Aging out

Aging out is American popular culture vernacular used to describe any time a youth leaves a formal system of care designed to provide services below a certain age level. The age at which a child “ages out” of foster care varies by state and is usually between the ages of 18 and 21. Foster youth can choose to participate in extended foster care or not.

There are a variety of applications of the phrase throughout the youth development field. In respect to foster care, aging out is the process of a youth transitioning from the formal control of the foster care system towards independent living. It is used to describe anytime a foster youth leaves the varying factors of foster care, including home, school and financial systems. The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services defines an "aging out" case as, "a situation referring to a person's petition to become a permanent legal resident as a child, and in the time that passes during the processing of the application, the child turns 18 and ages out.".

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