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Educational Support

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Qualified teens adopted from foster care in New Mexico between age 16 and age 18 may be eligible for:

  • Educational and training vouchers, up to $5,000 per year or the cost of attendance, whichever is less;
  • Start-up funds of $1,500 (one-time total): These start-up funds are for setting up a household and can be used for anything that meets that criteria such as linens, towels, furniture, utility deposits/bills. For adopted youth these funds cannot be used for room and board, but they can be used for anything else; and
  • Transition support services, including an assigned youth transition specialist to help with whatever they need, including education, housing, and employment.
CYFD Teen Girl #4

Support for youth in foster care any time after his or her 13th birthday:

  • The Fostering Connections to Further Student Achievement Act provisions of The College Cost Reduction and Access Act (Public Law 110-84) allows youth who are adopted from foster care to exclude their adoptive parents’ income from calculations of their need for college financial aid if the youth was in foster care at any time after his or her 13th birthday, qualifying as an “independent student” for financial aid purposes. This includes those adopted between their 13th and 16th birthdays, or their 18th birthdays if they are not eligible for the educational and training vouchers.