Predictors for resolution of antisocial behavior among foster care youth receiving community-based services

Youth in the foster care system are more likely to be diagnosed with mental illness than those in the general population. Within this system, youth with antisocial behavior (e.g., aggressive, oppositional) are overrepresented. The challenges youth with antisocial behavior present to foster care systems make understanding the factors that predict remission in this population important for improving placement stability. Using Optimal Data Analysis (ODA), this study examines potential moderating effects of various individual, social, and strength variables on clinically significant decreases antisocial behavior in a sample of foster care youth over time. Results revealed positive improvements in youths' wellbeing to be the optimal predictor of resolution, followed by positive changes in family functioning and positive changes in adjustment to trauma (i.e., symptoms of PTSD). These results indicate that clinically significant decreases over time in antisocial behavior were associated with concurrent improvement in individual and environmental variables. Implications for service providers working with this population are discussed.     

Decision-making skills of emerging adults aging out of foster care

This study examines the decision-making skills of emerging adults that have aged out of foster care and transitioned to independent life. Emerging adults face a wide variety of life-direction determining decisions and those aging out of foster care experience even more significant transitional issues. Youth aging out of foster care may lack the requisite decision-making competencies for coping with these challenges. This study compares the decision-making skills of foster care alumni to a group of similar individuals who were not involved in the child welfare system. Using a validated quantitative survey instrument, 29 foster care alumni and 29 demographically similar non-fostered participants described their general decision-making skills and elaborated on their personal experiences of reaching the age of majority. Statistical analyses of group differences indicate foster alumni score lower on overall decision-making skills and the decision-making process. In anecdotal comments, foster alumni tended to focus on their experience of leaving the foster system, while the non-fostered population elaborated on what it was like to become a legal adult. This study suggests that youth aging out of the foster care system may need support with the aspects of decision-making relating to the generation of alternatives and inferential reasoning about decision consequences as one way to augment and improve the transitional services designed to prepare foster youth for independent life.     

Sexual health programming for vulnerable youth: Improving knowledge,attitudes, and behaviors

PurposeAmong girls in foster care, 48% become pregnant at least once by age 19 (Dworsky & Courtney, 2010). Youth in or at-risk for foster care (YFC) report limited knowledge about, access to, and use of condoms; ambivalent attitudes towards teen parenting; and participation in other risky behaviors. For the current study, we adapted and supplemented an evidence-based sexual health program called SiHLE, using a systematic adaptation framework (ADAPT-ITT, Wingood & DiClemete, 2008), to address the unique and targeted needs of youth living in a temporary shelter due to lack of housing. Youth in this study were either in foster care and awaiting placement, or having serious family problems and were at-risk of entering the foster care system.MethodsThirty-six youth participated in SiHLE-YFC during their stay at a temporary shelter. Four 90-minute sessions focused on increasing sexual health knowledge, improving attitudes towards and self-efficacy of condom use, and developing core skills such as problem-solving and communication.ResultsAs hypothesized, youth showed high satisfaction with the intervention and significant improvement in sexual health knowledge from pre to post. At one-month follow-up, youth continued to show significant improvement in sexual health knowledge, along with a significant reduction in risky sexual behaviors. Though not significant, there were moderate effect sizes for changes in attitudes towards teen pregnancy and condoms. There were no changes in attitudes towards teen parenting.ConclusionTaken together, findings suggest that sexual health education directly targeting the unique needs of YFC may improve sexual health knowledge and behavior, and are discussed in the context of challenges associated with intervention and research with this population.     

Increasing College Access and Retention Rates of Youth in Foster Care: An Analysis of the Impact of 22 State Tuition Waiver Programs

Youth in foster care face educational disparities in terms of college access, retention, and graduation. To address this, 22 states have implemented tuition waiver programs targeting current and former foster youth. A comparative analysis was conducted of all 22 programs implemented since 2014. Similarities include student eligibility based on youth’s age upon foster care entry, university admission and time in care requirements. Differences include type of expenses covered, time limits on use, program oversight, and funding availability. No differences were found based on political party control, gubernatorial power, and state population composition. Recommendations for policy and practice reform are offered.     

