The Challenge > Problem

Children who do not have a permanent and loving home have a severe disadvantage in life.

In fact, only 50% of all foster children graduate from high school, and of those, only 13% will attend college or vocational training. As adults, over half of all foster children will remain unemployed, 25% will be homeless for one or more nights, and 60% of young women will become pregnant within two years of emancipation from foster care. Former foster children are also disproportionately represented in the justice system and prison populations.

From a child's perspective, it is truly a tough and tragic way to make the journey through life.

Unfortunately, this human tragedy also creates a huge systemic problem for communities. These disadvantaged children who do not grow up to be responsible adults, citizens, workers, and parents, ultimately create a significant burden when they are unable or unwilling to take care of themselves. The result is that communities must create additional infrastructure to support those in need, often at great expense to the members of the community. Because the problem is systemic, it seldom gets better and often the cause of many of the challenges facing society today including homelessness, joblessness, crime, drugs, and violence.

So the disadvantage of children not having a permanent home really results in the creation of two problems. It results in a personal problem and tragedy for the foster child; and also results in a problem for the communities who end up supporting the child both as a child and adult.

> Opportunity