Mark E Courtney

• PhD
• Professor at University of Chicago

Few studies examine the relationship between welfare and child welfare populations in the wake of welfare reform. This article compares child welfare services involvement between 1996 Aid to Families with Dependent Children entrants and 1999 Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) applicants in Wisconsin. Results suggest that there is consid...

US law has long recognized the need to help prepare foster youth for the transition to adulthood and states receive funds specifically intended to provide their foster youth with independent living services. Nevertheless, little attention has been paid to whether foster youth in fact receive the services states are supposed to provide using federal...

This study examines the frequency and predictors of youth running away from foster care in Illinois. Using data from the state's child welfare management information system and Medicaid paid claims data, study analyses focus on 14,282 children and youth who ran away from care at least once between 1993 and 2003. The likelihood that youths in care w...

This study aims to explore the frequency of out-of-county (including out-of-state; OOC) residences among young adults in foster care and identify counties and states with high rates of emigration (i.e., outmigration) and immigration. Understanding the frequency and dynamics of OOC residences can inform efforts to coordinate services between and amo...

Transition-age youth with foster care involvement (TAY) face significant risks for food insecurity and other hardships in early adulthood. Using representative survey data of youth transitioning out of foster care in California, we examine the prevalence and predictors of food insecurity. We find that about 30% of study participants were food insec...

Despite having one of the largest youth populations in care, little research has examined the employment and earnings outcomes of TAY living in California. The purpose of this brief is to summarize data collected on the employment and earnings outcomes of TAY participating in the California Youth Transitions to Adulthood (CalYOUTH) Study to (1) dev...

Research shows that young people in foster care experience high levels of behavioral health problems that may lead to life obstacles, including legal system involvement (LSI) during the transition to adulthood. However, few longitudinal studies have examined LSI among foster youth from a behavioral health perspective during the transition to adulth...

The Transition-Age Youth Research and Evaluation Hub (TAY-Hub) is a university-based research collaborative housed in the California Child Welfare Indicators Project at the University of California, Berkeley. The TAY-Hub specializes in research related to policies and practices affecting transition-age youth by monitoring outcomes and through appli...

A small but growing body of research suggests that adolescents and young adults involved with the child welfare system and those transitioning out of foster care are at heightened risk of experiencing intimate partner violence (IPV). Understanding the factors that place youth at risk of IPV is central to prevention and treatment of this public heal...

Transitioning to adulthood is difficult for young people aging out of foster care. Research shows that this population faces substantial challenges in trying to avoid legal system involvement during this difficult period of life. Seeking to improve our understanding of the protective factors that mitigate the risks of legal system involvement among...

Existing predictive risk models in child welfare tend to focus on child protection and prevention of youth’s entry to the child welfare system. Less explored is the potential contribution of predictive risk models to improve the care and meet the placement needs of youth in the child welfare system. This study demonstrated how an empirical model pr...

The purpose of this brief is to summarize data about TAY’s connections with relatives collected across the four waves of the California Youth Transitions to Adulthood (CalYOUTH) Study and inform the development of policies and programs targeting TAY, their kinship caregivers, and other relatives that play a fundamental role during TAY’s transition...

Psychotropic medication use among transition-age youth (TAY) in foster care has been a topic of substantial debate. For some TAY, psychotropic medication may help manage emotional and behavioral health symptoms that are common among youth who have experienced maltreatment. For others, psychotropic medications may be used as a stop-gap measure witho...

Extended foster care (EFC) is an important policy that supports human capital attainment for foster youth transitioning to adult independence. Previous studies have examined youth- and policy-level factors' influence on EFC participation and human capital outcomes (e.g., education, employment). Still, few studies have examined contextual factors (e...

Many factors influence the college that students enroll in, and the college they attend plays a role in their likelihood of remaining in college and ultimately earning a degree. Building on previous CalYOUTH reports, this memo takes a closer look at the types of colleges that foster youth enroll in, including average retention rates and the number...

The co-production of transition planning (i.e. care leavers having opportunities to influence decisions about their lives) is recognised as an important process internationally. However, little is known about factors influencing care leavers' involvement in transition planning. This study uses a sample of care leavers in California (n ¼ 423) and mu...

Graduating from college is a life-transforming achievement for young people with foster care backgrounds. This memo provides an early look at factors that promote or stymie college degree completion by around age 23 of youths transitioning to adulthood from the foster care system. What we did The outcome investigated in this memo is whether or no...

In two previous reports, we shared findings on the relationships between the amount of time youth remained in extended foster care (EFC) and a host of outcomes at age 19 (Courtney & Okpych, 2017) and at age 21 (Courtney, Okpych, & Park, 2018). This report builds on prior findings to examine the impact of extended foster care on youth outcomes at ag...

This cross-national study compares and contrasts how two states- one in the U.S. (Illinois) and one in Spain (Catalonia)—support care leavers as they transition into adulthood. Twenty-seven individuals from NGOs and public agencies that provide services to care leavers were interviewed. Although both states are seen as leaders in the development of...