Psychometric properties of the Transitions from Foster Care Key Leader Survey

This study summarizes the development and piloting of the Transitions from Foster Care Key Leader Survey (TFC-KLS), an instrument designed to measure change in systems serving young people transitioning from foster care to adulthood. The Jim Casey Youth Opportunity Initiative’s logic model was used as a basis for instrument development. The instrument was piloted with 119 key leaders in six communities. Seven of eight latent scales performed well in psychometric testing. The relationships among the 24 measures of system change were explored. A CFA testing overall model fit was satisfactory following slight modifications. Finally, a test of inter-rater reliability between two raters did not find reliable reporting of service availability in a supplemental portion of the survey. The findings were generally positive and supported the validity and utility of the instrument for measuring system change, following some adaptations. Implications for the field are discussed.     

An asset-based approach to facilitating positive youth development and adoption

The present study examined outcomes for youth in foster care who participated in an asset-based camp designed to build youth assets and facilitate adoption. The study addresses youth perceptions of their assets and the relationship between assets and adoption status. Youth perceived that their assets increased over time and adopted youth reported having more assets than youth who were not adopted. An asset-based approach may lead to positive outcomes for youth in foster care.     

Mentoring and social skills training: ensuring better outcomes for youth in foster care

Youth in foster care face significant life challenges that make it more likely that they will face negative outcomes (i.e., school failure, homelessness, and incarceration). While the reason(s) for out-of-home placement (i.e., family violence, abuse, neglect and/or abandonment) provide some context for negative outcomes, such negative outcomes need not be a foregone conclusion. In fact, interventions created to serve at-risk youth could ostensibly address the needs of youth in foster care as well, given that they often face similar social, emotional, and other challenges. Specifically, the author posits that supporting foster care youth through the use ofmentoring and social skills training could reduce the negative outcomes far too common for many of these youth.     

Instability in the lives of foster and nonfoster youth: Mental health impediments and attachment insecurities

Foster youth are at risk for negative mental health and psychosocial outcomes, including when they are on the brink of emancipation from care into self-sustained adulthood. Factors believed to affect outcomes among foster youth include residential and school instability. Although frequent moves to new homes and schools are common for youth living in poverty, instability for foster youth involves not only changing homes and schools but often also changes in caregivers, thus putting foster youth at risk for disrupted attachment relationships. For the current study, structural equation models examined links between instability, mental health problems, and attachment insecurities in foster and at-risk nonfoster youth. A model containing instability provided a better fit to the data than a model containing foster care status only. Group comparisons revealed that instability was associated with posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms for foster but not nonfoster youth. Implications of instability in the lives of foster youth are discussed.     

Responsive engagement in mental health services for foster youth transitioning to adulthood

ABSTRACT

As youth near the transition to adulthood and aging out of the foster care system, exposure to stress increases, especially for youth who have less-than-adequate support systems. Although mental health problems among foster youth often continue into adulthood, service use decreases dramatically within a year of turning age 18. Understanding how foster youth experience mental health services as they transition from care provides social workers and other mental health professionals important insight that can lead to specific, targetable strategies. This study sought to explore what situations were helpful in supporting mental health as foster youth transitioned to adulthood. Focus groups and interviews with former foster youth and professionals informed the development of a quantitative instrument, which was used to identify the most supportive and frequently encountered situations former foster youth experienced. Findings indicate the most helpful situations were those in which professionals and mentors were flexible and responsive to their individual needs and trusted their ability to make decisions. Supportive adults who honored their choices and collaborated in decision-making were also helpful. Engaging, empowering, and partnering with transition-age youth may increase the likelihood of positive mental health outcomes for this population, offering implications for family-centered, strengths-based practice.     

It's good to know that you got somebody that's not going anywhere: Attitudes and beliefs of older youth in foster care about child welfare-based natural mentoring

This exploratory study is the first to investigate the attitudes and beliefs of older adolescents in foster care toward the implementation of a child welfare-based natural mentoring intervention designed to promote enduring, growth-fostering relationships between youth at risk of emancipation and caring, supportive nonparental adults from within the youth's existing social network. Six focus groups were conducted with 17 older youth in foster care attending a specialized charter high school for young people in out-of-home care in a large, urban city in the Northeast United States. Focus group data were transcribed and analyzed using a conventional content analysis approach. The following significant themes emerged related to natural mentoring for older foster youth emancipating from care: (1) need for permanent relationships with caring adults, (2) youth conceptions of natural mentoring, (3) unique challenges related to natural mentoring for youth in foster care, (4) role of a natural mentoring intervention in child welfare, and (5) challenges for implementing a child welfare-based natural mentoring intervention. Overall, our findings suggest that these young people are cautiously optimistic about the potential of a child welfare-based natural mentoring intervention to promote their social and emotional wellbeing. Future studies are needed to better understand the experiences of older foster youth with an actual natural mentoring intervention, including challenges, opportunities, and outcomes.     

