There are a multitude of issues that are facing the youth we support. If you’ve ever wondered what these youth are up against or why we do what we do, this page has your answers.
In the greater Omaha area (Douglas, Sarpy, and Pottawattamie counties), there are over 500 teens in foster care.1,2
Foster kids don’t get a lot of stability. On average, they have experienced 5 caseworkers, 4 different homes, and have been in the system for nearly 2 years.1
About 36% of youth who age out of foster care will experience homelessness by the time they’re 26.3 22% of former foster youth will become homeless within their first year of leaving foster care.4
When youth experience homelessness, their chances of attending college or even holding a stable full-time job plummet.5
There are other challenges foster youth face as well. Only 50% of youth who age out of foster care will graduate high school, and less than 5% will earn a college degree.6
Former foster youth also have more difficulty finding and holding onto work than the general population.7
Making a real difference
The challenges that these youth face are steep, but there is hope. Research has shown that programs like the one we are launching through Project Fusion can drive positive outcomes, improving these youths odds for success.
Programs like ours, which promote education, employment, life skills training, health education, case management, and mentoring have been able to improve youth outcomes.8
Additionally, long-term programming for youth has been shown to improve the chances of success for youth in the areas of health, financial well-being, and education.9
There are a lot of problems facing the youth we support, but step by step, we’re making a positive impact in their lives.
- https://fcro.nebraska.gov/data_dashboards.html
- https://www.iowadatacenter.org/index.php/data-by-source/state-agencies/number-children-foster-care
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3969135/
- https://www.casey.org/media/AlumniStudy_US_Report_Full.pdf
- https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/15548732.2017.1347551
- https://nfyi.org/issues/higher-education
- https://static1.squarespace.com/static/584e336fe3df28e18000d637/t/610073492486e54ca010bcab/1627419466236/1-s2.0-S0190740913003800-main.pdf
- https://youth.gov/youth-topics/runaway-and-homeless-youth/child-welfare-system
- https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12889-022-13016-z