Foster Care and Trucking

Making Connections

Deep inside this year’s annual report, “Evolving Truck Driver Demographics: Issues and Opportunities,” from The American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI), there’s an extraordinary section on foster care and trucking.

ATRI’s definition: “Foster care provides temporary, court-monitored placements for youth when their home environments are unsafe, with kinship care being the preferred option. When family placement is not possible, children may live with non-relative caregivers or specialized services, and/or in congregate care settings.”

The numbers:

• 73.2 million children in the United States in 2022.

• About 1 in 128 (0.8%) were served by foster care at some point during the year.

• West Virginia (3.3%), Alaska (2.2%), and Montana (1.9%) have the highest shares of children in foster care.

• New Jersey (0.2%), Utah, Delaware, Virginia, and Maryland (0.4%) have the lowest.

Youth in foster care tend to have a lower high school graduation rates (56%) than the national average (86%), and ATRI’s connection is that housing instability and education are factors affecting a stable future.

Along come national, state, and local programs to help move foster care youth in a positive, more stable direction. Big Brothers Big Sisters has a mentorship program. Foster Care to Success has career counseling, internships, and scholarships.

The McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act ensures those with housing instability have access to essential services and education. This legislation is one way that the trucking industry is able to reach foster youth and connect them to the possibilities of stability and income. It does so in part through programs like the Foster Care Transition Toolkit.

ATRI words the scenario respectfully and straightforwardly:

“As a society, including the trucking industry, it is important to recognize that foster youth should not be defined by their past experiences. The proper support can help ensure that they surmount any barriers to becoming reliable, motivated, and hardworking employees. By focusing on targeted outreach, inclusive hiring practices, mentorship, and career development opportunities, the industry can help break down stigma and leverage the strengths that foster youth bring to the workforce.”

Transitioning into adulthood is challenging enough, and those with housing stability have an extra set of challenges. Kudos to those in the trucking industry who provide them with an opportunity to go on a career path that can help with stability and a promising future.