Earlier this month, First Lady Melania Trump "secured a $25 million investment in President Trump’s FY26 budget to provide housing and support for youth transitioning out of foster care. In recognition of the seventh anniversary of Mrs. Trump’s BE BEST initiative, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) allocated funds toward the Agency’s Foster Youth to Independence program (FYI)."
The first lady said that the money will help with "dedicated rental assistance and other supportive services to promote stability and self-sufficiency."
While the money in itself is great, the fact that it was announced by Mrs. Trump and the White House will hopefully shed some light on something that doesn't get talked about enough: the 23,000 or so kids who age out of the foster care system each year.
Turning 18 (or 21 in some states) and transitioning from life as a teenager to an adult is hard enough when you have the support of a traditional family. For kids in foster care, it can be a nightmare. It can also lead to a lifetime of instability.
While various sources report different numbers, none of them are particularly reassuring. Around 20% of these kids become homeless immediately, and about half of all homeless people say they were in the foster care system at some point in their lives. Furthermore, 25% of 21-year-olds who were in foster care at the age of 17 say they had been homeless at some point in the last two years.
But it's not just about finding a place to live. Those who age out of the foster system are more likely to become dependent on substances like drugs and alcohol. A study from the Journal of Adolescent Health "describes youth in care as two times more likely to engage in illicit drug use, five times more likely to be drug-dependent and up to four times more likely to have other substance use disorders."
Approximately 70% of girls who age out of the foster care system will end up pregnant before they're 21. Boys are more likely to get a woman pregnant before age 21.
Many of them end up in jail. A survey of 21-year-olds who were in foster care when they turned 18 suggests that 16% of them had been incarcerated within the last two years. In 2016, 18% of all people in state prisons and 9% of all people in federal prisons had been in foster care at some point in their lives. That data may be a little old, but it's still indicative of the bigger problem.
Foster kids in their late teens are less likely to get the same education as their peers do. About half will get a high school diploma or GED, and less than 3% will earn any type of degree. As you can imagine, that leads to difficulties becoming and staying employed. By age 21, only about 56% of young people who aged out of the system have full or even part-time jobs. Those who do do not make a living wage. By age 24, only half will have gainful employment.
And while those numbers are all troubling, here's the one that bothered me the most: girls who age out of the foster care system are 80% more likely to become involved in sex trafficking. Foster care is also often called the "pipeline to prostitution." Around 60% of youth involved in sex trafficking have a history that includes the foster care system.
I could keep throwing numbers out at you, but you get the idea. Young people who age out of the system are very rarely set up for success and need more support. I certainly don't know what the answer is, but I'm glad they have an ally in the White House.
It doesn't get much media coverage — shocking, I know — but Mrs. Trump has been an advocate for foster children for years. One of her BE BEST initiatives is Fostering the Future, which provides scholarships for foster youth. As a matter of fact, when Donald Trump addressed a joint session of Congress earlier this year, one of Mrs. Trump's guests was Haley Ferguson, a former foster student who is now an early childhood education major at Middle Tennessee State University, thanks to the first lady's efforts.
With any luck, over the next four years, Mrs. Trump will continue shining a light on this issue and help these young people find the support they deserve.
The mainstream media will never cover the first lady in a positive light, but you can always count on that here at PJ Media. I'm a big fan of Mrs. Trump, and I will do what I can to make sure our readers know what she's up to, especially when it comes to important matters like this.
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