Multiple Types of Childhood Maltreatment, Sleep, and Anxiety in Former Foster Youth

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.

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Prevalence of Substance Use, Housing Instability, and Self-Perceived Preparation for Independence Among Current and Former Foster Youth

Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal ◽

10.1007/s10560-018-0568-y ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 36 (4) ◽

pp. 409-418 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Elizabeth J. Greeno ◽

Bethany R. Lee ◽

Michelle Tuten ◽

Deborah Harburger

Keyword(s):

Substance Use ◽

Foster Youth ◽

Housing Instability ◽

Former Foster Youth

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Fostering Communication

Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction ◽

10.1145/3492834 ◽

2022 ◽

Vol 6 (GROUP) ◽

pp. 1-23

Author(s):

John Fowler ◽

Mark Zachry ◽

David W. McDonald

Keyword(s):

Online Community ◽

Foster Youth ◽

Life Stage ◽

Online Communication ◽

Future Research ◽

First Year ◽

Former Foster Youth ◽

Online Spaces ◽

Effective Community ◽

Descriptive Framework

The period of transition for foster youth into independent adulthood is an important life stage, and one that has yet to be explored in HCI circles. We studied an online community centered on the experiences of former foster youth through the first year of its existence to better understand how online spaces are being used by this population. Our mixed-method study included the coding of all posts from the first year of the online community and offers a mix of quantitative and qualitative findings. These findings include alignments and gaps in an established descriptive framework from the field of social work as it relates to the online communication of former foster youth. It also includes how the domains from the framework co-occur, and some potential implications of these co-occurrences. Future research on this subject is warranted, particularly related to why former foster youth seek online platforms to engage in conversations on these topics and how effective community members perceive the platform to be in safely and securely facilitating their needs.

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