The purpose of this study was to assess social worker perspectives on challenges that foster youth encounter in attaining adequate educations. Social workers need to be able to identify the best services and resources that will help this population continue their educational advancement.

This study identify foster youth characteristics that were more likely to lead to independent living program (ILP) participation against those foster youth who did not participate in ILPs.

Nationally there has been an increase in the number of children requiring care and protection who have been placed in foster care in South Africa. This increase has also been evident at the Child and Family Welfare Society of Pietermaritzburg. Many of the children needing care and protection are placed in foster care with their grandparents. The aim of this study was therefore to explore the experiences and support networks of grandparents and their adolescent foster grandchildren. The study was guided by the ecological framework. This was a qualitative study with the purpose being descriptive. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 adolescent foster children and one focus group discussion was conducted with 8 grandmothers. Although the plan was to include both grandparents in the study, it became evident at the sampling stage that many of the children were placed with their grandmothers, even if the grandfather was present. A significant finding of the study was that it was mainly grandmothers, rather than both grandparents, who had the responsibility for caring and nurturing the children in their care. Although five of the adolescents lived with both their grandmothers and their grandfathers; grandfathers were not seen as playing a significant role in their lives. Grandmothers were the decision-makers, responsible for discipline and a source of support for the adolescents. Grandmothers experienced financial and housing difficulties. Adolescents expressed feelings of loneliness and loss in relation to their parents. Social workers have focused mainly on assisting grandmothers to access the foster care grant and grandmothers and adolescents have not received grief and bereavement counseling and therapeutic services. Recommendations include the need for social workers to respond to the therapeutic needs of adolescents and the employment of social service professionals. Recommendations at a policy level include the improvement of the partnership between the Department of Social Development and NGOs. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2011.

No description available.

Thesis (M. A. (Social Work)) -- University of Limpopo, 2020 / Foster care is the best method of alternative care for children that need care and protection. It offers children an atmosphere and environment that recognise their economic, social, educational, health and cultural needs without discrimination. The fundamental objective of foster care is to make sure children are protected and grow up in a safe and healthy environment. Notwithstanding the positive impact that comes with it, it has been confirmed worldwide that foster care suffers from serious deficiencies to an extent that the rights of children are compromised. The Department of Social Development is no exception to foster care backlogs, which result in foster care placement applications accumulating and families’ quality of life being affected and compromised. Social workers are inundated with high caseloads on a daily basis. The study employed qualitative and collective case study design. The non-probability, convenient sampling technique was followed to select twelve statutory social workers at Botlokwa Department of Social Development satellites. Out of these social workers, eight were female and four were male. Data was collected by means of literature review and semi-structured in-depth interviews guided by an interview schedule with open-ended questions. The data was analysed thematically with the help of the Nvivo programme. The study unearthed factors such as shortage of social workers, social auxiliary workers and supervisors, system deficiencies within the children’s court fraternity, insufficient tools of trade, multiple work responsibilities and lack of cooperation from clients as contributing to foster care backlogs. The findings also revealed that in order to cope with these backlogs, some social workers engage in unethical conducts such as comforting clients with lies and not attending to foster care files. Instead, they write process notes and use their own resources to execute their roles and help one another to deal with the backlogs. Therefore, it is recommended that specialisation in foster care, foster care file audit, hiring more social workers, effective working relationship between foster care stakeholders, adopting a computerised reminder system for files due for review, convenient court dates and amendment of form 30 and the advertisement of unknown fathers can be efficient measures to mitigate foster care not only at Botlokwa, but also within the Department of Social Development nationwide. The researcher therefore concludes that foster care backlogs within social work offices is real, and that to curb it requires collaborative efforts x by role players, particularly the Department of Social Development and the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development.

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.

This study focused on the reason that close to 500,000 children were in the foster care system in 2009 in the United States, and the average length of care was over 26 months. The primary focus was why foster parents are unable to form a bond with the children placed in their home and the effects of not forming any attachment to the children. The results can be extremely negative for the children for many reasons including the foster parents not being invested in the child and providing only minimal standards of care. Moreover, the child does not receive the nurturance or guidance so desperately needed. The child’s wellbeing was not the primary focus of the foster parent. The child is unable to learn the core value of caring, nor form healthy relationships and unfortunately cannot develop or express other healthy emotions. This compromises the child’s ability to function in society as a healthy productive member. Further examined was the perspective of the child as to what the children’s social worker could do differently.

