There are people who can catch up, but that doesn't mean they can overcome the baggage from their background to get there.

I met a few people who caught up well after transferring to my high school as foster kids. They knew what they wanted to do and had loose plans. Their teachers were enthusiastically recommending them for things and encouraged them to peruse education. Ones now adoptive mother misled him about everything because she didn't want to admit she didn't know enough to help him, and he enrolled in college but never registered for housing or classes. She took him to talk to the Bursers office who "can't reject you, you're an orphan". The same woman and her husband convinced a kid who wanted to apply to culinary school to put off the proper planning. His dad died and his mom was sick, so she felt like they couldn't reject him even if literally nothing was filled out right, if at all.

I feel like she and her husband could not make things worse for these kids if they tried.

A third foster kid wanted to go be a tattoo artist, but couldn't get past his long term girlfriend telling him he had to stay near where she lived until she moved.