Building Financial Futures: How Youth with Foster Care Experience Are Leading the Way
At A Place 4 Me, we know that every young person has the ability to thrive when given the right tools and opportunities. We see it every day: youth and young adults with foster care experience bring resilience, creativity, and determination to everything they do. Far too often, though, they face structural barriers that make the transition to adulthood harder than it should be. Opportunity Passport® turns these barriers into opportunities for growth and financial independence.
Through Opportunity Passport®, youth and young adults who have spent at least one day in foster care after their 14th birthday learn how to budget, save, and use credit responsibly. They set financial goals and open savings accounts in their own name, seeded with $100.00. Every dollar they save toward approved assets like housing, transportation, or education is matched dollar for dollar by A Place 4 Me, up to $1,000.00 per year. This doubles their progress and creates momentum toward long-term stability.
The Impact on Youth with Foster Care Experience
The absence of early access to mainstream banking and financial education is more than an inconvenience. It is a barrier that can affect a young person’s entire path toward stability and independence. With the right tools and financial education, young people can build strong foundations for their futures. For youth with foster care experience, who often face additional systemic hurdles, this opportunity is especially critical.
Limited Practice Before Adulthood
Many young people age out of foster care at 18 without ever having managed a checking or savings account. This means they enter adulthood without opportunities to practice the basics, like tracking expenses, understanding fees, or building smart financial habits. According to the Annie E. Casey Foundation, more than 20,000 youth age out of foster care each year in the United States, often with little preparation for these financial responsibilities.
Barriers to Credit and Housing
Without bank accounts and early credit history, young adults face barriers to some of the most important steps toward stability. Renting an apartment often requires a credit check, and lacking a credit history can lead to denial or the need for a co-signer. Similarly, access to car loans or student housing is harder to secure. Research shows that young adults leaving foster care are significantly more likely to experience housing instability, with nearly one in four reporting homelessness by age 21.
Reliance on Alternative Financial Services
When traditional banking is out of reach, youth may turn to check-cashing services, money orders, or payday loans. While these options provide short-term access to cash, they often come with high fees and interest rates that drain limited resources and deepen financial instability. The Federal Reserve has reported that unbanked households can spend hundreds of dollars per year on alternative financial services that mainstream account holders avoid.
Resilience and Opportunity
Despite these barriers, young people with foster care experience demonstrate tremendous resourcefulness. They often manage income from part-time jobs, stipends, or benefits in creative ways, showing strong budgeting instincts even without formal tools. Programs like Opportunity Passport® build on these strengths, providing youth with access to accounts, matched savings, and financial literacy training that amplify their ability to thrive.
Banking Before 18: Why It Matters
For many program participants, opening a bank account is a key first step toward independence. Yet for youth under 18, including those in foster care, this step is often more complicated.
Legal Restrictions: Most banks require a parent or guardian to co-sign for anyone under 18 to open an account. For youth in foster care, this is not always possible, which means they are left without a safe place to deposit earnings from jobs, stipends, or allowances.
Barriers to Identification: Those under 18, and especially those who have been involved in the foster care system, may not always have the required forms of identification, such as a Social Security card or state-issued ID. This can delay or prevent access to banking altogether.
Reliance on Cash: Without access to accounts, many young people rely on cash or prepaid debit cards. This limits opportunities to build credit and can expose them to higher fees and financial insecurity.
To help overcome these barriers, A Place 4 Me partners with local banks to help youth with foster care experience open under-18 accounts designed for accessibility and learning. Through these partnerships, young people gain their first experience with a checking or savings account in their own name. To jumpstart this journey, A Place 4 Me also provides a $100.00 seed deposit into each new account.
This approach reduces reliance on cash or costly alternatives and ensures that youth are practicing essential financial skills well before they reach adulthood. By the time they turn 18, they already have experience navigating banking systems, building confidence, and laying the foundation for long-term financial stability.
Youth Voice: Opportunity Passport® Advisory Council
At A Place 4 Me, we believe the most powerful solutions are shaped by the young people who are directly impacted. The Opportunity Passport® Advisory Council (OPAC) was created to build authentic youth engagement directly into the program, ensuring youth and young adults can help shape the impact.
The young adults on OPAC are current or former Opportunity Passport® participants. They bring their lived expertise to guide how the program is designed, delivered, and improved. Their leadership ensures that Opportunity Passport® reflects the real needs and aspirations of young people.
Recently, OPAC has helped create partnerships with local banks, opening doors for additional financial education classes and opportunities for those in the program. These collaborations are giving more young people the chance to practice skills and connect with banking systems earlier in life.
Pathways Forward
Financial stability does not happen overnight. It begins with early opportunities to practice skills, make decisions, and learn from experience. Programs like Opportunity Passport® create that foundation by combining financial education, matched savings, and youth leadership. From the very first module of Keys to Your Financial Future to saving for a car, an apartment, or tuition, young people are building skills that last a lifetime.
For youth with foster care experience, this support is not just helpful, it is essential. Early access to banking and financial literacy reduces reliance on costly alternatives, opens doors to housing and education, and builds confidence for adulthood. The Opportunity Passport® Advisory Council has shown us that when youth help shape programs, the results are even stronger.
Looking ahead, we know the need is greater than ever. More young people deserve the chance to save, learn, and thrive. By supporting A Place 4 Me, you are helping create real pathways forward for youth in our community. Together, we can ensure that youth and young adults with experience in the foster care system have the tools needed to build stable financial futures.