Professional and youth perspectives on higher education-focused interventions for youth transitioning from foster care

Youth transitioning from foster care to adulthood access and succeed in college at much lower rates than the general population. A variety of services exist to support youth with their postsecondary goals, but few if any have evidence for their effectiveness. As part of a National Institute on Drug Abuse-funded intervention development project to design Fostering Higher Education, a structured, testable postsecondary access and retention intervention for youth transitioning from foster care to adulthood, focus groups were conducted with community stakeholders to collect recommendations for how to most effectively structure the intervention. Analyses of focus group findings resulted in four theme groups: (1) general recommendations for intervention development; (2) recommendations for an educational advocacy intervention component; (3) recommendations for a mentoring intervention component; and (4) recommendations for a substance abuse prevention intervention component. These themes offered a variety of important insights for developing interventions in a way that is usable for youth and feasible for communities to implement.     

Qualitative exporation of relationships with important non-parental adults in the lives of youth in foster care

Foster youth are at risk of poor adult outcomes. Research on the role of mentoring relationships for this population suggests the value of strategies that increase their access to adult sources of support, both while in foster care and as they reach adulthood. We conducted semi-structured, individual qualitative interviews with 23 former foster youth ages 18-25 regarding their relationships with supportive non-parental adults. We sought to identify factors that influence the formation, quality, and duration of these relationships and to develop testable hypotheses for intervention strategies. Findings suggest several themes related to relationship formation with non-parental adults, including barriers (e.g., youth's fears of being hurt) and facilitators (e.g., patience from the adult). Distinct themes were also identified relating to the ongoing development and longevity of these relationships. Youth also described multiple types of support and positive contributions to their development. Proposed intervention strategies include systematic incorporation of important non-parental adults into transition planning, enhanced training and matching procedures within formal mentoring programs, assistance for youth to strengthen their interpersonal awareness and skills, and the targeting of specific periods of need when linking youth to sources of adult support. Recommended research includes the development, pilot-testing, and evaluation of proposed strategies.     

Assessing Child Well-Being in Non-Relative Foster Care with a New Outcome Measurement Tool

ABSTRACT

The Child Health and Illness Profile–Adolescent Edition (CHIP-AE), a recently developed standardized instrument, was administered to 49 adolescents living in non-relative family foster care under the auspices of the child welfare system in Illinois. Youth reported high levels of satisfaction with their health, academic progress, resiliency and risk resistance, but low levels of work performance. These youth also reported higher levels of psychosocial problems, major and minor adverse effects from injuries, migraines, and chronic medical conditions such as epilepsy, diabetes and sickle-cell anemia. This study demonstrated the potential usefulness of the CHIP-AE as a tool for involving youth living in non-relative foster care in assessing their own health and well-being. Suggestions for future use of the CHIP-AE are discussed.     

Hispanic and African American Youth

SUMMARY

This exploratory, qualitative study of 28 (10 Hispanic and 18 African American) former foster care youth attempts to capture the essence of their quest for self-sufficiency. While research on former foster care youth continues to highlight the problems confronting them after they emancipate from care, the depth of their struggles is often lost in the aggregation of statistics. The numbers themselves often fail to capture the hardships, isolation, hope, and despair many of them may face as they attempt to adjust to life after foster care. Furthermore, existing research often regards emancipated youth as a homogeneous population. Interviews with these respondents of color were coded to determine the themes and stories they held. The themes emergent from these interviews were: the importance of people in the independent living programs; vagueness in recalling the content of the independent living programs; family conflict; housing instability; regrets, fears, and lessons learned; and future goals. Implications for culturally sensitive practice and research are drawn from these data.     

Pregnancy risk among older youth transitioning out of foster care

Youth served in the foster care system have higher rates of pregnancy than general population youth; yet we have little information about risk and protective factors to target in order to prevent early pregnancy in this population. We assessed early pregnancy risk and protective factors known for general population adolescents for their relevance to youth in the foster care system. Using data from a longitudinal study of 325 older youth from the foster care system, we examined bivariate and multivariate relationships between these factors and pregnancy between ages 17 and 19 using logistic regression. Models examined the risk for early parenting separately by gender. The pregnancy rate increased by 300% between ages 17 and 19. At 19, 55% of females had been pregnant, while 23% of males had fathered a child. Although this study assessed multiple known factors, few were significant for this high risk group. Females who were not sexually active at age 17 were less likely to become pregnant, but those who reported using birth control were as likely to become pregnant as those who did not. Also, females with a history of arrest were more likely to have a pregnancy between 17 and 19. Males who left the foster care system before their 19th birthday were more likely to make someone pregnant. Youth from the foster care system are at exceptional risk of early pregnancy, regardless of their maltreatment history, religiosity, school connectedness, or academic achievement, particularly in the years between 17 and 19. This high risk group needs pregnancy prevention interventions and access to effective birth control.     

