The state of Vermont is moving to expand foster care services to cover 18-to 21-year-olds.
Participation would be voluntary and would have to be agreed to both by the young person in foster care and by his or her foster parents.
Steve Dale is the commissioner of the Department for Children and Families. He says the move comes amid concerns that 18-year-olds deemed too old for foster care often end up headed for trouble.
The centerpiece of the new effort will be to provide payments to foster parents until the young people for whom they are turn 22.