At 20 years old, Devin now feels confident about the future he is building and has strong faith in his direction. Growing up, he spent time in foster homes and under the care of the Department of Children and Families (DCF).

Welcoming a new child into the family is an adjustment for parents and siblings. This transition is difficult for children welcoming a sibling for the first time, who are used to having a lot of individualized attention.

At 18, many young adults rely on parents and friends for guidance, stability and a safety net when life becomes difficult. For thousands of teens leaving foster care, that support is absent.

For most of her life, Alexis has navigated challenges far beyond what many young people face. Entering foster care at just 12 years old, she moved through multiple homes, three different high schools and a constant cycle of change. Stability was rare.

At Youth Villages, we believe something simple and profoundly true: no child, family or young adult thrives alone. Lasting change happens when people are surrounded by support, when a village shows up.

Young people with lived experience in foster care have been a force for positive change in child welfare policy for decades, with deep impact that traces back to the lobbying effort that led to the passage by Congress of the pivotal Chafee Foster Care Independence Program in 1999.

Courts play a central role in child welfare. Court decisions shape safety, permanency timelines and how families experience the system during periods of significant stress.

Modernizing child welfare systems is not a partisan issue. Across administrations, there has been growing recognition that outdated technology can slow down frontline work and limit the impact agencies have on young people and families.

For leaders working to support young people leaving foster care, the challenge is often not only gaps in research, but also how fragmented and uneven the evidence can be across systems and settings.

For years, the Child and Family Services Review has been a core way states assess safety, permanency and well-being in their child welfare systems.