Youth in foster care who experience disabilities face many challenges as they transition out of foster care and into adulthood. In order to assist these youth, it is crucial to understand factors that may impact their self-determination, which research links to positive transition outcomes for youth with disabilities (Wehmeyer, Palmer, Agran, Mithaug, & Martin, 2000). While much of the existing research on the correlates and outcomes of self-determination focuses on young people with disabilities overall, and little is known about whether factors such as abuse, family stressors and extended length of time in care, and frequent placement changes influence self-determination. Exploring predictors of self-determination in youth with disabilities in foster care can be beneficial to researchers and child welfare practitioners who seek to identify effective approaches for helping youth accomplish successful transitions into adulthood. This dissertation examined the extent to which physical and sexual abuse and family stressors, such as unemployment, domestic violence, and homelessness prior to entering care; as well as foster care placement instability and total length of time in care, impact a youth's self-determination. In addition, the influence of demographic features such as race and gender on these associations was examined. Increased understanding of factors that contribute to self-determination can facilitate targeted interventions and services that enhance the lives of youth as they exit out of the foster care system and into adulthood. Overall, the findings did not reveal significant associations between self-determination and physical and sexual abuse, family stressors, length of time in foster care or number of placement moves. Post hoc exploratory analysis, however, detected other significant relationships. For example, above and beyond the main effect association of length of time in care, youth who experienced physical abuse and stayed in care for long periods of time demonstrated higher levels of autonomy. Likewise, youth with a greater number of family stressors in their family of origin, and who experienced longer stays in foster care, also demonstrated significantly higher levels of autonomy above and beyond the main effects of family stressors. These relationships speak to the resiliency and the varying nature of self-determination.

No description available.

One of the major challenges currently being faced by out-of-home care services is the issue of placement breakdown and multiple placements, and the psychological effects of these experiences. Previous longitudinal research by Barber and Delfabbro (2004) indicates that approximately 15-20% of young people in Australian out-of-home care have significant emotional and behavioural problems or 'high support needs' that often condemns them to a life of repeated placement instability and further psychosocial harm. This thesis reports the findings of Australia's first national comparative study of 364 children with this placement profile in four Australian States (Queensland, South Australia, Victoria and Western Australia). Based on detailed interviews with case-workers, case-file reading, and comprehensive analysis of objective placement data, this study provides a detailed analysis of the social and family background of this population of children, their psychosocial profile, service history, and their placement experiences. It was found almost all of the children with high support needs in Australian out-of-home care had been subjected to traumatic, abusive, and highly unstable family backgrounds. A proportion of young people had experienced over 30 placement changes and approximately 70% scored in the clinical range of emotional and behavioural disturbance. The young people in the sample were generally very similar in their characteristics. Children within this population appear to form one single cluster based upon very common family experiences; namely, the combined effects of domestic violence, substance abuse, physical violence and neglect. Such findings suggest very strongly that out-of- home care policy cannot, and should not, be considered in isolation from other important areas of social policy and public health. Following the review of the characteristics of the children, the thesis examined the range of therapeutic interventions and placement options that might be suitable to address their needs. This section involved a literature review, an extensive internet search of care and service options and a review of program information wherever this was available. It is clear from the review that it is very difficult to maintain this population of children and young people in stable family-based foster care arrangements within the existing out-of-home care system. This thesis highlights the need for a greater integration of services and a greater focus on ensuring an ongoing commitment to addressing the entrenched psychological and social difficulties contributing to placement instability. There is also a great need for a re-structuring and re-thinking of the continuum of care services available to children in out-of-home care, including the possible development of professional foster care services and an increased use and availability of treatment group residential care options. Most importantly, a re-structuring of the way child protective services and family, social and mental health services are provided and coordinated by State governments is felt to be desperately needed. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--School of Psychology, 2006.