Skip to main content
Unpublished Paper
Young Adult Outcomes of Youth Exiting Dependent or Delinquent Care in Los Angeles County
(2011)
  • Dennis P Culhane, University of Pennsylvania
  • Thomas Byrne, University of Pennsylvania
  • Stephen Metraux, University of the Sciences in Philadelphia
  • Manuel Moreno
  • Halil Toros
  • Max Stevens
Abstract

This report investigates the young adult outcomes of youth who age-out of or otherwise exit Los Angeles County’s child welfare supervised foster care system and/or juvenile probation system. Two cohorts of young adults from both systems were selected for analysis. Within the two cohorts, this study focuses on three groups of youth exiters: (i) The child welfare (CW) group is comprised of youth who exited from a child welfare out-of-home placement between the ages of 16 and 21; (ii) the juvenile probation (JP) group is made up of youth who exited from any type of juvenile probation supervision between the ages of 16 and 21; and (iii) the crossover group is comprised of all youth who exited an out-of-home child welfare placement between the ages of 16 and 21 and who also had a record of nvolvement with the juvenile probation system. The adult outcomes of youth in each of these three groups are analyzed by linking their administrative records from Los Angeles County’s Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) and/or Probation Department with administrative databases from seven County departments providing an array of public services to residents of Los Angeles County, as well as from two California statewide agencies. Results indicate high levels of correctional system and public assistance involvement across the study groups, with particularly high rates of utilization among crossover youth. Patterns of health and behavioral health services use follow a similar pattern. Imputed costs by group and by service sector are reported. Educational attainment and reported income are also documented. Regression analyses examine independent predictors of various outcomes by study group.

Keywords
  • Emancipating youth,
  • foster care,
  • juvenile justice,
  • adult outcomes
Publication Date
November, 2011
Citation Information
Dennis P Culhane, Thomas Byrne, Stephen Metraux, Manuel Moreno, et al.. "Young Adult Outcomes of Youth Exiting Dependent or Delinquent Care in Los Angeles County" (2011)
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/dennis_culhane/113/