Urbanicity and County-Level Variation in Transitional Housing Placements for Transition-Age Youth in California Foster Care

Abstract

The decentralized U.S. child welfare system has resulted in significant variation in practices and outcomes across states and counties. Despite growing attention to varying child welfare experiences based on urbanicity, particularly rural child welfare practice concerning younger children, few studies have examined how child welfare practices for transition-age youth (TAY) in foster care differ across rural and urban contexts. Using administrative data from California, this study examined differences in transitional housing placement programs for nonminor dependents, a specialized, treatment-oriented placement for high-acuity TAY. We found that urbanicity was not a significant predictor of living in a new transitional housing placement. Instead, the likelihood of living in a new transitional housing placement varied based on the supervising county's transitional housing placement practices and TAY characteristics and experiences in foster care. Our results underscore the importance of ongoing research and policy and practice reforms to ensure equitable transitional housing support for TAY in decentralized systems, where inequities may otherwise persist.