Download or read book The Difficult Transition to Adulthood for Foster Youth in the US written by Mark E. Courtney and published by . This book was released on 2009 with total page 19 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Although they make up a relatively small proportion of all children in the U.S. foster care system, foster youth approaching adulthood have over the years attracted considerable attention from policymakers. Three times in the past 25 years the Social Security Act has been amended to try to better support the transition to adulthood for foster youth. The new Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act represents a fundamental shift away from the goal of preparing foster youth to be independent of state assistance by the age of majority towards an active engagement by government in parenting foster youth into adulthood. This policy shift reflects an evolving understanding of normative transitions to adulthood and growing knowledge of the particular challenges faced by foster youth in transition. In this report, I briefly describe the U.S. child welfare system, summarize research on the transition to adulthood for foster youth showing that they generally face a very difficult transition, and examine the evolution of U.S. policy towards foster youth using the concept of 'corporate parenting.'"--Author abstract, edited.