By Serita Cox, Illustration: Christine Ongjoco, The Imprint, December 2, 2021
On Jan. 1, 2022, we estimate that 3,600 California youth will age out of the foster care system. On a single day. The fact that we — those of us working in the child welfare system, and the state system itself — cannot identify the exact number is itself alarming.
Behind each case number is a human being, a young person who was removed from their biological home for their own safety and put under the protection of the state. On Dec. 31, 2021 the state’s moratorium on aging out due to the COVID-19 pandemic will end, and these vulnerable youth will be forced out of the protection of foster care. They will be on their own, as yet another potential wave of coronavirus and new variant threatens our borders.
We, the California taxpayers, can and should demand the state fulfill our investment in the care and protection provided to these young people. We should not only know the exact number of youth aging out on New Year’s Day, but also what has been done to prepare them to be independent and self-sufficient. We should know the investments made in each and every one of them, and how successful those investments have been.
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