State Child Welfare Policy Guide

8.6 Employment Readiness/Assistance

Youth exiting foster care to adulthood often have dismal employment outcomes.  Their employment is often sporadic and seldom provides them with financial security.  Along with their educational deficits and inability to rely on family for meeting basic needs, limited employment contributes to the serious economic hardship experienced by many young adults who transition from foster care to adulthood. [i]   Many youth exiting foster care lack the skills and maturity to be successful in the adult workforce in part because they have not had employment role models while growing up or the employment connections that family can sometimes provide. [ii]   There is some evidence that targeted job training and readiness supports provided by using a multi-system approach may improve individuals’ preparation for employment. 

Five states (California, Illinois, Michigan, New York, and Texas) received federal grants from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration (ETA) and contributed state matching funds to conduct demonstration projects designed to improve outcomes for youth exiting from foster care.  States were required to target the city or county with the largest number of youth in foster care for the projects.  The sites provided job preparation, college preparation, GED/basic education, life skills training, income support and other training and services . Sites varied in their services and activities, which included job-preparation and job-finding activities, transition counseling, internships, individualized job search and career preparation activities, tutoring, life coaching and mentoring.  Although promising practices were developed across sites, outcomes for participants were difficult to measure and were mixed overall.  The data showed that the longer youth received intensive services across multiple service systems, the more likely they were to achieve employment, a GED or diploma, or post-secondary education.  In addition, program participants and evaluators reported that certain components contributed to readiness. [iii]

Policy Options :  States can authorize and fund employment readiness and assistance that feature 1, 2 or 3 of the following:

·       An integrated multi-system wraparound approach to support youth while they acquire employment readiness skills. 

·       Staff specialists who work directly with youth.

·       Long term, intensive services.