Felonious Arrests of Former Foster Care and TANF-Involved Youth

Income assistance programs (e.g., Temporary Assistance to Needy Families; TANF) and child welfare service (CWS) programs have implicit intentions to prepare children for an adulthood that is free from serious criminal activity. This cross-sectional study compares the felonious arrests as adults of youth who were involved with TANF (n = 6,596) with those who were involved with CWS (n = 1316). In the CWS population, we compare youth who emancipated from foster care (n = 841), those who reunified (n =278), and those with other exits (n = 197). Outcomes of interest include the severity of the felony an individual was charged with as an adult as well as the hazard of being arrested after age 16 years. Findings show that as adults, TANF-involved youth are less likely than former foster youth to be charged with a felony; moreover, when former TANF youth are charged with felonies as adults, the felonies are less severe than felony charges incurred by former foster youth. Overall, as young adults, males and Africa...