Bridging Disciplinary Boundaries (January 11 - 14, 2007)

Purpose: This interpretive research is part of a mixed-method longitudinal study of young adults aging out of foster care across 3 states in the Midwest. This presentation highlights findings from in-depth interviews with 43 young adults, and explores their experiences with, and insights about, the child welfare system. Particular attention will be given to the role of caseworkers, family, and other relationships as supports or barriers to their independence and success as adults.

Methods: This Extended Case Method (ECM) recruited young adults from a survey study of 732 youth across three states in the Midwest. Two of the involved states require foster youth to leave the system at age 18; one allows youth to remain until age 21. At the time of the in-depth interviews youth were between the ages of 19-20. The sample was drawn from the larger study sample using Latent Class Analysis (LCA). LCA is a model-based method that identifies probability groups across pre-selected variables. Our LCA identified 4 groups across key variables in the literature and in this study that affect foster youth outcomes: grade retention, placement type, education, placement stability, parenthood, runaway history, and problem behavior. Youth were then randomly selected across these 4 groups to comprise a representative qualitative sample. In-depth taped interviews were conducted with 43 youth to explore their experiences in foster care, relationships with family and child welfare workers, and their feelings about, and actual experiences with, becoming an adult. Transcripts were coded and managed using NVivo, a qualitative software program, and Narrative Analysis (Daiute & Lightfoot, 2004) was used as an interpretive analytic frame.

Results: The findings demonstrate how this population develops a sense of community and family as young adults. Their stories capture the complexities of maintaining shifting relationships with biological and non-biological family systems mostly on their own and in the context of their time limited status as “foster children.” Consequently, many youth defined “family” in ways that included, but extended beyond, their biological family systems. Youth also identified a range of turning points, both expected and experienced, that marked their sense of being, or becoming, an adult (e.g., birth of a child, death of a family member).

Implications for Practice/Policy: The number of young adults returning home after college or remaining home beyond high school graduation is growing. Yet, for many foster youth, a family system is not always permanently available or accessible to them. This makes foster youth uniquely vulnerable as young adults. As our empirical evidence for guiding child welfare practice and policy continues to grow, it is important to include the insights of these youth in identifying effective support services. The findings of this study also have implications for the fields of human development and social psychology for how we understand this group of youth and their needs as unique (or not) as they transition into adulthood.