Using the behavior analytic model, this dissertation explores the challenging and supportive situations former foster youth experience with mental health services while transitioning to adulthood. Qualitative interviews and focus groups inform the development of a quantitative instrument in a mixed methods, sequential exploratory research design. The resulting instrument identifies the most intense and frequently encountered situations former foster youth experience, related to their mental health and transitions to adulthood.
Results indicate the most challenging situations foster youth experience during the transition are related to overwhelming expectations, receiving mixed messages from professionals, feelings of isolation, and a lack of voice and choice with regard to mental health services. Young adults in this study also emphasized the importance of responsive engagement, self-efficacy, and consistency in relationships both formally and informally.
This research provides important implications for social work practice, policy, and education. Acknowledging the voice of foster youth gives them a choice in services and allows for realistic transition planning. Developing problem-solving skills and a support network beyond foster care are necessary strategies of preparation to age out. Finally, practitioners should recognize the impact of trauma and other contextual factors when conducting assessment and treatment, to promote positive outcomes.
“Bridging Success: Reviewing Effectiveness and Implementing Additional Programming” focuses on partnering with Arizona State University’s Bridging Success program to evaluate effective program components and propose additional programming for the upcoming Bridging Success Early Start (BSES) program. To effectively evaluate Bridging Success, this thesis is broken down into several sections: methods, literary analysis, landscaping, presentation of results, discussion of results, recommendations, and conclusions to ultimately address our central research questions: How is Bridging Success Early Start valued by previous program members, and does the program contribute to a successful transition to college for students who were formerly in foster care?
influence of maltreatment on childhood and adolescent development, there is evidence
that involvement in the foster care system negatively affects adolescent substance
use. Within the literature, limited empirical research has emerged in regard to this issue.
The present study aims to fill this critical gap in the literature by examining the
association between baseline biological, psychological, and social risk and protective
factors on adolescent involvement in substance use, and frequency of substance use, over
a period of 24 months for foster care involved youth. Furthermore, the present study
compares substance use behaviors between youth with differing experiences of
maltreatment subtypes and severity levels. Data come from VOYAGES, a longitudinal
study of older adolescents in the custody of the Missouri Children’s Division for foster
care services. The current analysis reports on those youth who completed both the
baseline and the final interview (N=323). Key findings include significant associations
between baseline peer substance use, lowered levels of school commitment, mentorship,
and familial support with later adolescent substance use. Overall, the existence of
numerous individual risk factors far outweighs the potential of protective factors
buffering against subsequent substance use in the current study. The foster care system,
although well-intentioned, potentially barricades individuals from successfully navigating
through adolescence and early adulthood without engaging in risky behaviors such as
substance use. Given the high prevalence of substance use among those placed in the
care of the foster care system, prevention efforts for this population requires an improved
understanding of psychosocial risk and protective factors.