•We tested a college-based program for foster youth with mental health challenges.•The program included one-on-one self-determination coaching for one academic year.•RCT findings show some effect on ...self-determination, self-efficacy, and enrollment.•Findings support further development of college support programs like ours.
Post-secondary students transitioning from foster care face a range of unique challenges to academic engagement and success, and the typical mental health stressors experienced by college-age young adults are exacerbated by experiences of trauma common to those with foster care experience. Many campuses have introduced specialized support programs for these students, but few have been rigorously tested. This study is the first identified randomized experiment to evaluate a post-secondary support program for enrolled college students with foster care backgrounds and mental health challenges. We report findings from a pilot intervention study testing the Project Futures model, which includes one-on-one coaching from near-peers around self-determination and self-efficacy related to mental health, academics, and other inhibitors of educational success. Overall, though this was a small pilot RCT (N = 35), analysis showed evidence of intervention impact on important targeted outcomes at post-intervention and/or 6-month follow-up, including self-determination, career-related self-efficacy and career exploration activities, and mental health self-efficacy and empowerment. Further, compared to the control group, intervention participants had a higher reported GPA and were more likely to still be enrolled in school at follow-up. The study findings suggest that such structured coaching approaches can increase self-determination and self-efficacy in ways that may impact retention and potentially degree completion for foster youth. We discuss these findings in the context of specialized campus support programming for youth with foster care histories, as well as important limitations in our study, and recommendations for future research, practice, and policy.
Foster youth face high risks and poor outcomes after aging out of care resulting in great economic and human costs to society. The purpose of the study was to describe life experiences of children ...aging out of the foster care system from the perspectives of adults who have successfully navigated this transition. Their life experiences during this period provided meaningful information for this study which helped to identify themes. Their perceptions of the periods during and after their transitions were explored to investigate supportive relationships, education, and workplace stability. Phenomenology was used to describe the experiences of nine young adults who had aged out of foster care. Participant ages ranged from 20 to 25 years old. Audiotaped semi-structured interviews were conducted for the study. Data analysis was ongoing throughout data collection. Four themes were identified: (1) “Facing a transition”; (2) “Depending on adults for help”; (3) “Making a difference for others”; and (4) “Moving forward with my life.” These four themes highlighted the participants’ experiences as they aged out of foster care. This study contributes to our understanding of the life experiences of former foster youth who are successful after the transition out of foster care. Recommendations for practice and research are identified.
•Retrospective narratives of 14 Israeli adults, birth children of foster parents.•Birth children of foster parents report invisibility as their primary experience.•Importance of including birth ...children in the decision to foster.•Mothers viewed as making a sacrifice, while birth children sacrifice mother.•Foster care social workers need to see birth children as their clients, as well.
The purpose of this qualitative study is to explore the experience of birth children of foster parents. The study examines the retrospective narratives of 14 Israeli adults, ages 18–38, whose families fostered a child for at least one year in the context of the Israeli foster care system. In-depth interviews were conducted and analyzed according to the grounded theory method. A central theme is the sense of invisibility that begins with the lack of involvement of the children of the foster parents in the decision to become a foster family and continues with the parents' and the social workers' intense attention to the myriad needs of the foster child, and ultimately may lead to the emotional distancing of the biological child and the foster child. In the discussion, the results are viewed through current approaches to foster care services as well as through Winnicott’s theory of the parent–child relationship to explain the lack of validation of the experience of the birth children of the foster parents, rendering them invisible. Possible interventions for helping foster parents and professionals view and treat the birth children of foster parents not only as objects in relation to the foster child, but as subjects in their own right, are presented.
Fifteen years has passed since the Chafee Foster Care Independence Program was created under the Social Security Act, which marked an increased role of the U.S. federal government in supporting ...foster care youth to independence. It was not until the National Youth in Transition Database (NYTD) was launched in 2010 that all 50 states reported standard data on receipt of the 13 types of Chafee independent living services. This paper, which draws on the first two years of NYTD data, analyzes Chafee service receipt across the U.S. among youth in foster care (ages 16–21). About half of the 131,204 youth included in this analysis received at least one type of Chafee service, and considerable variation existed in the proportion of youth that received each of the 13 specific types of services. Females were more likely than males to receive all but one type of service, and African Americans were less likely to receive most of the services. An interaction effect indicated that Black youth were significantly less likely to receive services in large urban areas than other racial/ethnic groups. Young people with disabilities or medical/psychological conditions were generally more likely to receive services than youth without disabilities. Youth in large urban regions receive fewer services than youth residing in other areas, and substantial variation exists between states in proportions of service recipients. Recommendations are made for targeting services, future data collection, and research, including suggestions on ways to improve measurement of Chafee services.
•Analyzes receipt of independent living services among foster care youth•First glimpse of national estimates using NYTD data•About half of all youth receive at least one service.•Females and youth with disabilities are more likely to receive services.•Black youth in urban areas receive particularly few services.
