Fostering a Gentler Flight from the Nest: Effects of Foster Care Reform on Labor Market Outcomes

• In Event: Outcomes Across the Life Course of Youth affected by Foster Care and Adoption

Abstract

Prior to the introduction of extended foster care in 2012, four to five thousand children aged out of foster care every year in California at age 18. The California Fostering Connections to Success Act (AB 12), which first took effect on January 1, 2012, extended foster care eligibility from up to age 18 to up to age 21 gradually over the course of three years. Using an instrumented difference-in-differences design, I estimate the causal effects of AB 12 on college enrollment and earnings for the first youth affected by extended foster care. I find that each additional year of extended foster care increases the likelihood that youth enroll in any college by three percentage points (6% of the mean) and increases earnings at 24 through 26 by 4.6%. These effects are largely driven by improved outcomes for the most vulnerable youth in foster care. Within the context of foster care, non-Hispanic white men are more likely to have characteristics that indicate high vulnerability, with correspondingly larger treatment effects. Further work is needed, however, to delineate the mechanisms behind the effects found and to design optimal foster care policy to maximally benefit all youth.

Author

• Kate Musen, Columbia University
  Presenting Author