age out

age out
 v. phr.— «At least when it comes to the 9,000 children the government has taken into care on your behalf. They are children who have no one else capable of caring for them. So the government, acting for you, has stepped in to keep them safe and give them a chance. Until the minute they turn 19. Then they’re pretty much on their own.…A study released in 2005 found that about 60 per cent of the young people “aging out,” as it’s called, hadn’t finished high school.» —“So you’re 19. Here’s $700. Goodbye and good luck” by Paul Willcocks Vancouver Sun (British Columbia, Canada) Aug. 5, 2006. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)