Older Youth Nearing Their Exit from Congregate Care: Current Innovative Programs

The present paper reviews literature on older youth in foster care with a focus on those older youths in residential. We aim to examine what has been written in the scholarly literature about this specific group. Literature was reviewed from the last decade on the problems these youths face and potential solutions for them in the program literature. A literature review was done utilizing keywords. Further, this paper presents highlights from two informational interviews with residential agencies. Here we aim to describe what the Executive Directors and staff members believe older youths need, how they work with them and the important components of a residential facility for older youth. Findings uncovered that both agencies highlighted the importance of pro-social attachments, or caring relationships, along with education and safety. Also, the critical importance of preparing youths enough so that when they leave residential they will have reduced the gap between their skills and others their age, so as to be able to compete in society for jobs and further education. Limitations include lack of generalizability, among others.