American Child Welfare Ruins Lives, Here’s Your Receipt - Pacific Standard: The Science of Society

American Child Welfare Ruins Lives, Here’s Your Receipt - Pacific Standard: The Science of Society: Every year about 25,000 young people age out of federally-mandated child-welfare systems responsible for their care and then disappear into the general population to fend for themselves at an unfairly young age. The concept of “aging out” is best understood as a system failing to find a real solution for a problem it is responsible for. A child is removed from their family and it’s on the system to either resolve the issue that led to their removal or find them a new home. The children who end up aging out are the remainder of a busted equation.