Relationships That Persist and Protect: The Role of Enduring Relationships on Early-Adult Outcomes among Youth Transitioning Out of Foster Care
Long-lasting, supportive relationships (what we call “enduring relationships”) are important for youths’ transition to adulthood, but these relationships are often ruptured for young people in foster care. We investigate how common enduring relationships are among youth making the transition out of care and whether having an enduring relationship improves their outcomes in early adulthood. Our sample includes 608 youths in California foster care. We found that about half (52%) of youth had an enduring relationship, and having an enduring relationship reduced youth risk of several hardships (e.g., food insecurity, economic hardships, homelessness) and increased the amount youth earned between ages 18-21.