Research shows that youth who leave foster care to live independently are often at risk of homelessness, less education, unemployment/poverty, and mental health issues. There are a number of reasons for this increased risk. A variety of aftercare services for youth leaving foster care are designed to help address these risks. The purpose of this study was to examine trends in participation and understand the experiences of youth transitioning from foster care who were involved in the Iowa Aftercare Services Program. We examine trends in participation, services received, participant reports of service satisfaction, as well as employment and educational data at entry and exit over the past five years. We also examine trends in adverse life experiences and mental health characteristics. This is a secondary analysis of Iowa Aftercare Services program evaluation data, which includes survey data on participant reports of service satisfaction, as well as employment and educational data at entry and exit. The results suggest that the program serves a large portion of youth exiting foster care and is associated with high rates of satisfaction with the services, as well as high self-sufficiency ratings in housing, finances, and relationships. Moreover, youth rates of employment and education were greater when exiting the program than at study entry. We found variation in the rates of services received across the types of supports and found high rates of mental health and adverse life experiences among the participants. The findings from this study add to the literature, suggesting the benefit of statewide aftercare services and opportunities for enhancing programs for foster care youth. Specifically, mental health services might be augmented for this population with specific assessment targets, opportunities to facilitate recruitment of males, and the need to identify and reduce potential barriers to youth accessing available services.

中文翻译：

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针对从寄养家庭过渡的青少年的全州范围的善后服务计划：参与、服务和参与者特征的五年趋势

研究表明，离开寄养家庭独立生活的青少年往往面临无家可归、教育程度较低、失业/贫困和心理健康问题的风险。造成这种风险增加的原因有很多。为离开寄养家庭的青少年提供各种善后服务，旨在帮助解决这些风险。本研究的目的是调查参与趋势并了解参与爱荷华州善后护理服务计划的青少年从寄养过渡的经历。我们研究了过去五年的参与趋势、接受的服务、参与者的服务满意度报告以及进入和退出时的就业和教育数据。我们还研究不良生活经历和心理健康特征的趋势。这是对爱荷华州善后服务计划评估数据的二次分析，其中包括参与者服务满意度报告的调查数据，以及进入和退出时的就业和教育数据。结果表明，该计划为大部分离开寄养的青少年提供服务，并且与服务的高满意度以及住房、财务和人际关系方面的高自给自足评级相关。此外，青年人退出该项目时的就业率和受教育率高于入学时的就业率和受教育率。我们发现不同类型的支持所获得的服务率存在差异，并且参与者的心理健康和不良生活经历的比例很高。这项研究的结果丰富了文献，表明全州范围内的善后服务的好处以及加强寄养青少年计划的机会。具体来说，可以通过具体的评估目标、促进男性招募的机会以及确定和减少青年获得可用服务的潜在障碍的需要来增强这一人群的心理健康服务。