A new report covering foster care trends among older children in the U.S. shows some improvements but critical achievement gaps remain.

The Baltimore-based Annie E Casey Foundation's report 'Fostering Youth Transitions 2023 showed over the last 15 years, the number of teenagers in foster care has fallen by about half, and fewer young people are placed in institutional settings such as group homes.

Educational attainment was also highlighted with the report, showing 79% of youth in the foster care system earned a high school diploma or GED by the time they aged out of the system at 21, compared to 92% of their peers in the general population.

Many states offer extended foster care for youths between 18 and 21, and the report found better educational outcomes among those who use extended foster care.

Todd Lloyd, senior policy associate for the Annie E. Casey Foundation, said advocates are encouraging states to promote the practice.

"So we really encourage states to consider ways that they can encourage young people to remain in foster care after the age of 18 if they don't have a permanent family," Lloyd explained. "But we've seen nationally that the utilization of extended foster care after the age of 18 is actually very low."

The report data from 2021 showed only 22% of those in foster care on their 18th birthday remained in foster care on their 19th birthday. In Maryland, the number was far higher, with 52% still in foster care at age 19.

Despite the reduction in the overall number of teens in foster care in the U.S., the report found agencies were not better able to deliver services to help with the transition to adulthood to the smaller population. Transition services include educational financial assistance, vocational training, K-12 academic support, as well as mentoring and life skills training.

Lloyd added the report found few teens are receiving the federally funded services for which they are eligible.

"Even though there are fewer young people in foster care, less than half of young people who are eligible will ever receive services to support their transition to adulthood," Lloyd pointed out. "In a given year, less than a quarter who are eligible actually receive any services."

While Maryland saw above average numbers of teens in foster care receiving educational financial assistance and room and board support, critical areas such as vocational training, life skills, mentoring and K-12 academic support all saw percentages participating in the single digits.

The report found the reasons teens enter the foster care system are also changing. In 2006 "behavior problems" were cited in 49% of cases, while in 2021 it was down to 30%. "Neglect" is now the most common reason for placing children in the foster care system, cited in 48% of cases in 2021.

Lloyd contended it suggests with a greater application of state support, more families might be able to stay together.

"The issues of neglect are often related to economic security," Lloyd observed. "The hope is that child welfare agencies can work with families to help them remediate those issues of economic challenge and provide the kind of concrete supports that they need to address those concerns."

A new report re-examines how to measure Connecticut's poverty rates. Some findings show Supplemental Poverty Measure-based rates rose more than 12% in 2022 from nearly 8.5% in 2021.

Child poverty rates grew from 2021 to 2022, though this stems from pandemic relief payments being made available.

Patrick O'Brien, research and policy director with Connecticut Voices for Children, said new data examines how certain benefits impact poverty rates.

"So, in Connecticut in 2022, we saw that the public benefits that lifted the most people out of poverty were Social Security, food assistance programs, and housing subsidies. And we saw that the largest contributors to poverty were medical expenses, federal payroll taxes, and work expenses, he explained.

A state-level Child Tax Credit is one recommendation to improve the state's child poverty rates. It can provide a cash benefit to the poorest families in the state and help offset expenses contributing to high poverty rates. One concern is where the money to finance this credit would come from.

O'Brien added the state can decrease its tax gap, eliminate certain tax expenditures like the film industry tax credit, and increase taxes on higher-earning residents.

But these measures aren't entirely accurate. While the official poverty measure is based on cash income, the Supplemental Poverty Measure has a more accurate threshold of whether a family is in poverty. O'Brien said one interesting thing about the breakdowns of the data is how certain programs interact with poverty rates.

"The federal payroll taxes that are funding Social Security have this dynamic where Social Security is lifting primarily seniors out of poverty in part at the expense of pushing working adults into poverty," he said.

Some 218,000 Connecticut residents were lifted out of poverty by Social Security, though 39,000 were put into poverty by federal payroll taxes. But enacting a state Child Tax Credit would support over 1.3 million people statewide, including close to 207,000 kids living in or near poverty.

Washington voters are deciding on the fate of the state's capital gains tax this election. The tax supports child care and schools.

If passed, Initiative 2109 would repeal a 7% tax on capital gains for assets worth more than $250,000. Supporters of the repeal said capital gains taxes are volatile and it could lead to an income tax down the road.

Wesley Tharpe, senior adviser for state tax policy at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, noted 42 states have capital gains or income taxes and capital gains taxes are one of the most effective tools to balance out tax codes.

"Things like personal income taxes, corporate income taxes, capital gains taxes, those are going to collect a bit more from those at the top," Tharpe explained. "That helps balance out the fact that lower- and middle-income people are contributing a much larger share in things like sale taxes and fees - and to some degree, property taxes as well."

Last year, Washington state's capital gains tax pulled in about $786 million. The first $500 million collected from it goes toward schools, early learning and child care. Money collected beyond it is used for school construction. Washington has historically had one of the most regressive tax systems in the country.

Suzette Espinoza-Cruz, a Washington state lead volunteer for the Save the Children Action Network, said early childhood learning has benefited her niece's child, who was ready on his first day of kindergarten because of the state's Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program. Her niece's other child needed help in school and Espinoza-Cruz emphasized she was able to get help.

"What worries me about Ballot Initiative 2109 is that programs that are supplementing students' learning could be cut if we have less funding available for our pre-K through 12 system," Espinoza-Cruz stressed.

Tharpe pointed out there would be long-term effects from repealing the capital gains tax from investing less in quality education, early learning and child care.

"You're going to wind up down the road with a less competitive workforce, communities that are not as attractive of places to live and work," Tharpe projected. "There really is some significant economic risk to taking away that source of revenue for those public priorities."

Workers responsible for nurturing and educating young children during their most critical years of development struggle with poverty-level wages, in Colorado and every other state, according to a new report.

Senior Researcher and Policy Associate Anna Powell with University of California Berkeley's Center for the Study of Childcare Employment said the median wage nationally for early childhood educators is $13.07 an hour.

"In Colorado that would be $15.06 an hour, so a little bit higher," said Powell. "But these are wages that are typically at or near minimum wage, and lead people to require public assistance in order to make ends meet."

In Louisiana, these educators are paid just $10.60 an hour. The 2024 Early Childhood Workforce Index found that hourly wages do not equal a living wage for a single adult in any state.

Nearly half of childcare workers turn to public assistance programs, including food stamps and Medicaid.

Early childhood educators earn less than 97% of all other occupations. Powell said the data also show serious inequities in wages.

"So, while the overall wages are low, Black and Latino women are earning even less on average," said Powell, "up to $8,000 less a year regardless of their education level."

The study's recommendations include increasing public funding for the early childhood education sector.

The U.S. currently invests just $4,000 per child, per year, compared to $14,000 invested in other wealthy nations.

The pandemic exposed just how essential these educators are to the economy, and Powell said effective use of COVID relief funds shows that solutions are available.

"And many states and localities were experimenting with helping to provide stipends or other creative ways to increase wages," said Powell. "So, all of these are excellent proof points about how we can be making different policy choices."




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