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Benefits Every Youth in a SILP or THP Should Be Getting (and Probably Isn't)

Ask a kid in extended foster care what benefits they get and almost every one of them will say Medi-Cal. That's it. That's the list. And honestly, it makes sense. Medi-Cal is the one thing that gets explained at every hearing, shows up...

October 1, 2026

Ask a kid in extended foster care what benefits they get and almost every one of them will say Medi-Cal. That's it. That's the list. And honestly, it makes sense. Medi-Cal is the one thing that gets explained at every hearing, shows up without anyone filling out a form, and keeps working after they leave. Everything else requires an adult to say "hey, this exists" and then help with the paperwork, and that's exactly where it falls apart.

So this is the list. If you're 18 to 21 and in a SILP or a THP, or you're the foster parent, social worker, or CASA of someone who is, this is everything I could find that a youth in extended foster care in California can get right now, with the real dollar amounts and how to actually ask for it. Some of these are worth a few hundred dollars. A couple are worth more than the SILP check itself. Almost none of them happen automatically.

Two caveats and then I'll stop. I'm writing from Los Angeles County, so where a program is county run I've used LA's version and you'll need to check yours. And none of this is legal or tax advice. It's a foster parent who got tired of watching kids leave money on the table because nobody told them it was theirs.

Start with what you already have

Medi-Cal, since everyone knows this one. Every youth in extended foster care has full scope Medi-Cal, and anyone who was in foster care on their 18th birthday keeps it until 26 no matter what they earn. That includes mental health and substance use treatment. The Medi-Cal cuts rolling out over the next two years don't touch foster youth, nonminor dependents, or former foster youth. If a youth in a SILP is paying for health coverage, something is wrong and the social worker needs to fix it.

The placement check. In a SILP, the youth gets the basic rate directly, which is $1,301 a month for the 2025 to 2026 year. Parenting youth get an extra $900 infant supplement, and pregnant youth can get a $900 expectant parent payment for the three months before the due date. In a THP-NMD the money is different: the provider gets $4,523 a month (more in LA because of a housing supplement that goes to the provider, not the youth), and in exchange the youth gets a furnished unit with utilities paid plus a monthly stipend for food, clothing, and personal care. The stipend amount varies by provider and is not published anywhere, so ask before you sign.

One thing to know about the SILP money: it isn't taxed. It isn't earned income either, which matters for the tax credit section below. And it's scheduled to go up to $2,288 a month on July 1, 2027 or whenever the state's payment system is ready, whichever is later. If you're reading this in 2026, don't count on it yet.

An allowance, if you're still in a foster home. The Foster Youth Bill of Rights says every youth in care has the right to an age appropriate allowance, in every placement type. If you're 18, in a resource home, and have never seen one, that's a conversation worth having.

A lawyer. Your dependency attorney stays on your case until the court closes it, which can be up to 21. In LA that's the Children's Law Center. They work for you, not the county, and they're the ones to call when a social worker says no to something on this list.

CalFresh (the EBT card)

This is the one I see missed the most. Being in extended foster care does not disqualify you from CalFresh, and a youth in a SILP can apply as their own one person household, including when they're renting a room from someone. The $1,301 counts as unearned income on the application, but for a single person paying rent the deductions usually still land a real monthly benefit. Youth advocates have been saying for years that most NMDs in SILPs are eligible and not enrolled.

The placement matters here. In a SILP there's no caregiver being paid to feed you, so you apply for yourself. In a THP where the provider supplies food or a food stipend, you're usually not eligible, because the state already paid for your groceries. In a regular foster home, same thing, the foster parent's check covers food. And if you're living with a bio parent in a SILP, you have to be on the parent's CalFresh case, not your own.

Two things that trip people up. First, the work rule. Federal law cuts off CalFresh after three months for adults who aren't working 20 hours a week, but there's an exemption for anyone under 24 who was in foster care at 18, so a SILP youth between jobs shouldn't get timed out (a bill signed this fall, AB 2765, makes the county verify that exemption instead of making the youth prove it). Second, timing. Apply the same week the SILP gets approved, and bring the SILP approval paperwork and the lease or room rental agreement, because the rent deduction is what makes the benefit worth having. Apply at benefitscal.com or the county office.

WIC, if you're pregnant or parenting

If you're pregnant or have a kid under five, WIC gives you a monthly food benefit card for specific groceries (milk, eggs, produce, formula, baby food) plus breastfeeding support. It's income based, and being on Medi-Cal is an automatic qualifier, so a SILP or THP youth just walks in with the Medi-Cal card and proof of pregnancy or the baby's birth certificate. The $900 infant supplement doesn't change eligibility. Find your local office at myfamily.wic.ca.gov. This is separate from CalFresh and you can have both.

