Foster Care Trajectories and High School Graduation

This report builds upon previous CIDI research, which documented significant gains in high school graduation rates among high school students experiencing foster care in New York City. The current report will further analyze individual students’ foster care trajectories and the association with educational outcomes.

Findings

Graduation rates for students in foster care during high school vary greatly by foster care trajectory (timing, order, and duration of foster care type and discharge from care).

Clusters with the highest graduation rates: Kinship Care Later in High School (78.9%), Adoption after Kinship Care or Foster Home (69.7%), and Kinship Care to KinGAP (67.6%)
Students with the lowest graduation rates: Residential Care with Reunification with Family of Origin (11.3%) and Foster Home with Discharge to APPLA (7.3%)

Trajectories that included kinship care, KinGAP, or adoption had highest graduation rates, despite high rates of students with disabilities and low 8th grade proficiency.

Impacts

Cross-agency response is needed for students in the Residential Care with Reunification to Family of Origin cluster, who had high rates of disabilities and chronic absenteeism and may need therapeutic supports after reunification. It is also needed for students in the Foster Home with Discharge to APPLA cluster, who had the lowest graduation rates and highest rates of chronic absenteeism.

Key Policy Implications are to continue and/or scale:

Prioritize kinship placements
Support KinGAP access and efficiency
Strengthen residential-to-family pathways with educational advocates
Enhance post-reunification support such as coaching, mental health services, and educational interventions for longer than 12 months post-reunification
Provide coordinated housing, education, and employment plans for APPLA youth
Enhance collaboration between foster care system and schools

Documents and Links

Download the Report

Partners

Funded by the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation