This report shares early findings from an evaluation of the LifeSet program in New Jersey. LifeSet provides young adults leaving foster care with intensive community-based support and guidance to help them make a successful transition to adulthood. This report describes young adults randomized in the study with an initial analysis of baseline equivalence using child welfare administrative data. We also present early findings on the treatment group’s enrollment in LifeSet. Finally, we summarize information about LifeSet’s implementation gathered through interviews and focus groups.

Why This Matters

Each year, around 20,000 young adults age out of foster care, meaning they left foster care solely due to their age. Many young adults who age out experience challenges such as homelessness, unemployment, lack of education, incarceration, and untreated mental health and substance use problems. Unfortunately, the evidence base for interventions that effectively meet the needs of young adults leaving foster care is extremely limited. As part of a larger project aimed at increasing the number of evidence-supported interventions for the child welfare population, the Child Welfare Evidence Strengthening Team selected the LifeSet program for evaluation as it had positive findings from a prior evaluation.

What We Found

Survey responses suggest young adults in the study experience challenges but also have strengths to build on.

• Of young adults who completed the survey, almost one-third indicated at least one instance of housing instability at baseline.
• Among young adults who did not have a high school diploma, more than half were currently enrolled in education or training at the time they completed the survey.
• Fifty-seven percent of survey respondents reported working at a full- or part-time job.

The randomization process in New Jersey resulted in treatment and control groups that had similar characteristics at baseline.

• Age at randomization was the only characteristic of statistical nonequivalence.
• The treatment and control groups were statistically equivalent on all measures of child welfare history.

For young adults randomized to the treatment group, two-thirds enrolled in LifeSet.

• There were no significant differences in enrollment rates across implementing organizations.

Young adults who enrolled in LifeSet were slightly older and spent less time placed with kin than young adults who did not enroll.

• Young adults who enrolled in LifeSet were about two months older at the time of randomization than young adults who chose not to enroll.
• Enrolled young adults spent an average of five months placed with kin compared with an average of nine months for nonenrolled young adults.

LifeSet differs from usual services in several key ways.

• Staff felt that LifeSet’s scope and flexibility, program goals, higher frequency of communication with young adults, and well-defined model were key features that distinguish it from services as usual.
• In our focus groups, young adults perceived LifeSet as being more attentive to their goals and wants than other programs. Young adults we spoke with often described LifeSet as a program that “listens to them” in terms of case planning and goal setting. 

Staff used multiple methods to recruit and enroll eligible young adults in the LifeSet program.

• Some specialists would contact a young adults’ DCF caseworker to get more information about the young adults’ needs and goals. Other specialists preferred to have a “blank slate” of sorts when entering conversations with young adults.
• A common recruitment tactic was focusing on how LifeSet is unique and not a duplication of other services the young adults may have received.
• The LifeSet model encourages specialists to do unannounced visits to young adults’ homes (referred to as “pop-ups”) to engage referred young adults who had not enrolled. Staff we spoke with expressed mixed feelings about doing pop-ups. Some felt conducting pop-ups, especially multiple times after young adults had declined LifeSet, was at odds with the program’s philosophy of being young adult driven.

LifeSet is being delivered as Youth Villages intended, with some minor modifications during the COVID-19 pandemic.

• Youth Villages, the developer of LifeSet, conducted four certification reviews of each implementing organization in New Jersey. For all four certifications, the New Jersey organizations met the minimum thresholds with overall scores ranging from 84 percent to 95 percent, suggesting LifeSet is being delivered as intended.
• Implementation of LifeSet was modified to allow for virtual sessions due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The program returned to requiring in-person sessions in 2023. However, specialists stated they would sometimes give in to young adults’ preference to meet virtually, viewing a virtual session as better than no session.

How We Did It

To evaluate the LifeSet program, we used a randomized controlled trial (RCT) design. The RCT design allows us to know whether young adults who receive LifeSet have better outcomes than young adults who receive usual services. Only young adults randomized to the treatment group received a referral to LifeSet. Our data sources included child welfare administrative data, survey interviews with study participants, and LifeSet program data. We conducted interviews and focus groups with staff from DCF, Youth Villages, and the implementing organizations, and with young adults randomized to the treatment group to gather their perspectives on LifeSet’s implementation.

We are conducting a 24-month follow-up survey through grant funding from Youth Villages. We may also receive administrative data from additional sources to assess outcomes such as incarceration, receipt of public benefits, education, and employment. We will conduct our impact analyses in accordance with our preregistered analysis plan. We expect to publish the final impact study report in late 2026.