Many older youth in foster care lack adequate resources and ongoing support in their social networks as they transition into young adulthood, while other youth in these circumstances experience stable social networks providing comprehensive support. Systematically measuring the supportive personal and service-oriented relationships in youth networks expands the scope of inquiry in this area by identifying patterns of social network structure, member composition, and relational qualities that are associated with more or less support provision through formal and informal relationships. These can also be measured over time to observe changes in network form and content and assess network stability. This exploratory study (1) describes the support networks for a small sample of youth with foster care experience who are enrolled in post-secondary education and training programs, (2) assesses changes in these networks over time, and (3) demonstrates the reliability and validity of this methodology for broader use with populations of transition-age foster youth. Findings show that family (biological and foster) and friends are the most prevalent informal supports, relationship ties to parent figures are strongest and provide the most stable and multi-dimensional support, and ties with formal service providers are not as strong, but provide more informational support. The stability of a network ties over time is associated with the breadth of support provided, and network-based social support is associated with post-secondary enrollment at follow-up. Support network profiles are described and interpreted in terms of bonding and bridging social capital. Discussion includes implications for future support network research and guidelines for pre-transition assessment of youth networks in practice.

Nearly 23,000 youth age out of the foster care system between the ages of 18 and 21 each year in a transition fraught with challenges and barriers. These young people often lack developmentally appropriate experiences and exposure to necessary knowledge, role modeling, skill building, and long-term social support to promote positive transitions to adulthood while in foster care. As a result, young people who exit care face an array of poor adult outcomes. Nearly 60% of transition-aged foster youth experience a disability, and as such, face compounded challenges exiting foster care. While the examination of young adult outcomes for youth with disabilities has been largely missing from the literature, available research documents that young adults with disabilities who had exited foster care were significantly behind their peers without disabilities in several key areas. Literature examining the experiences of transition-aged youth with disabilities in the general population also highlights gaps in young adult outcomes for young people with disabilities compared to their peers. Compounding the issue for youth in foster care, those who experience disabilities often reside in restrictive placement settings such as developmental disability (DD) certified homes, group homes, or residential treatment centers. Though limited, there is some evidence to suggest that these types of placements negatively impact young adult outcomes for those aging out of foster care. The rules and regulations in place to promote safety in these types of placements could further restrict youth from engaging in meaningful transition preparation engagement while in foster care. Therefore, youth with disabilities, whose needs necessitate a higher level of support towards transition preparation engagement, may actually receive fewer opportunities than their peers in non-relative foster care and kinship care as they prepare to exit care into adulthood. The work in this dissertation provides knowledge to address gaps in the literature around transition preparation engagement during foster care for youth with disabilities, youth residing in restrictive foster care placements, and youth who report high levels of perceived restrictiveness as they prepare to enter into adulthood. This dissertation is a secondary analysis of transition preparation engagement data collected at baseline for 294 transition-aged youth in foster care who participated in an evaluation of an intervention to promote self-determination and enhance young adult outcomes, called My Life. Transition preparation engagement in this study was represented by eight domains: youth perceptions of preparedness for adult life, post-secondary education preparation engagement, career preparation engagement, employment, daily life preparation engagement, Independent Living Program (ILP) participation, transition planning engagement, and self-determination. Transition preparation engagement domains were examined using hierarchical multiple regression analysis to explore differences by disability status, placement setting, and youth self-report of perceptions of restrictiveness. In alignment with the literature, 58.8% of youth in this sample experienced a disability. Additional key demographics, including age, gender, and race, and foster care experiences, including length of time in care and placement instability, were entered into the regression models as covariates. Results indicated significantly less transition preparation engagement for 1) youth with disabilities compared to youth without disabilities, 2) youth residing in restrictive placements compared to youth in non-relative foster care and kinship care, and 3) youth who reported higher levels of perceived restrictiveness compared to youth who reported lower levels of perceived restrictiveness. Program, policy, and research recommendations are discussed that highlight the need to promote transition preparation engagement for this particularly vulnerable group of young people in foster care who experience disabilities, are residing in restrictive placement settings and who report high levels of perceived restrictiveness.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / This study examines organizational learning (OL) with member organizations of a state association for children and family services. OL has been studied in business organizations, but the concept has value in the context of Human Service Organizations (HSOs) as well. HSOs face increasing demands for accountability through evaluating outcomes, requiring new organizational skills and activities. The state association has collected outcome data from member organizations for nine years, and has recently provided external consultants to help organizations interpret and make use of the information to improve organizational functioning. The process of OL was measured pre- and post-external consultation using an OL questionnaire developed by Templeton, Lewis, and Snyder (2002). Sixty-two member agencies received questionnaires and 42 responded for a response rate of 67%. Qualitative semi-structured interviews were conducted with 11 CEOs/Executive Directors of HSOs. The OL questionnaire was found to have sufficient reliability and validity for the sample of HSOs in the study. Two factors were identified through factor analyses, Organizational Culture and Environmental Awareness. Satisfaction with an external consultant was not found to be related to increased OL. In the qualitative findings, the origins of learning themes that were identified were External Pressures, Philosophy, Planning, and Financial Pressures. The facilitating factor themes identified were Leadership, Philosophy, New Staff/New Leadership, Willingness, Planning, and Training. The perceived obstacles to OL were Resistance, Philosophy, Finances, and Time. External consultants were found to contribute to Evaluation, Awareness, Motivation, and Training. The main practice implication of the study is the identification of an instrument that may be used to examine OL in HSOs. The identification of facilitating factors and factors that may impede OL is a valuable contribution, as is the use of a standard definition of OL. The educational implications are for awareness in the education of future leaders by introducing OL and the application to HSOs. Future research is needed to address the development or modification of a better matched instrument for use with HSOs.

