What becomes of young people in the custody of France’s Child Protection Agency when they turn 18?

Initially, young people formerly under ASE protection turn primarily to their families for support when they leave the system. But the family is often not in a good position to help them. Families may have been altered irreparably (a member’s death, no means of contacting parents, and other difficulties). Former ASE children do have other possible resources: family social workers, special needs educators, other relatives, a boyfriend or girlfriend. Moreover, in many cases they have had to move during their time with the ASE, increasing the likelihood that of having already lost contact with their family. In fact, these young people move from one youth protection center or foster home to another as a way of preparing them to live without assistance. These reiterated moves increase the risk of losing contact with the family soon before leaving the protection system. 

Young people under ASE protection may be eligible for extended aid in the form of an “Over-18 Contract” or CJM. Contract availability varies considerably by department, and not all young people have access to one. Those who have maintained contact with their family and/or formed their own couple, who were placed in an institution or foster home for the first time after turning 10, who dropped out of school before age 17, or who remained in a youth center or foster home either against their will and because they were forced to or, conversely, were required to leave places they would have preferred to stay in are not eligible for a CJM. 

Over two-thirds of CJMs involve commitments to pursue or resume education or training programs and so to catch up on missed schooling. Over 50% of CJM recipients have no educational or training certificate at age 17, compared to 18% in the population at large. Most CJM recipients earn at least one educational or training certificate between age 18 and 20, but only 20% of this age group earn the baccalauréat high school leaving degree—meaning that fewer still will be able to move on to higher education. This figure stands in contrast to the 53% of people their age with a baccalauréat in the general population. ASE young people often take short occupational training programs in order to complete them before their contract expires at age 21.

Young people with relatively low scholastic achievement tend not to be granted a CJM since, as explained, the offer is largely oriented toward the pursuit or resumption of education and training. Those not enrolled in such programs are at much greater risk—twice as high—of having to leave ASE protection without a CJM than those who are. Two in ten young people under ASE protection but without a CJM contract have no educational certification whatsoever. 

The majority of young people who left that system before age 18 (51%) had neither a job nor any job training when they were interviewed 18 months later. Young adults awarded an Over-18 Contract showed better employment rates, and indeed, the longer the CJM, the higher the probability of their having a job. A third of recipients of less-than-year-long CJMs were working while this was the case for the majority of recipients of a CJM of one year or more. However, young adults only start looking for jobs and become occupationally integrated after leaving the youth protection system: only 16% of 18-year-olds and 21% of 19-year-olds look for a job during their CJM. Full occupational integration while still under agency protection is possible only for young adults with long-term CJMs. On this basis we can explain the improved employment rate found for CJM recipients generally as follows: these young aduts are forced to enter the job market since they have no other resources. 

Reaching the end of child protection agency coverage does not systematically go together with a change of residence: 40% of young people had not moved by the date their assistance ended. 

Housing type varies by young adult’s situation upon leaving the ASE. Most young people without a CJM (68%) go to live with their parents. Only 27% live in an independent rental unit while 5% are living on the street or assisted by an advocacy organization, especially organizations for unhoused people. Meanwhile, among young adults with a CJM lasting under a year, 51% have a home, 40% are in their own independent unit, while 9% benefit from other types of assistance immediately after leaving the ASE system. The largest proportion of young people to leave the system for their own housing unit are young adults with a 1 to 3-year CGM. Among the few young adults whose contract goes over 3 years, the proportion living in someone else’s home rises again, to 34%. 

Of all young people who left the system less than a year before the time of the interview, 8% had already experienced an episode of homelessness—the equivalent of one in six young 

Online: December 2018