Promoting Postsecondary Educational Success Among Young Parents in and Aging Out of Foster Care

This paper explains why more attention should be paid to promoting the postsecondary education of parents in and aging out of foster care. It reviews what is known about postsecondary educational attainment among parents in or aging out of foster care and these parents’ unique challenges to pursuing postsecondary education. The paper describes the Healthy Teen Network Young Parents Logic Model as a framework to think about the needs of parents in and aging out of foster care, including needs related to postsecondary educational attainment. The paper applies the Young Parents Logic Model and highlights strategies to increase postsecondary educational attainment among young parents in the general population and youth aging out of foster care which can also benefit young parents in foster care or aging out. Using the Young Parents Logic Model as a framework, the paper presents policy and practice recommendations to increase postsecondary educational attainment among young parents in and aging out of foster care and with directions for future research.