Beginning this fall, the Health and Human Services Administration will begin requiring that states begin surveying young people in the child welfare systems regarding their Transition Outcomes under the NYTD survey process. The federal government, a number of foundations, and the states have worked for several years to develop a set of outcomes, survey questions, and suggested practices for evaluating how young people do in their transitions from child welfare systems to young adulthood.  The surveys of 17 year olds are to begin this fall, and the same youth will be surveyed at 19 and, 21. If states fail to participate in this process, they will lose 5% of their Chafee Program funds for transitioning youth.

There are a number of challenges in completing this process.  It is complicated, expensive, and the data standards are rigorous.  In some states, the expense of the survey will likely be close to the 5% savings achieved by completing it.  It also represents a five year commitment to track some very difficult people to track. For these reasons, and a number of others, some states are deciding not to complete the outcomes survey process.

However, during this recession, a number of states have made serious to drastic cutbacks on the funding for youth in transition.  In a number of states, I am hearing that states are returning to discharging eighteen year olds from the system to homelessness.  Most notably, California has been in the news recently over the cuts made in that state.  A prominent Governor stated in a speech I attended that his state took responsibility for the children in the Child Welfare system in his state until eighteen, in spite of federal law very specifically spelling out additional requirements.

For that reason alone, we should urge our states to participate in the National Youth Transition Database surveys.  States take on the role of parent when they remove young people from their biological families.  They assume an inherent responsibility to, not just keep young people safe until eighteen, but to develop capable adults and make serious efforts to transition them successfully to financial self sufficiency.  This survey process will measure how states are doing in that process.

Any family in this economy who decided that they were done being parents at eighteen, regardless of their children's abilities to survive on their own would be considered negligent by most their peers.  The recent change in the insurance reform bill to continue insurance coverage until age 27 recognizes that young people aren't ready to be self sufficient until well into their 20s, even when from intact families.  The evaluation process beginning this fall will allow us, as citizens to see how our states are doing as parents to the children for whom they have assumed responsibility.  This type of transparency is critical for the long term "welfare" of our young people in care.  Organizations which have removed children for neglect and abuse should not be allowed to neglect those same children as they age out of care, and we, as citizens should know if that is happening.  If you agree, please contact your state and ask it's intention in participating in the NYTD process.