Exploring Foster Youth Perspectives on Effective Legal Representation: An Integrated, Mixed-Method Approach

Background:

Whilst the form that legal representation may take has been debated, there is broad consensus that foster youth and alumni embroiled in dependency court proceedings related to child abuse and neglect are entitled to effective legal representation. Veritably, the quality of this representation can profoundly impact on the lives of foster youth/alumni. Despite this importance, few studies, if any, have examined what constitutes effective representation from those most impacted: foster youth and alumni! The purpose of this study was to explicate a conceptual framework describing effective legal representation for youth in foster care. Researchers employed Group Concept Mapping (GCM) with a convenience sample of 32 foster youth/alumni in one southeastern state to achieve this aim.

Methods:

GCM is an integrated mixed-method research approach that utilizes non-metric multidimensional scaling (MDS) and hierarchical cluster analyses (HCA) to analyze primary qualitative data. As a result, pictorial representations of the data (e.g., Concept Map) are generated.

At the outset of the project, qualitative statements were collected via focus-group type brainstorming sessions held a various sites. Then, participants were invited to a second meeting to sort these statements into piles (based on perceived conceptual relationships) and rate the statements on two variables: Importance and Feasibility.

Once collected, data were analyzed. First, an aggregate similarity matrix was constructed based on participant sorts. This matrix was analyzed via MDS. In summary, MDS analyzes the structures of participant sort data to come up with coordinates that can be illustrated in a two-dimensional space. That is, each of the qualitative statements collected for this study were represented as a coordinate along an x/y axes. Then, the coordinates derived from the MDS analysis were used as input into the HCA, via Ward’s algorithm. HCA combined the coordinates into clusters, that subsequently formed the Concept Map. Based on this map, bivariate pattern match graphs were computed to investigate ratings for importance and feasibility variables. 

Results:

The MDS analysis of the aggregated participant similarity matrix merged after nine iterations and produced a final stress value of 0.17, indicating a “good fit” between optimal and actual data configurations. HCA yielded a seven-cluster solution, or Concept Map, related to participant perspectives about effective legal representation. Clusters included Foster Care Knowledge, Youth-specific Legal Training, and Communication, among others. Mean bridging values for all clusters ranged from .07 to .62, indicating a high level of consensus among participant sorts. The Communication cluster was rated the most important and most feasible to effective legal representation. Foster Care Knowledge was deemed least feasible, whilst Positive Attitude was rated least important. The correlation coefficient for importance and feasibility was .96, indicating agreement among participants.

Implications:

This study is the first known to the authors to employ GCM as a way to delineate a conceptual framework for understanding effective legal representation for foster youth, from the perspectives of the youth themselves. This study offers a pragmatic framework that cannot only guide legal practices, but can also serve as a foundation for future research and evaluative efforts of these practices.