Transition to Adult Services for Foster Youth with ASD: Perspectives of Service Providers

Background and Purpose: Foster youth with developmental disabilities are highly overrepresented in child welfare systems and underrepresented in research investigating their outcomes in adulthood (Blakeslee, Del Quest, & Powers, 2013). To shed greater light on the transition they make from child to adult service systems, this study investigates the experiences of service providers who facilitate the transition of foster youth with one specific type of developmental disability: autism spectrum disorders. Service providers are the specific focus of the study because they are responsible for facilitating the transition that foster youth with asd make from DCFS to DHS. In 2012, the state child welfare agency (DCFS), Department of Human Services, and the Guardianship and Advocacy Commission entered into an agreement that mandates joint planning to occur among all parties to ensure “a smooth transition to adult residential services.” This study describes the transition to adult residential services from the unique vantage point of adult and child-serving service providers.

Methods: Five focus groups with 40 participants were conducted between May 2014 and July 2014.  Of the 40 service providers, 29 service providers represented private agencies contracted with DCFS to serve children and youth with developmental disabilities, and 11 represented private and public agencies contracted with DCFS to serve adults with developmental and/or mental health conditions. Grounded theory methods are used to derive a conceptualization of transition to adult services (Charmaz, 2006). The analytic technique of constant comparison was used to construct a conceptual framework using the descriptive and in vivo codes to construct conceptual explanations of the initial set of codes. Several strategies are used to ensure the rigor of the data analysis (Lincoln & Guba, 1985; Padgett, 2008; Shek et al., 2005).

Results: While the primary goal of the Interagency Agreement is to define the responsibilities of multiple agencies for planning and carrying out the transition, a transition that spanned more than 3years, required excessive paperwork, and a shortage of appropriate services in communities meant that the service providers spent considerable time “stuck in the transition” - unsure of where or when foster youth would be transitioned to the adult service system. The time service providers spent identifying eligible youth, making referrals, educating DCFS caseworkers, and navigating multiple systems contributed to a set of strategies that obscure consideration of ASD-specific needs and person-centered approaches.

Implications: The findings from this study call to question the wisdom of designating an intermediary agency to facilitate the transition between two systems when these service providers must rely on others to ultimately make decisions. Foster youth may be particularly vulnerable to falling through the cracks when service providers have little power to guide the transition or control the actions of others.