Former foster youth: Employment outcomes up to age 30

Employment outcomes of former foster youth as young adults: The importance of human, personal, and social capital

OBJECTIVE: We sought to examine the independent and interactive effects of common mental health disorders and chronic pain conditions on employment and work outcomes among individuals younger than 65 years of age. METHODS: We analyzed cross-sectional data from the second wave of Healthcare for Communities (HCC2), a household telephone survey of U.S. civilian adults conducted in 2000 to 2001 (N=5328). Common mental disorders were assessed using the short-form versions of the World Health Organization’s Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI-SF). Chronic pain conditions and labor market outcomes were identified by self report. Logistic and linear regression analysis was used to provide estimates for work impairment based on the presence of a mental health disorder and/or a chronic pain condition. RESULTS: The interaction between presence of a mental health disorder and presence of a chronic pain condition was significantly associated with no work for pay in the past 12 months (OR 2.3 [1.2–4.2]) and number of days of work missed in the past month due to health (regression coefficient 1.5 [0.6]). In stratified analyses, this effect persisted in women but not men. The presence of a mental health disorder or chronic pain condition were each independently associated with limitations in work and any work missed in the past 30 days due to health, although the interaction was not significant. CONCLUSION: Mental health disorders and chronic pain are each associated with work disability. Mental health disorders are more highly associated with some work disability outcomes when accompanied by chronic pain, especially in women.

The limited research on foster youth in higher education focused on college access but ignored the experiences of those who successfully navigated college and enrolled in graduate programs. The master‐narrative shared about this population does not give voice to their knowledge and experiences of their resilience. Using interviews with former foster care youth in graduate school at a large private college in Southern California, this study utilized and expanded on counter‐narrative framework to render these students visible and to give voices to their stories. The research sought to answer three questions: How do foster youth define success? How do foster youth describe their challenges and successes in graduate school? How does institutional context influence the way foster youth define and achieve success? The study found that when respondents felt they were part of the decision‐making process about their lives, they achieved success in higher education. They were challenged with adhering to the rigor of their programs while simultaneously advocating and searching for financial, emotional and supportive resources. Their successes lie in the services of others, having an impact on their communities, and progressing to their educational and life goals. The institutional context of the foster care system and education system creates an environment that disregards this population’s needs. In fact, stereotypes and the lack of social capital and mentors are among the hindrances to their progression toward success.

Youth with disabilities transitioning from foster care: Examining prevalence and predicting positive outcomes

The persistence of disappointing employment outcomes for youth and adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) indicates the importance of efforts to prepare them for the workplace. We conducted a systematic review of intervention/follow-up intervention studies on employment skills and outcomes for youth and adults with ASD. We reviewed 39 studies in terms of their participant characteristics, research methodologies, intervention features, and employment outcomes. These studies highlight practices and programs that promote vocational skill acquisition, improve employment outcomes, and provide collateral benefits (e.g., mental health, confidence, time management). It is unclear, however, which individuals with ASD are likely to benefit most from particular interventions. We offer implications for practice and research to improve employment experiences of youth and adults with ASD.

Every year, thousands of children are placed in foster care. It is estimated that approximately 24,000 youth age-out of the foster care system each year. Improving outcomes for youth in foster care when they age-out of the system has been a concern among government agencies, policy makers, and advocates (Casey Family Programs, 2010). Although research in the foster care area has studied the outcomes of foster youth when they age-out of the system, the role of the foster parents related to these outcomes, especially in the area of career development, has not received the same attention. The purpose of this study was to explore the perception of foster parents of youth with and without disabilities about their foster youth’s career self-efficacy beliefs. A total of 157 foster parents registered in the Iowa Foster and Adoptive Parents Association (IFAPA) and Nebraska Foster and Adoptive Parent Association (NFAPA) email databases responded to an online survey. The survey included a demographic questionnaire which presented questions about the extent of their role as foster parents and the Career Decision Making Self-Efficacy Scale – Short Form (CDMSE-SF) that measured the foster parents’ perception of the career self-efficacy of their foster youth. After conducting MANOVA and ANOVA analyses, a highly perceived selfefficacy belief was found among the foster parents in general. A comparison of the career self –efficacy beliefs of foster parents of children with or without disabilities was found to be higher among those foster parents serving youth without disabilities. Additionally, the foster parents identified services and/or training they understand are important for them and the foster youth such as more orientation about disabilities, the parent’s role in Individual Educational Plan (IEP) meetings, and the opportunity for the foster youth of having employment experience before they leave the foster care system. Considering the important role of the family in the career development of youth and the development of expectations, these findings are important not only to the rehabilitation counseling professionals, but to many individuals in the helping

Does education pay for youth formerly in foster care? Comparison of employment outcomes with a national sample

