Adapted Measure of Supportive Connections for Children in Out-of-Home Care: A Pilot Study

Background: Children in out-of-home care need stable and supportive caregiving relationships, benefits of which include positive long-term effects on youth’s socio-emotional well-being (Munson & McMillen, 2009; Perry, 2006).  Unfortunately, feedback from former foster youth indicate they had little say in maintaining the most important relationships in their lives (Samuels & Pryce, 2008). Child welfare agencies have begun to increase efforts to strengthen the supportive networks for youth in out-of-home placement.  The Youth Connections Scale (YCS) was developed to measure these efforts, by assessing the number and strength of connections to caring adults and the types of support perceived by youth ages 15 to 21 (Semanchin Jones & LaLiberte, 2013).  The aim of this current pilot study was to assess the validity and reliability of an adapted version of this tool called the Youth Connections Scale-Child Version (YCS-C), for children ages 9 to 14 in out-of-home care.

Method: The sample of children (n=69) were recruited from several programs of a partnering child welfare agency, including foster care, therapeutic foster care, and residential programs.  Data was collected by the children’s workers, all of whom completed a protocol training with the researcher. The workers assisted the youth in completing the YCS-C at two points in time, (within approximately two weeks), to assess the test-retest reliability of the tool. To assess the concurrent validity, youth were asked to also complete two subscales of the Social Support Scale for Children (Harter, 2012).

Results: In this sample, 38% of the youth were from foster care or therapeutic foster care and 62% from residential placements.  The average age of the youth was 11.8 (SD=1.63), and 47% of the sample was female. Results of the test-retest reliability analysis indicate a statistically significant and strong correlation (r=.82, p<.001).  Reliability of each of the five subscales of the YCS-C was also moderate to high (ranging from .69 to .81). The tool had high internal reliability (Cronbach’s alpha=.80). For the test of concurrent validity, results of this test indicate a moderate correlation between the overall feelings of connectedness on the YCS-C (Section E) and the Social Support Scale for Children (r=.39, p=.001).  Workers also rated how accurately the tool measured the youth’s current level of connectedness, with 83% of the workers stating that the responses were accurate and valid (rated as 7 or higher on a 10-point Likert-type scale). 

Conclusion and Implications: Results of the pilot study are promising and suggest that the YCS-C may be a reliable and valid tool for measuring youth connectedness for children ages 9 to 14 in out-of-home placement.  Implications of this study will be discussed, including potential strategies for successful implementation of the tool.  A brief case example will be shared of an agency using the tool to guide assessment and service-planning. As child welfare programs increasingly aim to increase the connectedness of children in out-of-home care to supportive adults, the YCS-C may also be used to evaluate these program efforts.  Implications for child welfare policies will be also discussed.