Resources & Briefs: Foster Care

Preventing Pregnancy Among Youth in Foster Care:
Remarks for a Congressional Roundtable with Senator Mary Landrieu
July 16, 2009
Download the remarks

Preventing Teen Pregnancy and Promoting Healthy Relationships Among Youth in Foster Care - A Capitol Hill Briefing
July 16, 2009
The National Campaign, Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA), the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute (CCAI), and the National Foster Care Coalition (NFCC) today announced the formation of a new working group on teen pregnancy and foster care. The group will provide recommendations to the Obama Administration and Congress on common sense solutions to help reduce the disproportionately high teen pregnancy rate among youth in and aging out of foster care. The announcement was made at an event on Capitol Hill moderated by Senator Mary Landrieu (D-LA). She was joined by Congressmen Michael Castle (R-DE), Jim Cooper (D-TN), Joseph Crowley (D-NY), and Danny Davis (D-IL). 
Download the invitation
Read the press release
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Briefly: Opportunities to Help Youth in Foster Care
The Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008 was the most comprehensive child welfare reform law in more than a decade.  This brief makes recommendations for how federal, state, and local governments can use provisions in this Act to help young people in and transitioning out of foster care to get the education and health services they need to avoid teen pregnancy.
Download Briefly: Opportunities to Help Youth in Foster Care: Addressing Pregnancy Prevention in the
Implementation of the Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008

Briefly - Policy Brief: Preventing Pregnancy Among Youth in Foster Care
Early pregnancy and parenthood is closely linked to a host of other critical issues, including poverty and income disparity, educational attainment, and overall child well-being. Teen pregnancy is also directly related to entry into foster care; which has serious consequences for the child welfare system. Teens in foster care—many of whom suff ered abuse and neglect before leaving their homes—are at increased risk for getting pregnant and becoming parents than other teens.
Download Briefly - Policy Brief: Preventing Pregnancy Among Youth in Foster Care

Science Says #27: Issue Brief: Foster Care Youth  
This Science Says research brief presents data on pregnancy and birth rates, sexual behavior, and the use of reproductive health services among youth in foster care. In particular, two issues are addressed: (1) how foster care youth compare to youth more generally on these measures, and (2) how older adolescents who remain in foster care fare compared with those who “age out” of the foster care system. (State policies determine whether or not youth remain in foster care beyond age 18.
Each year approximately 20,000 adolescents in the foster care system begin living independently.)
Download Science Says #27: Issue Brief: Foster Care Youth