Homelessness Among Foster Care Youth in California: Interventions and Policy Recommendations
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.58445/rars.2185Keywords:
Foster Care Youth, Youth Homelessness Prevention, Transitional Housing Programs, California Child Welfare, Aging Out, Mental Health Services, Educational Support, Policy InterventionsAbstract
California’s struggles with youth homelessness are well-known, especially for foster-care youth who experience unique challenges when finding a secure environment. The focus of this review is on interventions targeting five main risk factors prevalent among foster care youth: aging out of the system, housing instability, familial problems, mental health and substance abuse. This review specifically looked at four interventions: (a) Transitional Housing Program Plus transitional housing programs, specifically the LEASE/Holloway house; (b) the Teaching-Family Model family-based model; (c) Multidimensional Family Therapy, the family based prevention therapy model; and (d) YVLifeSet, a flexible case-management-based program. Overall, the review found that preventative programs that underscore flexible, individual-based and all-encompassing, integrated interventions are most promising for addressing specific foster care needs and preventing risk factors to homelessness. However, there are critical gaps in the implementation and effectiveness of these programs, particularly in providing adequate support for comprehensive solutions that target structural and age-based challenges as well as improving educational outcomes for foster care youth.
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