Pre-foster Care Maltreatment Class as a Predictor of Maltreatment in Foster Care

The majority of youth in the foster care system have been removed from their homes as means of protection against parental maltreatment. Studies have shown, however, that foster youth may continue to experience maltreatment after they have entered the child welfare system (Poertner et al. in Child Youth Serv Rev 21(7):549–563, 1999; Tittle et al. in Urbana 51:61801, 2008). In this study, we explore how maltreatment prior to foster care entry may predict maltreatment while in care for youth who are preparing to emancipate. Using latent class analysis and multinomial logistic regression, we find that current or former foster youth with histories of multiple maltreatment (particularly, combined pre-foster care histories of neglect and physical abuse) are more likely to report neglect, physical abuse and sexual abuse in care than those with histories of low maltreatment. These youth should be the target of prevention efforts in child welfare agencies.     

Re-entry among former foster youth in early adulthood: Findings from illinois

On January 1, 2010, the Foster Youth Successful Transition to Adulthood Act went into effect in the state of Illinois to legally permit former foster youth who are at least 18 years old and not yet 21 years old to voluntarily re-engage with child welfare agencies and juvenile court to receive Supporting Emancipated Youth Services. Not much is known about the number or characteristics of foster youth who have taken advantage of this new opportunity to receive support following a hardship. This study used administrative data from the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (IDCFS) to describe foster youth who have legally re-entered out-of-home care after exiting through emancipation. Findings revealed that a low number of former foster youth re-entered out-of-home care. This article discusses possible explanations for why so few youth have re-entered out-of -home care when research suggests they may be at increased risk for making the transition to adulthood.     

Increasing college access for youth aging out of foster care: Evaluation of a summer camp program for foster youth transitioning from high school to college

Young people who transition from the foster care system face many challenges including lack of support and other educational barriers. They are less likely to graduate from high school than their counterparts and go on to college yet despite challenges, many succeed and take advantage of higher education programs.In Michigan, a state with one of the highest percentage of youth in foster care, Michigan State University developed a small scale, targeted intervention to help transitioning foster youth achieve their goals of pursuing higher education. Led by the School of Social Work in collaboration with other colleges and disciplines, it was demonstrated that a campus based learning program for transitioning foster youth can help contribute toward a perceived increase in knowledge and information about college life, funding and admissions procedures. The educational process involved peer support, role modeling, mentoring and active learning sessions led by the faculty and students who were often foster care alumni themselves. Leaders and speakers came from a range of disciplines, institutions and organizations. This approach and curriculum contributed to perceptions of the camp as enhancing life skills, self-concept, empowerment and sense of purpose. Consequently, this program contributed to the resilience of those who attended and potentially helped build steps from care to higher education.     

Why youth run: Assessing run function to stabilize foster care placement

Youth running away from foster care placements is a serious problem that can significantly impact health and well-being. Given the severity of the problem, it is important to identify reasons youth run away because this information could help to identify effective intervention strategies. This paper describes results from focus groups conducted with child welfare providers, educational personnel, and youth with histories of running away from foster care placements. The qualitative analysis revealed that youth's motivation for running, or the function of running away, fell into two general categories: running “to” something (friends, activities, etc.) or running “away” from something (aversive placements, etc.). Suggestions are provided for how understanding the reason for running away could help in determining successful prevention and intervention strategies that result in stable placements.     

Smoothing the transition to adulthood: Creating ongoing supportive relationships among foster youth

This paper assesses the utility and effectiveness of a foster care model designed to improve youth transitions to adulthood. The model engages the youth's social network, helps youth to develop supportive, ongoing relationships with adults, and is heavily focused on youth empowerment. A three-year evaluation of 88 foster youth revealed that youth exposed to the model felt they had more power over their lives, had a wider variety of supportive adults in their lives, and could better regulate their emotions than those in a comparison group.