By Sara Tiano, Illustration: Christine Ongjoco, The Imprint, December 7, 2021
As more than 1,000 young adults in Los Angeles are set to age out of foster care on New Year’s Eve, county leaders are scrambling to find them all stable homes.
The youth raised in government care who are set to lose basic needs benefits had been granted a reprieve during the pandemic. They turned 21, but did not have to leave the program known as “extended foster care” that provides housing and other government assistance. That extension ends statewide on Dec. 31, leaving dozens of young people who are in their early 20s and lack family support without a lifeline.
“It is a very scary time for them,” foster youth attorney Lindsay Verity told county supervisors today at a virtual public meeting. “Without stable housing their ability to stay in school or keep a job is almost impossible. Just last week one client said to me, ‘I’m fighting for my life out here.’”
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