The group works a lot on efforts to "normalize" life for foster youth in Indiana, including during the holidays.

The Indiana Youth Institute has hosted The Because KIDS COUNT conference for the past sixteen years.

The number of children entering the foster system continues to grow in part because of the opioid epidemic.

About 50 students are moving into dorms at Purdue University Northwest this summer to gain helpful insight to financial literacy, math, English, skills building, healthy relationships and campus navigation.

An estimated 500 youth in Indiana age out of foster care system every year and when they do, they will lose health insurance if they don't re-enroll.

A local nonprofit has selected a new leader to help serve Indiana's foster youth. Brent Kent will serve as the CEO of Indiana Connected By 25. The organization is dedicated to providing financial, educational and social support to help kids transition out of the foster care system.

Under the Affordable Care Act, young adults can stay on their parents' insurance until their 26th birthday. Kids aging out of foster care can also stay on Medicaid. But having coverage is not the same thing as accessing health care, and without parents to guide them through the health care system, former foster kids can get lost.

Because of their backgrounds which often include neglect and abuse, many of the kids in foster care around the country have significant health needs.

Kids often go into foster care because of problems at home like addiction, domestic violence, physical abuse, or neglect. They usually carry trauma from these painful experiences. Experts say, it's loving foster parenting that can do the most to help them heal.