What We Did For Wave 4 of the CalYOUTH Study, researchers surveyed 622 23-year-olds. This study follows up on surveys of the same young people when they were approaching the age of majority in California’s foster care system at age 17 and again when they were 19 and 21 years old. Similar to the previous interview waves, the study collected data on...

Background The Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008 created the option for U.S. states to extend the foster care age limit up to the 21 st birthday. The law provides foster youth extra protections while they transition to adulthood. Objective To inform states’ efforts to better design and implement extended foster...

What We Did This memo investigates two aspects of foster youths’ transition planning: their roles in their TILP development and their level of satisfaction with their planning meetings. We also examine factors that are associated with youths’ transition-planning involvement and satisfaction, including both characteristics of the youth and character...

Given the documented link between child maltreatment and later delinquency, it is not surprising that transition-age foster youth face higher rates of contact with the justice system. Several studies have found that transition-age foster youth are more likely than their nonfoster peers to engage in delinquent behaviors and become involved with the...

What we did This memo examines (1) transition-age foster youths’ experiences of homelessness that occurred between participants’ first and third interviews—about a 4-year period between ages 17 and 21, (2) whether participating in extended foster care decreases the odds of experiencing homelessness among foster youth by age 21, and (3) the associat...

What We Did The current memo (1) examines youths’ predominant placement type between ages 18 and 21 and (2) compares the characteristics of youth who resided predominantly in SILPs to those who resided predominantly in THP-NMDs between ages 18 and 21. We draw on two data sources for our analyses: the baseline interview of the California Youth Trans...

Purpose The aim of the study was to document mental health service use (counseling and medication) among youth in foster care, examine how prepared they feel to manage their mental health, and investigate predictors of service use and preparedness. Methods The study includes a representative sample of youth in California foster care at age 17 year...

Foster youth participation in their transitional independent living plan (TILP) development is a legally mandated process. Youths’ active involvement in these decision-making processes is recognized as a potential protective factor during their transition from care to independent adulthood. Despite this, little empirical research has examined predi...

Education and Training Vouchers (ETVs) and campus support programs (CSPs) are two interventions designed to support postsecondary education persistence for college students with foster care backgrounds. The federal ETV program provides foster youth up to $5000 per year for college expenses, while CSPs provide an array of on-the-ground services to f...

The prevalence of psychotropic medication use among children and adolescents in foster care has received increasing attention from policymakers and scholars and led to responses from government. Most research has focused on school-age foster children; less is known about psychotropic medication use among foster youth transitioning to adulthood from...

Research over the past two decades has generally shown poor postsecondary educational outcomes for youth transitioning to adulthood from out-of-home care, but research on the topic is limited (Gypen L, Vanderfaeillie J, De Maeyer S, Belenger L, Van Holen F, Child Youth Serv Rev 76:74–83, 2017). The California Youth Transitions to Adulthood Study (C...

This paper draws on data collected from two of the most extensive longitudinal studies of care leavers in the US. The Midwest Study (2003–2011) included 732 youths in foster care in three Midwestern states, and the CalYOUTH Study (2012–present) includes 727 youths in California foster care. The paper has three objectives: (1) describe trends in sec...

What We Did We drew on a large sample of youth from administrative California child welfare records in order to estimate the impact that California’s extended foster care had on postsecondary education outcomes. We drew a sample of 21,964 California youths who were in care beyond their 17th birthday, including 17,222 youths in child-welfare-supervi...

The federal Fostering Connections law gives states the option to increase the foster care age limit from age 18 up to age 21. This law could potentially improve postsecondary education outcomes for youth in foster care. We analyze data collected from a longitudinal study of foster youth in three Midwestern states (n = 732). Linear probability model...

This memo adds to the growing literature on the transition to college for young people in foster care, focusing specifically on issues of preparedness to enter higher education. This memo compares the perceptions of foster youth and their child welfare worker of how prepared the youth is to pursue their education goals. Comparing foster youth and t...

California was one of the early adopters of the federal 2008 Fostering Connections to Success Act that gave states the option to extend the foster care age limit to 21. Although EFC is adopted on a state level, studies have found significant variation between counties in EFC participation and amount of time spent in care past age 18. This memo exam...

In this study, we examined the nonkin support networks of orphaned adolescents participating in a family‐based economic‐strengthening intervention in HIV‐impacted communities in Uganda. We analyzed data from a cluster randomized experimental study for orphaned adolescents aged 11–17 years. Participants were randomly assigned to either the control c...

The federal Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008 (Fostering Connections Act) was, to a large extent, based on the belief that allowing youth in foster care to remain in care past their 18th birthday would improve their outcomes as adults. With the implementation of Assembly Bill 12 in 2012, California became one of...

Research conducted over the past two decades has shown that young people transitioning to adulthood from custodial care systems, such as the child welfare and juvenile justice systems, are at particularly high risk of experiencing poor outcomes. Despite considerable government investment in supporting the transition to adulthood for these youth, th...

Youth who were in foster care as adolescents make up a small but highly vulnerable subpopulation of the college student body. This article analyzes secondary data collected from one of the most comprehensive longitudinal studies of foster youth. The analytic sample includes 329 foster youth from three Midwestern states who attended college in the m...

