On Jan. 1, 2022, we estimate that 3,600 California youth will age out of the foster care system. On a single day. The fact that we — those of us working in the child welfare system, and the state system itself — cannot identify the exact number is itself alarming. Behind each case number is a human being, a young person who was removed from their biological home for their own safety and put under the protection of the state. On Dec. 31, 2021 the state’s moratorium on aging out due to the COVID-19 pandemic will end, and these vulnerable youth will be forced out of the protection of foster care. They will be on their own, as yet another potential wave of coronavirus and new variant threatens our borders.

Check out Bill HR5167 which encourages Congress to extend the moratorium on aging out of foster care to September 2022 as well as increase funding for pandemic relief & provide more time to distribute funds to former & current #fosteryouth.

California plans to distribute pandemic relief funds to current and former foster youth. But with a Sep. 3 application deadline approaching, advocates say the process has confused and even denied eligible youth, stalling much-needed lifeline benefits.