Engaging Adolescent Youth in Foster Care through Photography

Abstract

Older youth in foster care are particularly vulnerable because they are poorly prepared for the transition from foster care to independent adulthood. Interventions designed to assist in this transition rarely engage youth directly; plans are made for youth rather than with them. Photographs can serve as an externalised medium for the expression of youths' personal issues and can have a positive effect on their health. Enhanced outcomes include increasing self-esteem, instilling hope, and assisting with personal and interpersonal development. The expression of these concerns, hopes, and plans via photography can bridge social and communicative distances that may exist between youth and their social worker. In this way, youth engagement is enhanced; the social worker and youth can more effectively build a helping alliance. Two of the authors, college professors, developed an intervention that utilises photography to engage adolescent youth in foster care and facilitate collaborative development of a case plan that allows youth to take an active role in planning for their future, thus supporting strengths-based practice. The main points of this article will be describing the common challenges adolescent youth in foster care experience and how photography can mitigate these common challenges and buffer against the ongoing trauma adolescent youth experience while in foster care. This intervention utilises a strengths-based, solution-focused approach to engaging the adolescents.