What I Carry

As of 2023, more than 391,000 children and youth are in foster care in the United States. In 2021, over 19,000 people aged out, meaning that they left the foster care system “without reuniting with their parents or having another permanent family home” (“Child Welfare and Foster Care Statistics.” Annie E. Casey Foundation, 2023). This number has declined since 2008, when 30,000 youth aged out of the system. Compared to those who have familial support, people who age out are at higher risk for a number of adversities, including “behavioral, mental and physical health issues, housing problems and homelessness, employment and academic difficulties, early parenthood, [and] incarceration” (“Child Welfare and Foster Care Statistics”). Longo’s protagonist and narrator, Muiriel, is keenly aware of the struggles faced by those who age out of the system, and she looks ahead to her 18th birthday with a mixture of determination and fear: “[I]f I am as perfect as I can be, I bet I can stave off the likely possibility of being homeless within a year, or pregnant, or dead. Outcomes for kids who age out with no family are mostly a nightmare” (12).