The head of a national advocacy group for foster children is urging Iowa legislators to consider extending the foster care program from age 18 to 21. Gary Stangler, director of the Jim Casey Youth Opportunities Initiative, says Iowa has a good program called After Care that helps young people when they “age out” of foster care, but he says it doesn’t do enough to help them make successful transitions to adulthood. “Even in Iowa, some of these young people still end up homeless after their 18th birthday,” Stangler says. “Young girls are vulnerable, they become pregnant, because they don’t have the kinds of things we take for granted.”

Iowa’s After Care program helps extend some social services to foster children once they turn 18, but Stangler says those kids are still forced to leave their foster homes. If Iowa extended foster care to age 21, he says half the cost of those additional three years would be paid for by the federal government.  “Most kids in this country can actually go home after college, let alone high school,” Stangler says. “We need that kind of opportunity available for young people in Iowa. We need to have the full extension of foster care.”

Iowa KidsNet reports there are about 61-hundred kids in foster care in Iowa. Stangler says it would cost “a couple million dollars” for Iowa to extend foster care services to young people from age 18 through 21, but in the long-run, he says that action would save the state money. “The cost of unplanned pregnancies, the cost of homeless shelters and supports, the cost of public assistance for young people who are unemployed and who have children,” Stangler says, “these costs add up quickly and they happen quickly.”

A report from the Jim Casey Youth Opportunities Initiative says every year, more than 26-thousand young people across the country age out of the foster care system. As a result, Stangler says they are more likely than their peers to drop out of school, become parents before they are ready, experience homelessness, or end up in jail. If foster care is extended from 18 to 21, the report says communities would save $300,000 in lost wages, public assistance and incarceration for each of the young people affected. Nationwide, he says the savings would amount to seven-point-eight billion dollars a year. Learn more at: www.jimcaseyyouth.org

(Radio Iowa)

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — President Barack Obama has signed a disaster declaration for five Iowa counties damaged by severe weather in early April. Yesterday’s announcement means the counties of Dickinson, Lyon, O’Brien, Osceola and Sioux will get federal funding under a public assistance program. Funding can be used for emergency repairs, essential government functions and grants for public schools.

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — Authorities say a man arrested in Texas in connection with the shooting of an Iowa police officer is fighting extradition back to the state. The Sioux City Journal reports 21-year-old Jamal Dean has indicated to authorities that he intends to fight extradition. He’s in a maximum security section of the county jail in Kingsville, Texas.

WEST UNION, Iowa (AP) — Two men have pleaded guilty to charges related to a bank robbery and wild chase last fall that left two officers with gunshot wounds. The Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier reports 25-year-old Jeremiah Mumford and 19-year-old William Clayton pleaded guilty yesterday to first-degree robbery and two counts of attempted murder.

DUBUQUE, Iowa (AP) — Dubuque authorities have been investigating an electrical problem that caused a small explosion inside a manhole downtown. Police Lt. Steve Radloff says the explosion yesterday afternoon behind the Dubuque County Jail caused a loud boom and a manhole cover to lift off its base and into the air. No injuries were reported.