Unintended Consequences for Transitional Age Youth

By Colleen McDuffie, Eleanor Reid, Tunisia Nelson, Amanda Hernandez, Belinda Williams

Due to the infancy of the policy we are not really able to gauge its outcome. One of the unintended consequences of this is having these youth endure this policy when in actuality it does not work. Aside from that, as previously stated we have created a society of dependent youth and aside from offering resources this policy has no defined way in which it plans to counteract the youth’s dependence. We are not weaning these kids off slowly, we are giving and giving until they are ineligible to receive any more. There is a lack of continued care and planning.

However, we do not recommend a new or different policy for this population. Based on the unintended effects, we do believe enhancements could aid in the transitional age youth to become accountable, self-sufficient, and productive members of society. Nonetheless, this cannot be done with the belief in the value of individualism and independence, but the belief in the value of interdependence.

According to Jimenez, “Of course, no one can live a really independent life. Instead, we depend on others in our every waking moment, from products we use that are made by others to the rationally of others we assume when we interact with them. We need and depend on others for survival” (Jimenez, et al., 2014, p. 96).

We recommend that in an effort to achieve interdependence, the transitional age youth should be engaged and encouraged to invite family, friends, therapist, teachers, co-workers, spiritual members, and other community support, to participate in an initial team meeting for the youth to establish a goal as well as plan to meet that goal. Additionally the team would meet every three months to review the successes and challenges. Although a meeting of this model is currently in practice at the Department of Children and Family Services and Department of Mental Health, the transitional age youth has not been a participant. However, this is not the responsibility of the youth, but that of the Departments for not taking advantage of such a model with transitional age youth. The Departments need to engage the transitional age youth to ascertain the youth’s “story” in order to provide appropriate support, guidance, and interdependence to ensure successful transition to adulthood.

The above enhancement will be best suited for this target population, as all youth need guidance to transition successfully to adulthood whether or not they entered the system of child welfare. While AB 12 was implemented to address the endless concerns with transitioning to adulthood, until the underlying issues are addressed, these transitional aged youth will become the parents of children that will enter the child welfare system. Undoubtedly, some transitional age youth are more mature and focused than others; therefore, some will have encouraging outcomes. Notwithstanding the barriers to be self-sufficient, according to Jimenez, “Most Americans may not be committed to equal outcomes in reality, but believe themselves to be committed to equal opportunity and equal access” (Jimenez, et al., 2014, p. 119).

References

Jimenez, J., Pasztor, E. M., Chambers, R., & Fuji, C. P. (2014). Social policy and social change (2nd ed.). Los Angeles, London, New Delhi, Singapore, Washington: Sage.