This memo examines whether there were differences in the types and sources of social support of transition-age foster youth based on their extended foster care status and placement type at age 19. The three types of social support investigated were emotional support, tangible support, and advice/guidance. The three sources of social support investi...

Foster care youth graduate from college at rates far below their peers. Attention is now shifting to identifying modifiable risk factors that influence their chances of completing college. One explanation is that past traumatic experiences have an enduring impact on youths' psychosocial functioning, which in turn compromises their ability to succee...

Objective: Former youth in foster care (YFC) are at greater risk of chronic health conditions than their peers. Although research in general population samples has demonstrated a dose-response relationship between adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and adult health outcomes, few studies have conducted similar analyses in highly stress-exposed po...

Social support is important for promoting resiliency and decreasing the occurrence and impact of negative life events as foster youth transition to adulthood. However, the types and amount of support may vary by where youth are placed. Additionally, it is not known whether state policies that extend the foster care age limit beyond age 18 are assoc...

This memo explores California foster youths’ use of and experiences with psychotropic medications. High rates of psychotropic medication use among children and adolescents in foster care have concerned researchers and led the federal government to respond. California enacted three senate bills in 2015 and 2016 to improve oversight of psychotropic m...

In many developed countries around the world residential care interventions for children and adolescents have come under increasing scrutiny. Against this background an international summit was organised in England (spring 2016) with experts from 13 countries to reflect on therapeutic residential care (TRC). The following working definition of TRC...

Objective This study investigated social capital, risk factors, and protective factors associated with the likelihood that youth in foster care will enroll in college. We tested three hypotheses: (a) having a greater number of institutional agents promotes college enrollment, (b) encouragement from school personnel to pursue postsecondary education...

In many developed countries around the world residential care interventions for children and adolescents have come under increasing scrutiny. Against this background an international summit was organised in England (spring 2016) with experts from 13 countries to reflect on therapeutic residential care (TRC). The following working definition of TRC...

This Memo builds on past studies by examining a wide range of factors that influence educational attainment of foster youth at age 19/20. We first investigate predictors of high school credential completion by age 19 among CalYOUTH participants who had not yet completed a high school credential at the time of their baseline interview. We then exami...

Due to their high rates of parental maltreatment and violence exposure, youth in the foster care system are considered particularly vulnerable to experiencing intimate partner violence (IPV) in adolescence and young adulthood. Those who have emancipated from foster care may be at a heightened risk, as they are significantly more likely to struggle...

Leveraging youth survey data and administrative data, this memo investigates youth- and system-level factors associated with the length of time that foster youth in California remain in out-of-home care after their 18th birthday. Understanding factors associated with youths’ extended foster care (EFC) participation is important, not only for predic...

This study evaluates foster care history characteristics as risk factors for psychopathology. We examine characteristics of youths' foster care histories separately and as a gestalt (i.e., identification of latent classes). Six mental health disorders and lifetime suicide attempt were assessed via in-person interviews with a representative sample o...

This brief provides an early look at the relationship between extended foster care and selected outcomes for youth transitioning to adulthood from care in California. Examining outcomes observed when young people participating in the California Youth Transitions to Adulthood Study (CalYOUTH) were nineteen years old, the authors find evidence that r...

The majority of youth in the foster care system have been removed from their homes as means of protection against parental maltreatment. Studies have shown, however, that foster youth may continue to experience maltreatment after they have entered the child welfare system (Poertner et al. in Child Youth Serv Rev 21(7):549–563, 1999; Tittle et al. i...

Research has demonstrated that youth who age out, or emancipate, from foster care face deleterious outcomes across a variety of domains in early adulthood. This article builds on this knowledge base by investigating the role of adverse childhood experience accumulation and composition on these outcomes. A latent class analysis was performed to iden...

Background: Given their histories of maltreatment and exposure to other risk factors, foster youth experience a range of obstacles along their developmental trajectories, including challenges of avoiding criminal justice involvement. Studies reported that foster youth are more likely than young people in the general population to become involved wi...

In veel ontwikkelde landen wordt in toenemende mate kritiek geleverd op residentiële interventies bij kinderen en jongeren. Tegen de achtergrond hiervan vond in het voorjaar 2016 in Engeland een internationale conferentie plaats van experts uit 13 landen op het gebied van therapeutische residentiële zorg (TRZ). De volgende werkdefinitie van TRZ was...

Research has demonstrated the employment and earnings benefits accompanying educational attainment, and the relatively poor educational attainment and economic well-being of young people who transition to adulthood from foster care. Policymakers' concern over these poor outcomes has long been reflected in U.S. child welfare policy, most recently in...

This study examined factors associated with youth remaining in extended foster care. Cohorts of youth in care in California at age 17 years were defined for the period from 2003–2012. Multivariable generalized linear models documented factors associated with remaining in care through age 19. Findings indicate that: a) the population of youth in car...

Background: Observers have drawn attention to the use of psychotropic medications with children in foster care, noting that they are used at rates higher than in the general population, in some cases in inappropriate ways (Leslie et al, 2010; Raghavan et al, 2005). California enacted legislation in 1999 to create court oversight of use of psychotro...