own. Instead of being reunited with their families or adopted by another family, as is the case for the vast majority of the 37,000 children and youth living in foster care, these young people are expected to leave foster care and become both financially and emotionally self-supporting.
Citizens’ Committee for Children of New York (CCC) takes a special interest in these young people because they lack the advantages of growing up at home and being supported by their family as young adults. Our society generally accepts the notion that children continue to rely on their families for financial support, a bed to sleep in, a kitchen to eat in, or to lend an ear to as they transition to adulthood. A similar support system, however, is not available for youth aging out of foster care. These young people sometimes leave foster care lacking the means to support themselves and instead rely on public assistance
or the shelter system for support, with no ties to the foster care agency.

Independent living services are offered to foster care youth who are 14 years of age or older and who have a goal of independent living.’ For many of these youth, there is a limited amount of resources and lack of supports in place at the point of discharge, and too many youth leave the foster care system poorly prepared for the respon- sibilities of adulthood. From our perspective, there has not been enough attention focused on the provision of meaningful independent living services and their track record in preparing youth to live on their own successfully and independently, without relying on government resources. Based on the Independent Living Program guidelines established by the New York State Department of Social Services in 1987, local social service districts are required to provide 16 hours of life skills classes annually and vocational training to 2 prepare youth for self-sufficiency. At the point of discharge, youth must have permanent housing and referrals for services that the local foster care provider deems are necessary to live indepen- dently. 3 There are no requirements, however, for educational attainment, ongoing source of income or employability at the point of discharge. Foster care agencies are required to provide supervision for all youth who are discharged to independent st living until their 21 birthday, regardless of whether the young person signed him/herself out of care or if the agency discharged the youth from 4 care before that time. Neither State nor City data is available to track or evaluate the government’s effectiveness for preparing youth to live independently, nor has there been a comprehensive evaluation of the supports in place for youth at the point of discharge. The effectiveness of New York State and New York City’s Independent Living Programs has yet to be measured but we know from national efforts to study independent living programs in the states, that most programs do a poor job of preparing youth 5 to live independently. Recognizing this, Citizens’ Committee for Children undertook a study to determine (1) how the voluntary foster care agen- cies in New York City have interpreted the State and City independent living regulations and implemented programming and services that lead to self-sufficiency for the youth in their care, and (2) whether the State and City regulations are adequate to support strong and productive young adults.

Based on CCC’s findings, we made a series of recommendations, highlights of which are listed below:

• ACS AND VOLUNTARY FOSTER CARE AGENCIES SHOULD USE THE INFORMATION COLLECTED FROM FOSTER CARE AGENCIES TO EVALUATE THE CITY’S INDEPENDENT LIVING PROGRAM.
• FOSTER CARE AGENCIES MUST ENSURE THAT YOUTH WHO SIGN THEMSELVES OUT OF CARE AT AGE I 8 HAVE PERMANENT HOUSING, EMPLOYMENT,HEALTHINSURANCE COVERAGE AND HAVE GRADUATED FROM HIGH SCHOOL.
• THE CORE CURRICULUM OF THE INDEPENDENT LIVING PROGRAM SHOULD BE EXPANDED TO INCLUDE PRACTICAL OPPORTUNITIES TO FIND AND KEEP A JOB, COMMUNITY SERVICE WORK OR AN INTERNSHIP, AND TO USE A BANK ACCOUNT.
• FUNDING SHOULD BE PROVIDED TO STRENGTHEN AFTERCARE AND FOLLOW-UP SERVICES FOR YOUTH DISCHARGED TO INDEPENDENT LIVING.
• ALL YOUTH WITH A GOAL OF INDEPENDENT LIVING SHOULD BE REQUIRED TO HAVE JOB EXPERIENCE AND BE EMPLOYED AT THE POINT OF DISCHARGE.
• ALL YOUTH WHO ARE DISCHARGED TO INDEPENDENT LIVING MUST HA VE A PERMANENT PLACE TO LIVE AT THE POINT OF DISCHARGE.