Osgood D Wayne, Foster E Michael, Courtney Mark E
Pennsylvania State University, USA.
Future Child. 2010 Spring;20(1):209-29. doi: 10.1353/foc.0.0047.
D. Wayne Osgood, E. Michael Foster, and Mark E. Courtney examine the transition to adulthood for youth involved in social service and justice systems during childhood and adolescence. They survey the challenges faced by youth in the mental health system, the foster care system, the juvenile justice system, the criminal justice system, and special education, and by youth with physical disabilities and chronic illness, as well as runaway and homeless youth. One problem is that the services these vulnerable populations receive from these systems as children and adolescents often end abruptly as they transition to adulthood, even though the need for them continues. Youth must leave systems tailored for clients their age and, if they are eligible for further services at all, enter adult systems that are not equipped to address their needs. One exception is the special education system, whose services extend into early adulthood and are designed for individuals' needs. The authors review current public policies directed toward vulnerable youth in transition and find problems in four areas: eligibility criteria that exclude youth from services that might benefit them, inadequate funding for transition services, a lack of coordination across service systems, and inadequate training about young-adult developmental issues for service professionals. The authors then discuss policy options that can help create a developmentally appropriate and socially inclusive system of support for vulnerable youth. Among the options are strengthening all programs for youth in transition, improving the existing systems of care for children and adolescents, addressing the loss of access to services at the age of majority, and coordinating today's multiple systems into a single coherent system. The authors see heightened governmental interest in better supports for vulnerable young adults, both through expanding the federal role in their lives and through improving coordination of the systems that serve them. The Fostering Connections Act of 2008, for example, extended services to adolescents in foster care from the age of eighteen to the age of twenty-one.
D. 韦恩·奥斯古德、E. 迈克尔·福斯特和马克·E. 考特尼研究了童年和青少年时期参与社会服务及司法系统的年轻人向成年期的过渡情况。他们调查了心理健康系统、寄养系统、少年司法系统、刑事司法系统和特殊教育中的年轻人，以及身体残疾和患有慢性病的年轻人、离家出走和无家可归的年轻人所面临的挑战。一个问题是，这些弱势群体在儿童和青少年时期从这些系统获得的服务，在他们过渡到成年期时往往会突然终止，尽管他们对这些服务的需求仍然存在。年轻人必须离开为他们这个年龄段的客户量身定制的系统，如果他们有资格获得进一步的服务，就要进入没有能力满足他们需求的成人系统。一个例外是特殊教育系统，其服务会延伸到成年早期，并根据个人需求进行设计。作者回顾了针对处于过渡阶段的弱势青年的现行公共政策，并发现了四个方面的问题：资格标准将可能受益的青年排除在服务之外、过渡服务资金不足、服务系统之间缺乏协调，以及服务专业人员对青年成人发展问题的培训不足。作者随后讨论了有助于为弱势青年创建一个符合发展阶段且具有社会包容性的支持系统的政策选择。这些选择包括加强所有针对处于过渡阶段青年的项目、改善现有的儿童和青少年护理系统、解决成年时失去服务机会的问题，以及将当今的多个系统协调成一个连贯的系统。作者认为政府对更好地支持弱势青年的兴趣日益浓厚，这既体现在扩大联邦政府在他们生活中的作用，也体现在改善为他们服务的系统之间的协调上。例如，2008年的《促进联系法案》将寄养青少年的服务从十八岁延长到了二十一岁。
