Teen Pregnancy Among Youth in Foster Care
Teen pregnancy rates are much higher among teens in foster care than among the general population. By age 19, pregnancy rates for girls in foster care are 2.5 times greater than that of their peers who are not in the system. Nearly half of girls in foster care become pregnant at least once by their 19th birthday and around 75 percent report being pregnant by age 21, compared to only one-third of their peers. In addition, by age 21, nearly two-thirds of teens in foster care have been pregnant more than once. Young men in foster care also report having gotten someone pregnant at higher rates than young men not in the system: 50 percent of men aging out of foster care at age 21 say that they have gotten someone pregnant, compared to 19 percent of young men not in foster care.
Pregnancy among adolescents in foster care creates challenges and costs for the system, such as providing health care and housing for teen mothers and their children. Currently, states may provide Medicaid—public health insurance jointly funded by states and the federal government—to finance prenatal care, delivery costs, and other health care services for foster children up to age 21. By 2014, however, the Affordable Care Act will extend Medicaid coverage to all young people in foster care, up to age 26.
Many teens “age out” of the system when they reach age 18 or 21, depending on the state. Teen parents transitioning out of foster care face significant challenges: caring for their children, completing education and finding employment. And the cycle often continues. The children of teen mothers are twice as likely to be placed in foster care as their peers born to older parents.