Nationwide, there are more than one hundred thousand children in the U.S. foster care system waiting for permanent families. Outcomes
Youth who are aging out of foster care often face difficulties in transitioning into adulthood, especially in terms of finding stable housing, employment, finances, and educational opportunities. The suspected reason for these difficulties involves a lack of stability experienced while in the foster care system, and the reported abuse and/or neglect in their childhood, which may affect their ability to cope with significant life changes. In the United States, there are independent living programs designed with the intent to serve the needs of transitioning foster youth. However, youth aging out of foster care have indicated that these programs are failing to fully address the needs of young adults without familial assistance.In a study conducted by Gypen et al. (2017), involving a cross-database analysis of research articles relevant to the outcomes of former foster youth, they found that the educational, mental health, employment, income, stable housing, criminal involvement and substance abuse issues outcomes for youth who have aged out of the foster care system are substantially poorer than their peers. For example, Gypen et al. (2017), indicated that only 45% of former foster youth received a high school diploma, which is 23% lower than the general population. There are also significantly poorer outcomes for children who were formerly in foster care than children from low-income households.
In a small study of twenty-two Texan youths who aged out of the system, 23 percent had a history of suicide attempts.A Swedish study utilizing the data of almost one million people including 22,305 former foster children who had been in care prior to their teens, concluded:

Former child welfare clients were in year of birth and sex standardised risk ratios (RRs) four to five times more likely than peers in the general population to have been hospitalised for suicide attempts....Individuals who had been in long-term foster care tended to have the most dismal outcome...former child welfare/protection clients should be considered a high-risk group for suicide attempts and severe psychiatric morbidity. Death rate
Children in foster care have an overall higher mortality rate than children in the general population. A study conducted in Finland among current and former foster children up to age 24 found a higher mortality rate due to substance abuse, accidents, suicide and illness. The deaths due to illness were attributed to an increased incidence of acute and
chronic medical conditions and developmental delays among children in foster care. Georgia Senator Nancy Schaefer published a report "The Corrupt Business of Child Protective Services" stating: "The National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect in 1998 reported that six times as many children died in foster care than in the general public and that once removed to official "safety", these children are far more likely to suffer abuse, including sexual molestation than in the general population".