The risk of teenage pregnancy among transitioning foster youth: Implications for extending state care beyond age 18

The purpose of this study is to examine how common teenage pregnancy is among young women in and aging out of foster care and to determine whether the risk of becoming pregnant can be reduced by extending foster care beyond age 18. The study used data from the first two waves of the Midwest Evaluation of the Adult Functioning of Former Foster Youth, a longitudinal study of foster youth making the transition to adulthood in three Midwestern states, as well as the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. Cox proportional hazard models were estimated to examine the relationship between care status and the risk of teenage pregnancy. Foster youth are more likely to experience teenage pregnancy than their peers in the general population but staying in care seems to mitigate their risk of becoming pregnant even after the effects of other factors are taken into account. Our findings provide additional evidence of the need for a more concerted effort by child welfare agencies to help youth in foster care avoid becoming pregnant and suggest that allowing young people to remain in foster care beyond age 18 may be one way to reduce teenage pregnancy among this population.