Prevalence of Risk and Protective Factors for Homelessness among Youth in Foster Care

Many youths transitioning out of foster care display resilience, particularly given the myriad challenges they have faced and had to overcome in their lives. Yet the risk of homelessness among youth in foster care remains high. As we seek to develop evidence-based interventions to support their transition into adulthood, there is a need to understand different profiles of youth that may both elevate and reduce their risk for future experiences of homelessness. Using administrative data from a large county with metropolitan cities, suburban communities, and rural areas, Latent Class Analysis (LCA) was used to identify groups in terms of their profile for risk and protective factors associated with homelessness. These groups include youth with runaway histories, youth with histories in the juvenile justice system, and youth with histories of homelessness. The implications of the findings for the development of services to address the differing needs of youth are discussed.