A Legal "Adult": Why youth should age out of foster care at twenty-one.

Every year thousands of youth age out of the foster care system, leaving them without a family and home of their own. While some states have taken to supporting these youth after the age of eighteen in extended foster care, there are still over twenty states in the U.S. that do not offer any sort of support to these youth, this is according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. For most of these youth, they are not ready for the trials and tribulations of adult life. Once out of the foster care system they are viewed as adults and are believed to be able to care for and live on their own. The benefits of extending these youth from aging out to twenty-one would be that they would be supported financially, academically and mentally, something most will always struggle with according to Nina Agrawal. Currently twenty-five states offer extended foster care beyond the age of eighteen, those other twenty-five states age their youth out at eighteen, an age at which I know that I was not prepared to be an adult at.