Authentically Engaging Youth in Foster Care in Organizational Functioning, Policy Change, and Practice: Findings from the Jim Casey Youth Opportunities Initiative

Background and Purpose: Many programs aim to involve and/or engage the populations that they serve in their day-to-day functioning and decision-making processes. The depth of youth engagement often varies in relation to the degree to which youth are involved, how much decision-making power they are given, what types of functions they are given a voice in, etc. The Jim Casey Youth Opportunities Initiative has made authentic youth engagement a cornerstone of their work with youth in foster care. The Jim Casey Initiative aims to authentically engage youth in many facets of their work, including practice and policy change, advocacy, evaluation, and community partnerships, among others. They aim to engage youth through four strategies: youth-adult partnerships, increased opportunities for growth, sufficient preparation for effective engagement, and support throughout the work. This presentation summarizes findings from a recent evaluation of the Jim Casey Initiative’s approach to authentic youth engagement. In particular, this presentation aims to answer the questions “What does authentic youth engagement look like and how does it operate in Jim Casey Youth Opportunities Initiative sites?” and “What are the lessons learned and recommended strategies and approaches for authentically engaging youth?” As part of this presentation, a youth leader from the Jim Casey Initiative will also share about their experiences with authentic youth engagement.

Methods: This study uses in-depth organizational case studies to assess authentic youth engagement practices in four Jim Casey Initiative sites, and compares these findings across sites. One-on-one phone interviews were conducted with 30 participants (15 youth with foster care experience aged 18 and older and 15 staff/professionals) to explore stakeholders’ experiences of authentic youth engagement within the context of their involvement with the Jim Casey Initiative. The analysis approach was conventional thematic content analysis.

Results: For the first research question, “What does authentic youth engagement look like and how does it operate in Jim Casey Youth Opportunities Initiative sites?”, qualitative analyses resulted in the identification of 11 themes based on participants’ definitions of authentic youth engagement, with key emerging themes including youth empowerment, youth-adult partnership, supporting youth, and making a change/impact. Participants were also asked to discuss how authentic youth engagement operates at their site. Eight themes were identified around the operation of authentic youth engagement with community building, youth empowerment, and youth skill building arising as frequent themes. For the second research question, “What are the lessons learned and recommended strategies and approaches for authentically engaging youth?”, there were many similarities in recommendations across sites and between youth and staff participants. Three primary themes emerged: (1) building trust, relationships, and connections with youth, (2) being youth-centered and youth-empowering, and (3) facilitating improved adult/staff/program efforts. A youth leader from the Jim Casey Initiative will share their perceptions of these findings, along with first-hand experiences of participating in leadership roles in the Jim Casey Initiative.

Conclusions and Implications: The findings from this study provide specific strategies for supporting authentic youth engagement that programs and organizations can use to effectively embed authentic youth engagement into their structure and functions.