Recruiting and supporting care leavers in Australian higher education

This chapter examines current educational disparities for youth in the foster system from a social justice lens. Children and youth in the foster care system across the nation experience perpetual emotional pain, poverty, and displacement. These invisible children are distinguishable by their numerous transitory placements and the issues indicative of their disparity, which include high dropout rates, poor literacy skills, and transition to adulthood with limited independent living skills or social support systems. Foster youth often transition from the system into homelessness and sex trafficking rather than to college and jobs. Underlying the educational experience for foster youth are policies, practices, and trends that serve as exclusionary measures, in which educational the needs of the children are often left unaddressed as overburdened government systems attempt to respond to basic safety needs. Needs of attachment, self-worth, self-efficacy, and self-regulation, which underlie their motivation and expenditure of effort for successful academic pursuits, are left unmet. Examination takes place of the underlying human factor, the substance from which children typically grow up and navigate through the educational system. Recommendations are made for foster youth to be engaged with culturally responsive, trained mentors, who scaffold the children’s needs through educational advocacy, educational support, life skills, and social-emotional development. Through mentor engagement, foster youth may more effectively navigate their educational journey, resolve their sense of individual identities as learners, and gain a sense of voice, which assists them in moving beyond their oppression toward successful outcomes and offers hope for their futures.

Acknowledgments Introduction Part I: Describing the Problem 1. Foster Youth in Context, by Fred Wulczyn2. A Comparative Examination of Foster Youth Who Did and Did Not Achieve Permanency, by Penelope L. Maza3. Outcomes for Older Youth Exiting the Foster Care System in the United States, by Mark E. Courtney4. Outcomes for Youth Exiting the Foster Care System: Extending What We Know and What Needs to Be Done with Selected Data, by Peter J. Pecora5. Permanence and Impermanence for Youth in Out-of-Home Care, by Richard P. Barth and Laura K. Chintapalli6. Permanence Is a State of Security and Attachment, by Gretta Cushing and Benjamin Kerman Part II: Policy Responses to the Permanency Needs of Youth 7. Permanence for Older Children and Youth: Law, Policy, and Research, by Madelyn Freundlich8. Federal Law and Child Welfare Reform: The Research-Policy Interface in Promoting Permanence for Older Children and Youth, by Rosemary J. Avery9. Guardianship and Youth Permanence, by Robert B. Hill10. A Fine Balancing Act: Kinship Care, Subsidized Guardianship, and Outcomes, by Aron Shlonsky11. Dependency Court Reform Addressing the Permanency Needs of Youth in Foster Care: National Evaluation of the Court Improvement Program, by Karl Ensign, Sabrina A. Davis, and Elizabeth Lee12. Facilitation of Systems Reform: Learning from Model Court Jurisdictions, by Shirley A. Dobbin Part III: Practice Responses to the Permanency Needs of Youth 13. Permanent Families for Adolescents: Applying Lessons Learned from a Family Reunification Demonstration Program, by Barbara A. Pine and Robin Spath14. Youth Permanence Through Adoption, by Ruth G. McRoy and Elissa Maddenn15. Family-Involvement Meetings with Older Children in Foster Care: Promising Practices and the Challenge of Child Welfare Reform, by David Crampton and Joan Pennell16. Developmentally Appropriate Community-Based Responses to the Permanency Needs of Older Youth Involved in the Child Welfare System, by Sandra Stukes Chipungu, Laura G. Daughtery, and Benjamin Kerman17. Social and Life Skills Development: Preparing and Facilitating Youth for Transition into Young Adults, by Hewitt B. Clark and Kimberly A. Crosland18. From Research to Practice: Improving Permanency Outcomes for Youth in Foster Care, by Madelyn Freundlich, Lauren Frey, Benjamin Kerman, and Sarah B. Greenblatt Afterword: Making Families Permanent and Cases Closed?Concluding Thoughts and Recommendations Contributors Index

