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. Evidence related to education, housing, employment and health is often studied and applied in silos, making it harder to understand how these areas intersect or where change can have the greatest impact.

A research summary released in January by Child Trends, developed in partnership with Youth Villages and young adults with lived experience in foster care, helps bring that evidence into sharper focus.

The summary examines evidence on the policies, practices and systems that shape outcomes for these young people, offering health and human services leaders, policymakers, and practitioners a clearer, shared reference point for planning, policy and practice decisions.

How systems shape early adulthood

For young people leaving foster care, early adulthood is shaped not only by individual circumstances, but also how education, housing, health and child welfare systems intersect. Research has long documented challenges related to housing stability, education, employment and health, but that evidence is often examined in isolation.

The Child Trends summary draws connections across these areas, helping leaders see how challenges in one area can affect progress in another. Housing instability, for example, can disrupt education or employment. Gaps in health care access can make it harder for young people to stay engaged in school or work. Together, these connections offer a more comprehensive view of how systems shape young people’s experiences in early adulthood.

From research to practical insight

In addition to summarizing outcomes, the research highlights themes that appear consistently across studies of policy and practice related to young people leaving foster care. These include the importance of stable relationships, flexible support that adapts to individual circumstances and systems that reduce fragmentation rather than add complexity.

For health and human services leaders, policymakers and practitioners, the value of the summary lies in its practical application. It provides a foundation for leadership conversations, systems-level planning and cross-agency collaboration, grounding those discussions in a shared understanding of the evidence.

Youth Villages partnered with Child Trends and young adults with lived experience in foster care to develop the summary as part of its broader commitment to systems learning and improvement. By helping translate research into clearer guidance, the work reflects a focus on strengthening how systems support young people as they move into adulthood after foster care.

Click here for the full research summary and executive summary.

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