The purpose of this study was to demonstrate the social and psychological implications created by unstable placements and trauma experienced by former foster youth. The participants of the study were recruited from college campuses via Extended Opportunity Program and Services liaisons as well as the Guardian Scholar Program liaisons. The sample included individuals that identified as former foster youth and individuals that identified as never being in foster care. The findings indicated the social and psychological differences among former foster youth that resided in unstable living arrangements as compared to youth that were not in foster care.

abstract: Those who are in or have aged out of foster care, most of whom are queer, Black, brown, and low-income, are represented by social workers, educational advocates, behavioral health specialists, and the mainstream media as “at-risk” for criminal behavior, teen pregnancy, homelessness, and lower levels of educational attainment. Current and former residents of foster care and their experiences must be understood beyond these deficit models in order to restore humanity to and bring about positive change for this population. This project traced the strategies for survival of those in and aged out of foster care in Arizona through artmaking and critical qualitative methods. Using borderlands theory and medicinal histories, I demonstrated how system involved youth paint a picture of foster care as a dehumanizing borderland creating una cultura mestiza – a hybrid culture that youth learned to navigate as both healers and healing. Additionally, I argued the foster care system is inherently disabling by way of the processual (re)narrativization the system dictates in order to make those in the system legible to the State through the labeling of mental and physical disabilities. Lastly, I explored insights garnered about foster care through ensemble-based devised theatre. I found it is important to have systemic representations of foster care in tandem with embodied experiences of said system. Collage-making served as an accessible mechanism for relationship building, material generation, and material knowledge. I discovered meaningful ways of representing absent presences of system involved people through feeding forward their artistic creations into the devising process. Taken together, I found foster care system involved people survive through art and creativity, connection to people and places, and keen resourcefulness cultivated in the system. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Women and Gender Studies 2020

Research suggests that the relatively low rates of former foster youth enrolling in and graduating from a postsecondary institution may be related to lack of foster care system support. This study examined whether perceived support from the foster care system was related to the postsecondary enrollment and academic performance of former foster youth, and whether males and females differed in perceived support from the foster care system. Forty-five former foster youth aged 18-24 years who had transitioned from a southeastern state completed a measure of social support and reported whether they had attended a postsecondary institution and, if so, their cumulative grade point average (CGPA). Analysis showed no significant relationships between participants' perceptions of foster care system support and their postsecondary attendance or performance. Analysis also showed no difference between genders in perceived support from the foster care system based on gender. Two notable results of the study were that over half the sample reported they had attended or were attending a postsecondary institution, with over 90% of those planning to continue, and nearly 40% reported a college GPA of 3.0 or above, suggesting considerable success in postsecondary classes. A limitation of the study was its reliance on self-report data. Recommendations included repeating the study by surveying former foster youth in several states to obtain ample participants. A social change implication was that a number of former foster youth are overcoming the unique challenges they face that might hinder their postsecondary attendance and success.

This study explored the perceptions of former foster youth as a means to analyze the factors that contribute to the positive and negative outcomes of foster youth once aging out of the foster care system. Ten former foster youth were identified for the purposes of understanding how prepared foster youth feel towards aging out and transitioning into adulthood. The study utilized qualitative interviewing for data collection in efforts to gather the information about the experiences of each foster youth. Participants were recruited through San Bernardino County Children and Family Services Extended Foster Care (EFC) unit, as well as the local college- California State University, San Bernardino. Interviews were held for twenty to forty five minutes. Ten participants of various diverse backgrounds provided information about their perceptions and experiences within the foster care system and what factors contributed to how prepared they felt towards exiting the foster care system. All participants were either former or current foster youth between the ages of eighteen years old and thirty-three years old. The sample was comprised of six females, and four males. On average, participants spent 8.87 years in foster care. The total number of placements ranged from one to ten placements. The average number of placements was 4.13. With more foster youth aging out of the system rather than ever reunifying with biological families or gaining permanent placements, researchers explored what factors could enhance the future of foster youth who are increasingly aging out of the foster care system. These four factors were examined for the purpose of exploring the experiences of foster youth’s in regards to: access to effective mental health treatment, educational attainment, independent living programs, and social support from a variety of entities. Researchers presumed that access to these four factors might contribute to the outcome rates of foster youth who have recently and previously aged out of the foster care system. Throughout the interviews questions surrounding these four factors were discussed to examine the perceptions of each of former foster youth. This study’s findings revealed social support as the most influential factor that contributed to how prepared former foster youth felt towards aging out of the foster care system. Although all of the participants identified support amongst their friends throughout their experiences, participants identified social support from caregivers and social workers as the most needed during their experiences within the child welfare system. Most of the participants identified mental health treatment as the least helpful factor during their experience within the foster care system. Many of the participants expressed feeling uncomfortable receiving therapy from professionals they considered strangers, and preferred for support in the form of social workers, caregivers, friends, and individuals who could identify with their experiences. This study’s findings are important to understanding what factors contribute to how prepared foster youth are once aging out of the foster care system. If professionals can identify the factors that contribute to the outcomes rates of foster youth, professionals can then hopefully increase their level of competency to help these foster youth navigate through the foster care system and age out successfully.

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