ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on measurements of key independent living outcomes to get a broad picture of how sexual minority youth fare during the transition from foster care to independence. This project is partially informed by two federal policy actions for foster youth: the Chafee Act and the more recent Information Memorandum (IM) of 2011. The Chafee Act replaced the former federal Independent Living structure that was in place to serve foster youth as they prepared to depart the child welfare system. Although sexual minority youth share many commonalities with their heterosexual counterparts in that they all are contending with traumatic backgrounds, disrupted childhoods, and impaired interpersonal relationships with adults and caregivers, they also represent a somewhat distinct group. The chapter includes four sets of variables in the analysis: demographics and sexual orientation; victimization histories; child welfare experiences; and functional outcomes.