A cost–benefit analysis of transitional services for emancipating foster youth

This book shares results from a mixed method study of former foster youth and the experiences that influenced the trajectory of their lives during their transitional adulthood years. Readers will come away from the book with a better understanding of the life events that most significantly influence foster youth’s transition to adulthood and how this knowledge can inform policy and practice. Through an extensive review of the literature, readers will gain broad knowledge of research in the areas of foster youth and offending trajectories, other young adult outcomes of foster youth, and the effect of juvenile detention on the likelihood of adult offending. Quantitative findings from a national sample of foster youth highlight the negative impact of confining foster youth as juveniles. Qualitative findings point to life experiences that promote self-agency, determination, and resiliency in youth aging out of care. Figures and tables present these findings in an easily accessible format. Readers will learn through both the quantitative and qualitative results that the ages of 17–19 are of utmost importance in helping former foster youth transition successfully to adulthood. Narratives of participant stories with direct quotations make the qualitative findings a compelling read. Numerous policy and research implications of the findings are shared that can direct academics and practitioners alike. Both practitioners working with youth transitioning out of care, researchers, and instructors will find this book a practical and meaningful resource. Practitioners will gain insights that will enable them to provide needed support for young people transitioning out of foster care. Policymakers may use the research to help advocate for policies suggested by the study’s findings such as increased use of diversion and extended foster care. Findings of the study raise new questions for researchers to explore further. Instructors will find this an excellent supplemental text for a graduate-level social work, sociology, or criminology course.

Foster care is a fundamental component of the child welfare system. Traditionally, foster care has been viewed as the primary mechanism for caring for children placed outside of their home, and is considered one of the central intervention strategies for child welfare practitioners. Foster care services are regularly recommended for children who are abused and neglected. In 2011, there were an estimated 401,000 youths in foster care and approximately 646,000 youth were served by the foster care system. Yet, despite the importance of foster care to child welfare, social work literature in general, and child welfare literature specifically, is devoid of a well-defined, conceptual framework for what success in foster care really means, from the perspective of those most impacted: foster youth. This study delineated a conceptual domain for successful foster care, from the perspective of teens in foster care, and explored differences in this conceptualization, based on maltreatment type. Method: This study utilized a sample of youth, currently in foster care in Kentucky and employed a mixed-method approach known as Concept Mapping (CM). CM combines multi-dimensional scaling with hierarchical cluster analyses to form factors relevant to an area of study. This method allowed for foster youth to actively be involved in the study, and is suited to delineate a conceptual framework for defining success in foster care. Results: Data were analyzed utilizing The Concept Systems™ proprietary software. Results indicate that teens in foster care conceptualize success based on four distinct clusters: Social Work, Foster Parent(s), Foster Agency, and Foster Youth. Further, based on rating analyses, participants in foster care for abuse (to include physical and sexual), did not conceptualize success differently when compared to youth in foster care for neglect. Conclusion: This study revealed that success is a complex, multi-faceted construct. Youth in this study conceptualized success based on a number of distinct deas. Stakeholders involved with foster care research, programming, and policy development must take into account this multi-dimensional conceptualization. Further, this study demonstrated that foster youth are able to take part in research studies, and should be involved in foster care research and programming endeavors.

Research indicates that children in foster care are more likely than their non-foster care peers to be absent from school, have special education needs, and to experience traumatic life events. In turn, they are also less likely to graduate high school and to attend/graduate from college. The current study, which builds on this literature and was guided by an ecological framework, employed thematic analysis to explore Massachusetts foster youth’s academic challenges and supports through interviews with teachers (n = 19), foster parents (n = 14), former foster youth (n = 12), and three individuals who were both teachers and foster parents. All three groups of participants noted that strained relationships between foster youth and their schools contributed to academic challenges. In addition, foster parents and teachers described challenges within the school/home relationship. Participants offered insights into how foster youth can be supported academically (e.g., support for foster parents navigating special education services, enhancing extracurricular opportunities). Significantly, many of their suggestions are in fact already available, suggesting that increased awareness of and utilization of these resources have the potential to increase positive outcomes for foster youth.

Young people receiving aftercare services, hereinafter referred to as care leavers, are dependent on supportive and caring relationships with their family, friends, and other support networks when transitioning to independent life. According to previous research, care leavers often have low resilience, which impairs their ability to cope with challenges and leads to problems related to housing, studying, mental health, substance abuse, and somatic morbidity; these issues can impair social inclusion and increase vulnerability.The aim of this qualitative study was to describe care leavers’ experiences of social inclusion (N = 16). The participants were between 18 and 20 years of age, with twelve being women and four being men. Most of the participants had been in child welfare institutions and some in foster care. They had left out-of-home care between one and three years before the study. Data were collected during 2016 in Finland using thematic interviews, and subsequently analysed by qualitative content analysis. The care leavers described their experiences of social inclusion by discussing interpersonal relationships formed during childhood, in foster care, and later in life. Their descriptions emphasised the significance of trauma and growth and development, the ability to mend interpersonal relationships and avoid intergenerational trauma transmission, as well as the value of corrective relationships. The care leavers felt that daily activities promoted social inclusion and improved health and well-being.This research is important as it gives to care leavers a voice on their social inclusion. The results provide new insight into a vulnerable, marginally researched group with high support needs and a propensity for social exclusion. The results can be utilised to develop aftercare services that focus on strengthening care leavers’ resilience related to social inclusion, personal resources, and the ability to gather corrective experiences.