Approximately 20,000 of those youth (from U.S. foster care) age-out each year without positive familial supports or any family connection at all. Within 18 months of emancipation 40-50% of foster youth become homeless.
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Just think about any regular 18 year old. I have no idea what the percentage might be but you can be sure that eighteen isn’t some magical number where you all of a sudden become a capable financially independent adult. Most regular kids have some kind of family support system to help them transition into independence or even come back home if need be not to mention the ones that don’t even leave home until later.
So true, wise words. And then, imagine, there is an estimate of 12 million alumni of the system, conservative estimate in my opinion since so many of the severely used and abused disappear from govt services forever. So, think about that number of outcastes and the typical responses of people who say that the poor should pull themselves up by their bootstraps. They don't even have friggin boots!