This quantitative study was aimed at determining the value of the psychosocial services rendered by the staff members of the Godisanang OVC programme to OVC in Rustenburg in order to make recommendations on how these services could be improved. Fifteen caregivers, who were employed by the Godisanang OVC programme, were interviewed in October 2013. Data was presented in the form of statistics, tables and numbers. This study revealed that the psychosocial services that are rendered by the Godisanang OVC programme to OVC are of value. Therefore, it is recommended that the psychosocial services be extended to other regions of Rustenburg. / Health Studies / M.A. (Social Behaviour Studies in HIV/AIDS)

This quantitative study was aimed at determining the value of the psychosocial services rendered by the staff members of the Godisanang OVC programme to OVC in Rustenburg in order to make recommendations on how these services could be improved. Fifteen caregivers, who were employed by the Godisanang OVC programme, were interviewed in October 2013. Data was presented in the form of statistics, tables and numbers. This study revealed that the psychosocial services that are rendered by the Godisanang OVC programme to OVC are of value. Therefore, it is recommended that the psychosocial services be extended to other regions of Rustenburg. / Health Studies / M.A. (Social Behaviour Studies in HIV/AIDS)

The purpose of this study was to look at the factors that lead to disruption in the adoption of special needs children. Families that adopt special needs children may or may not be aware that they need post adoption services and may be reluctant to ask for them even when they are experiencing difficulty.

The purpose of the study was to examine child welfare workers' perceptions of the effectiveness of a TDM (Team Decision Making) meeting on permanency plans with Foster care youth who receive specialized alternative services.

Seventeen grandparent caregivers, who have primary responsibility for one or more grandchildren and do not have a parent of the grandchildren living in the household, were interviewed to evaluate the effectiveness of the services offered by Kinship Family Center (KFC), a non-profit support agency for relative caregivers and the children in their care. Kinship Family Center is a program of the Central City Lutheran Mission and is funded by the San Bernardino County Department of Children's Services. The researchers found that KFC was an effective asset for informal grandparent caregivers. For grandparents, it was a source of support and comfort in their role of "second time around parents." For children, it served as a means to help identify with other children in similar situations.

Social workers who work with homeless children need to understand the challenges in the homeless culture. The purpose of this study was to discover the needs that were reported by homeless children who live in motels, in order to provide agencies with information that will help them better provide services to this population.

The purpose of this study is to examine the level of social support in a sample of foster youth nearing emancipation. Additionally this study seeks to examine if a relationship between social support and anxious and/or avoidant attachment styles can be observed.