careleaver

Etymology

From care + leaver.

careleaver means one who has previously been in foster care. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 87 out of 100.

Why this word is great

CARELEAVER — [Noun] A person who has transitioned out of the foster care system after having been a ward of the state. From the English words 'care', in the sense of 'childcare or foster care system', and 'leaver', meaning 'one who leaves or has left'. Unlike “foster child,” which denotes a present and protected status, or “alumnus,” which implies a graduated rite of passage from a chosen institution, “careleaver” names the stark administrative event of exiting a system that was never a home. It is the key turning in a lock on a temporary bedroom for the last time, the bureaucratic chill of a case file marked 'closed,' and the specific vertigo of a bridge that ends mid-span—a word for being launched, not into the world, but at it.

noun

One who has previously been in foster care.