A Publication of the Society for Research in Child Development Article begins on page 3 The Diffi cult Transition to Adulthood for Foster Youth in the US: Implications for the State as Corporate Parent

Although they make up a relatively small proportion of all children in the U.S. foster care system, foster youth approaching adulthood have over the years attracted considerable attention from policymakers. Three times in the past 25 years the Social Security Act has been amended to try to better support the transition to adulthood for foster youth. The new Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act represents a fundamental shift away from the goal of preparing foster youth to be independent of state assistance by the age of majority towards an active engagement by government in parenting foster youth into adulthood. This policy shift refl ects an evolving understanding of normative transitions to adulthood and growing knowledge of the particular challenges faced by foster youth in transition. In this report, I briefl y describe the U.S. child welfare system, summarize research on the transition to adulthood for foster youth showing that they generally face a very diffi cult transition, and examine the evolution of U.S. policy towards foster youth using the concept of “corporate parenting. ” I conclude that recent policy developments provide an excellent opportunity to improve transition outcomes for foster youth, but that lingering challenges still exist including: likely state reluctance to expand the parenting role; a poor knowledge base regarding the effectiveness of independent living services; the lack of established and well-evaluated models of coordination between child welfare agencies and other public institutions in supporting foster youth; the com