Young adults in the foster care system

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Guests: Anne Marie Ambrose, Margarita Davis-Boyer, Debra Schilling Wolfe

Families who take in older foster children will get a higher per diem from the Philadelphia Department of Human Services. It’s an effort to place young people aged 14 to 21 into stable family homes.  Currently more than half of Pennsylvania teens in foster care system live in group homes or institutions; research shows these young people don’t fare as well as those placed in family homes.  Many of these teens will also age out of foster care and be on their own at the age of 18 without support or guidance.  The outcomes for these young people are startling including high rates of homelessness, pregnancy, and incarceration.  This hour, a conversation about the foster care system focused on older youth and the challenges and rewards for both foster kids and foster families. Guest host Tracey Matisak talks with ANNE MARIE AMBROSE, Commissioner for the Philadelphia Department of Human Services, MARGARITA DAVIS-BOYER, older youth services coordinator for Philadelphia Department of Human Services and former foster child, and DEBRA SCHILLING WOLFE, Executive Director of the Field Center for Children’s Policy, Practice & Research at the University of Pennsylvania.

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