College money (this is where the real dollars are)

If a youth in a SILP does nothing else on this list, they should do this one. A foster youth who goes to college in California can get more in grants than most people realize, and almost all of it starts with one form.

The FAFSA. File it every year, starting October 1. There's a question asking whether you were in foster care or a ward of the court at any time since turning 13. Check it. That makes you an independent student, which means no parent income, no parent signature, and no parent on the form at all. Even one day in care after 13 counts. Foster parents are not FAFSA parents. If a school asks for proof, the Foster Care Ombudsperson (1-877-846-1602) issues verification letters, and the state cross checks your status with CDSS automatically.

Chafee Grant. Up to $5,000 a year for school costs, though the state dropped it to $4,500 for the 2026 to 2027 year to clear the waitlist. You qualify if you were in foster care at any point between 16 and 18, you're under 26, and you're enrolled at least half time. You can get it for up to five years. File the FAFSA, then do the one time Chafee application at chafee.csac.ca.gov. Funding is limited and runs out, so file early. The part spent on tuition and books isn't taxed; the part spent on rent is.

Cal Grant. For foster youth the rules are better than for everyone else: the deadline window runs until age 26 instead of one year out of high school, and you get eight years of eligibility instead of four. If you qualify for Cal Grant A or B, foster youth get a separate access award of up to $6,000 a year for living costs on top of tuition. At a community college, a Cal Grant B or C foster youth taking 12 or more units also gets the Student Success Completion Grant at $10,500 a year, with no age cap. None of this needs a separate application. File the FAFSA by March 2 for a university or September 2 for community college, and make sure the school sends your GPA.

Middle Class Scholarship. At a UC, CSU, or a community college bachelor's program, foster youth get an award that covers 100 percent of the remaining cost of attendance after other aid. Regular students get a percentage. This one is new enough that financial aid offices sometimes miss it, so ask by name.

Community college specifics. The California College Promise Grant waives the $46 per unit enrollment fee entirely, and foster youth up to 25 can't lose it for a bad semester. The application fee is waived. You get priority registration. And every community college now has NextUp, a foster youth program that pays for books, supplies, transportation, emergency housing, meals, and child care on top of counseling. New state rules as of October 2025 say colleges can't add their own eligibility hoops or force you into EOPS first. Walk into the NextUp or EOPS office with a foster care verification letter.

Housing on campus. CSU and UC must give foster youth priority for housing and first dibs on year round housing at no extra cost over breaks. Starting in 2027, community colleges have to as well, and all three systems have to let foster youth defer the move in costs until financial aid comes through instead of demanding them up front.

CalKIDS. If you were in foster care in grades 1 to 12, the state seeded a college savings account with at least $1,000 for you. Claim it at calkids.org with your birthdate and school ID number. It's usable from 17 to 26 for tuition, books, or a computer. Most foster youth have no idea this account exists.

When to do all of this, if you're starting school in fall 2027 (and it's the same calendar every year):

[embedded content: college aid calendar · FAFSA, Chafee, Cal Grant deadlines]

The FAFSA opens October 1 and March 2 is the deadline that matters most, because it covers Cal Grant for any four year school and the Middle Class Scholarship. File the Chafee application the same week as the FAFSA; it stays open until July 31 but the money runs out well before that. Community college has a later Cal Grant deadline of September 2, and the Promise Grant, NextUp, priority registration, and campus housing requests all happen at the college itself once you've applied there, so do that in the spring. Get the foster care verification letter before any of it. CalKIDS has no deadline; claim it whenever.

The tax credit almost nobody claims

California has a Foster Youth Tax Credit worth up to $1,189 for the 2025 tax year (the one you file in early 2026). You qualify if you're 18 to 25 at the end of the year and you were in California foster care at 13 or older. It's refundable, which means you get the money even if you owe nothing. Only about 16 percent of eligible youth claim it.

Here's the catch, and it's the whole reason I'm including this. You have to have earned income. Not a lot (one dollar from a W-2 job technically does it), but some. The SILP check doesn't count because it's not wages. So a youth whose only income all year was the SILP payment gets zero. A youth who worked a two week holiday job gets the full $1,189, because the credit is flat until you earn over $27,000. If you're in a SILP and not working, this is the cheapest $1,189 you'll ever make: one short job unlocks it.

It stacks. The same form (FTB 3514) also gives you CalEITC, which is up to $3,756 depending on income and kids, and the Young Child Tax Credit of up to $1,189 if you have a child under six. A parenting NMD with a part time job can clear $5,000 in state credits. The federal EITC is a different story: for 2025 you have to be 25 to claim it without a child, so most NMDs without kids get nothing federal. With a child there's no age minimum.

