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The majority of recent research and interventions related to childhood experiences and young adult housing challenges has been focused on the role of foster care involvement. However, we know much less about how a wider range of childhood experiences, such as maltreatment, relate to adult economic and housing outcomes. Informed by the Stress Process Model, the present study uses data from 11,764 individuals from Waves 1, 3, and 4 in-home surveys of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health. Bivariate tests and logistic regressions explored whether a history of foster care involvement, running away before age 18, being kicked out of home, or frequency of incidents of child maltreatment (physical, emotional, or sexual abuse) prior to age 18 are related to housing insecurity in adulthood, measured by inability to pay rent/mortgage, being evicted, or inability to pay utilities in the past 12 months in adulthood (ages 26–32). Multivariate models demonstrated that the higher number of adverse experiences in childhood, the higher the odds of experiencing housing insecurity in adulthood, controlling for demographic and other factors. In the multivariate model testing the relationship of individual types of adverse experiences, only childhood emotional abuse remained significantly related to higher likelihood of housing insecurity in adulthood after controlling for multiple comparisons. Compared with those who experienced no emotional abuse in childhood, those who reported that they experienced emotional abuse more than ten times in their childhood had approximately 39% higher odds (OR = 1.39, p < 0.01) of experiencing housing insecurity in adulthood. The salience of emotional abuse for increased housing insecurity should receive greater attention in both the housing and child welfare sectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this exploratory study, focus group methodology was used to examine the potential influence of policy context on informing transition age youth (TAY) views of self-sufficiency upon aging out of foster care. The authors purposively selected two different policy contexts concerning extended foster care: New York City and Los Angeles County. Compared to New York City, Los Angeles has a relatively newer policy concerning extending the age of foster care benefits to 21. Four focus groups were conducted (2 in each location) with TAY recruited from community-based foster care agencies. The total number of participants (aged 18–22) was 21 (13 in Los Angeles and 8 in New York). In both policy contexts, participants defined self-sufficiency mainly as economic independence and planning for success. However, while Los Angeles TAY emphasized a need to “strive through it,” meaning persevere through self-reliance, New York TAY believed that self-sufficiency could be at least partially achieved by leaning on others, including social services. The findings help to illustrate how varying policy landscapes, including those that are in flux, can shape client understandings of core beliefs related to service utilization and client–provider interactions. Implications for child welfare policy and practice are proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Youth who age out of the foster care system often experience a difficult transition to adulthood in several important domains, including housing. Although high rates of homelessness are well documented, scant research has examined how youth navigate housing and living arrangements in the immediate years following emancipation. In addition, little is known about the relationship between social support and housing stability for this population. In this paper, we argue that in policy and practice regarding emancipated foster youth there is a central tension between the goal of 'self-sufficiency' and the practical need to maintain and create supportive social connections. We suggest that programs for emancipated youth could benefit from more research and policy attention on this tension and how it may play a role in housing outcomes. In building our argument, we first review the literature on housing and emancipated foster youth in the transition to adulthood period. Next, we discuss the body of research literature exploring the role and function of social support for youth who have aged out of care. We highlight how policies appear to favor the development of self-sufficiency for aged-out youth over the development of a social support network and suggest key directions for future research, policy and practice concerning emancipated foster youth and housing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]