Many foster youth do not exit care for a permanency option and remain in foster care until they age out or are emancipated. Research findings have described the alarming circumstances of these former ...foster children’s adaptation to emerging adulthood. Public policy over the past three decades has sought various means of improving outcomes for these former foster youth. This review examines the legislative history leading up to extended care, the research on youth leaving foster care, youth preferences for extended care, the competition of extended care with permanency options, and the effects of extended foster care on transition-age youth. The benefits that can be had from such an extension are outlined.
The launch of the National Youth in Transition Database (NYTD) in 2011 was a watershed moment in the history of studying older youth in foster care. For the first time, there was the prospect of ...generating national estimates of key policy-relevant outcomes, such as the rate youth enroll in postsecondary education (PSE). However, flaws in NYTD's survey items limit its usefulness. For example, NYTD's education items only ask about current school enrollment, not past enrollment. We analyze NYTD data to estimate a national PSE enrollment rate at age 21. Youth with care histories are about half as likely as non-foster peers to be currently enrolled in PSE at age 21 (22% vs. 53%). We then compare NYTD findings in California with findings from a study of youth with care backgrounds in the same state that gathered more comprehensive data on PSE enrollment. This comparison quantifies the extent to which NYTD data undercounts PSE enrollment and demonstrates how this can lead to inaccurate conclusions about gender and racial disparities. We provide simple, feasible recommendations for improving NYTD education questions and call for a broader revision of NYTD so that it will generate data more useful to child welfare policy and practice.
The primary policies and outcome studies regarding youth transitioning from foster care and young adults who have aged out of foster care over the past quarter of a century are reviewed. Although ...several policies have increased services and funding for this population, overall, their outcomes have not significantly improved. In terms of educational achievement, employment, and well-being, many continue to fare poorly in young adulthood. Further policies and practice improvements may need to be implemented. The population of youth transitioning has far outpaced the funding available, state and program eligibility requirements may be eliminating the most vulnerable from services, in many states there is an inadequate provision of basic needs such as housing and healthcare, the expectations of self-sufficiency for this population now exceed societal norms, and the restrictions and placement instability associated with many older adolescents in care may be in contrast to their developmental needs. In order to more fully address the needs of youth transitioning from foster care, child welfare policies and practices may need to focus more attention on the relational and social development of youth while in foster care. Furthermore, during young adulthood, policies and practices may need to provide greater safety nets and resources to this population.
► Four federal policies concerning aging-out youth are reviewed. ► Thirteen outcome studies of young adults from foster care are reviewed. ► Outcomes indicate the population has continued to fare poorly. ► While in care, older youth need more stability and normative environments. ► After aging-out, young adults need more supports.
Abstract Unique service needs exist for expectant or parenting youth with foster care histories (EPY) and their families. Informed by Critical Ecological Systems Theory (CEST), this exploratory ...qualitative study presents findings from an inductive content analysis of in‐depth interviews and focus groups with EPY and service providers. The study included nine in‐depth face‐to‐face interviews with service providers ( n = 5) and EPY ( n = 4) as well as five focus groups with service providers ( n = 23) and three with EPY ( n = 7) to identify the characteristics of service providers, agencies and systems that may act as barriers to service utilization among EPY with a foster care history ( n = 10) or juvenile justice history ( n = 1). Service provider characteristics included negative attitudes towards EPY and/or those with child welfare experiences. Agency characteristics included a lack of workforce diversity, employee turnover, lack of training about diverse communities, restrictive enrolment processes and eligibility requirements, lack of childcare and transportation and limited accessibility of services. System characteristics included a lack of up‐to‐date information about existing services, territorialism, funding sources that do not prioritize interagency collaboration and a lack of communication/coordination among agencies. Implications include hiring and retaining a diverse workforce, providing training about diverse communities and implicit biases concerning young parents, developing navigation services specifically for EPY and developing processes for sharing data and communicating across systems that interact with EPY.
Young people in foster care frequently experience early parenting, and U.S. law requires the documentation of parents in care. The extent to which the child protection system (CPS) has accurately ...collected information on parents in care remains largely unknown and has ramifications for the planning and delivery of services.
Using California as a case study, this study documented young mothers in care using birth records, determined the proportion of mothers correctly identified in CPS records, and compared characteristics and placements of mothers who were or were not identified.
All mothers aged 15–21 years documented by vital birth records (2014 and 2019) were probabilistically linked to CPS records, yielding 3199 mothers in care.
We compared mothers who were or were not identified in CPS records using bivariate statistics. A chi-square test for trends examined differences in documentation over time.
A third of mothers were not identified as such in CPS records (n = 1136). The proportion of mothers identified by caseworkers rose from 50 % in 2014 to 71.5 % in 2019 (p < .001). Nonminor dependent mothers and those placed in supervised independent living programs were more likely to be misclassified in CPS data.
Motherhood may not be documented in CPS records; however, significant improvements were evident. Results suggest that all nonminor dependents should be informed of available services for expectant and parenting individuals, especially if they are living in less restrictive placements, given they are more likely to give birth and less likely to be identified in CPS records than minor dependents.
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