How to claim it: file a California return, check the foster youth box in Part VIII of form 3514, and check the consent box that lets CDSS confirm your status. If you don't consent, you need a letter from the county instead. You can also go back and claim 2022, 2023, and 2024 if you missed them. File free through VITA (there are foster youth specific VITA sites listed at jbay.org) or myfreetaxes.org. And starting this November, counties are required by a new law (SB 624) to mail every NMD a notice about this credit, so if you get an envelope from DCFS between November and January, open it.

One more note since people ask: the foster care payments themselves (SILP, THP stipend, ILP money) aren't taxable and don't go on your return.

ILP: the county fund you have to ask for

The Independent Living Program is money the county holds for youth who were in care at any point between 16 and 18, available until the day before your 21st birthday. It's not an entitlement, which is the polite way of saying nobody will offer it. You have to request it, in writing, for a specific thing.

In LA County, the list of things YDS (Youth Development Services) will pay for is long: driver's ed and the DMV test fees, a one time car insurance payment if you're working or in school, a laptop for college or work, apartment start up costs (security deposit, utility deposits, moving), rent help if you're working 25 hours a week, dorm move in, graduation costs like cap and gown and prom, emergency food and crisis housing up to 30 days, work or school clothes, bus passes, books each term, birth certificates and Social Security cards and passports, GED and SAT fees, and incentive payments up to $300 for hitting your TILP goals. The dollar caps per category are in an internal document that changes every year and isn't posted, so ask your ILP coordinator what the current max is before you plan around it.

How to ask: a signed request letter from you (email works if it's clearly from you), your current TILP, and whatever backup the category needs (a lease, a class schedule, three price quotes for the laptop). It goes to the ILP Transition Coordinator at your SPA's Transition Resource Center. The YDS line is (877) 694-5741 and youthds@dcfs.lacounty.gov. If a request gets denied and you think it shouldn't have been, the DCFS Youth Ombudsman is (213) 351-5602.

Two things foster parents should know. If a youth refuses to sign requests, the county can cut off ILP funds for three months except for emergency housing and food, so help them get the letter done. And ILP ends at 21 hard. Anything you were going to ask for, ask before the birthday.

Housing help, now and when you age out

The scary part of a SILP is what happens at 21 when the check stops. There are three programs built for exactly that moment, and all three require you to start before the birthday, not after.

FYI vouchers. HUD's Foster Youth to Independence program is a Section 8 style housing voucher for youth 18 to 24 who have left foster care or will leave within 180 days. It pays rent for 36 months, and it can extend to 60 if you're working, in school, or in a job program most of that time. There's no form you fill out yourself. Your social worker refers you through the county's housing division, the county certifies you're eligible, and the housing authority issues the voucher. The 180 day window means the referral can go in at 20 and a half. In LA, the last time DCFS opened a window they got 1,200 applications in two weeks for 100 vouchers, and the Board of Supervisors just ordered the county to pull down as many vouchers as it can. Translation: get in the line early, and if your worker hasn't mentioned FYI by your 20th birthday, bring it up.

THP-Plus. After you age out of extended foster care, THP-Plus gives you housing plus case management for up to 36 months or until you turn 25, whichever comes first. The housing can be a shared apartment, a single site building, or a host family. In LA, providers also set up a savings program where part of your income is held and returned to you at exit. Apply through the county housing coordinator or your ILP coordinator before 21. Note the LA fact sheet floating around still says 24 months and age 24; that's old, the real limit is 36 months and 25.

Housing navigators. Every county has state funded housing navigators for former foster youth 18 to 24 (going up to 28 in January 2027 under a law signed last month). They help you find a unit, cover move in costs and deposits, and work with landlords. There's no application. Ask your social worker for a referral to the Supportive Housing Division.

If you're in a SILP and it falls apart. You don't have to go to a shelter. LA County can approve a Transitional Living Setting, which is a short term (up to 120 days) stay in a motel, an Airbnb style unit, a friend's spare room, or a youth center while you find a new placement, and it pays the SILP daily rate. The social worker does a quick safety check and files a form. You can also move back into a resource home or into THP-NMD without losing extended foster care. A SILP is not a one way door.

If you're parenting. CalWORKs Homeless Assistance can pay a security deposit and last month's rent, or up to 16 nights in a motel, once every 12 months. A parenting NMD can open their own CalWORKs case for themselves and the baby. Bringing Families Home is a separate rapid rehousing program, but in LA it only covers NMDs who are parents with an open case for their own child.

The small stuff that adds up

A free phone. As of October 2025, California LifeLine has a foster youth program: a free smartphone and a free monthly plan with talk, text, and data for current and former foster youth 13 to 20 who were in care at any point after 13, and it keeps running six months past your 21st birthday. An NMD can sign up alone with a letter from the Foster Care Ombudsperson. The enrollment path was still being set up when I wrote this, so ask your ILP coordinator who the current carrier is. After 21, regular LifeLine knocks about $19 a month off any phone bill if you're on Medi-Cal or CalFresh.

Transit. In LA, Youth on the Move gives 18 to 21 year olds who were in care after 16 a free annual Metro TAP pass; apply through your ILP coordinator or youthds@dcfs.lacounty.gov. Separately, anyone on Medi-Cal qualifies for Metro LIFE, which is 20 free rides a month plus 90 days free when you sign up at taptogo.net. And if you're enrolled at a community college or participating K through 12 school, GoPass is unlimited free rides through the school.

Your documents. Before the court closes your case, the county is required by law to hand you your Social Security card, a certified birth certificate, a driver's license or state ID, your Medi-Cal card, and a letter verifying you were in foster care (you'll need that letter for FAFSA, the tax credit, and the phone). If you're missing any of those, the county pays for them through ILP vital records funds, and foster youth get one free certified birth certificate by law with a form from the county. A replacement Social Security card is free online at ssa.gov.

Your credit. The county has to pull your credit report from all three bureaus every year starting at 14 and help you fix anything wrong on it. Foster youth are targets for identity theft (your Social Security number has passed through a lot of hands), so when your worker says "we checked your credit" ask to see it. If they haven't been doing it, that's a conversation for your attorney.

HOPE account. If you spent 18 months or more in foster care cumulatively, or were placed after 16 with reunification terminated, the state opened a trust account in your name, seeded at around $3,000. You can withdraw from 18 to 26 for anything. The portal was rolling out in 2026; check treasurer.ca.gov/hope.

SSI. If you have a disability that will last a year or more, the county was supposed to screen you and file an SSI application before you turned 18 so the decision was made before your birthday. If that never happened, you can demand a screening as an NMD. SSI is roughly $1,000 a month and doesn't end at 21.

CASA. You can ask for a Court Appointed Special Advocate at any age up to 21 with an open case. In LA, referrals@casala.org. A CASA is an adult whose whole job is to show up for you, and they're very good at making social workers return calls.

What THP gives you that a SILP doesn't

People treat THP-NMD as the lesser option because you don't get the check. That's backwards for some kids. In a THP the provider is paid about $4,500 a month in LA to give you a furnished apartment with utilities included, a case manager you see roughly weekly, four hours a month of required life skills classes (budgeting, cooking, reproductive health), 24 hour staff availability, and a monthly stipend for food and personal items. Some providers in LA also run a savings program. You don't have to find housing, pass a readiness assessment, or manage a lease.

The tradeoffs: the stipend is smaller than the SILP check, there are house rules, and you usually can't get CalFresh because food is covered. But if the alternative is a SILP that ends with you sleeping in your car, THP is not the lesser option. It's also the standard fallback if a SILP doesn't work out. Referrals go through your social worker to thpp@dcfs.lacounty.gov in LA, and the provider list is at ilponline.org.

How to actually get all of this

Almost everything above runs through three people: your social worker, your ILP coordinator, and your attorney. Social workers are overloaded and will not volunteer most of this, not because they're hiding it but because they have 30 other kids. So the move is to walk in with the list. Print this post, bring it to your next monthly contact, and go down it. Which of these have I applied for? Which ones do I qualify for? Who do I call?

Get one document first: the foster care verification letter. The Foster Care Ombudsperson (1-877-846-1602, fosteryouthhelp.ca.gov) issues it, and so can your county. You'll need it for FAFSA, the tax credit, the phone, NextUp, and about half of everything else. Keep a photo of it on your phone.

Then hit the ones with deadlines. FAFSA opens October 1 and the Cal Grant deadline is March 2. The tax credit is a spring thing, but the earned income has to happen during the year, so a December job counts for this year. ILP ends the day before your 21st birthday. FYI referrals can go in at 20 and a half.

And if you're the foster parent or the CASA reading this: the youth will not do this alone. Not because they can't, but because every one of these programs was designed by someone who assumed a parent would be sitting next to them at the kitchen table. Be the parent at the kitchen table. That's the whole job.

Sources

Verified October 2026. Dollar amounts are for the 2025 to 2026 fiscal year and 2025 tax year unless noted. Rates change every July and the tax credit indexes every year, so check the linked page before you quote a number to a social worker.

Medi-Cal and placement rates

CalFresh and WIC

College

Taxes

ILP

Housing

The small stuff

Related Topics

foster care
SILP
THP
NMD
benefits
Benefits Every Youth in a SILP or THP Should Be Getting (and Probably Isn't) | Counted Doors