Youth Engagement in Child Welfare Research and Translation to Policy and Practice

Researchers and policymakers are increasingly seeking new ways to engage people with lived experience in research and research translation to policy and practice to increase relevance and effectiveness. This roundtable focuses on engaging young people in child welfare research and the translation of research to policy and practice. The panel is comprised of (a) two-three young people with lived experience in foster care who contribute to child welfare research and research translation partnerships and (b) leaders of research translation projects that engage young people. Panelists will discuss their experiences, the implications of their experiences on the translation of research to policy and practice, and ways to include youth in future partnerships. The roundtable will focus on projects that engage young people in evaluation research, research translation to practice, and research translation to local policies.

The roundtable will begin with project leaders who will provide brief descriptions of the research and research translation projects' goals, motivations for including young people with lived experience, and the ways they engage with young people. The discussion will then focus on young peoples' experiences. Guiding questions for the discussion include: (1) Why are young people motivated to engage in the partnership? (2) What approaches and practices facilitate youth engagement? (3) What are the challenges young people experience in engaging in research and the translation of research to policy and practice and how can these challenges be addressed? Panelists will then discuss their experiences together including (4) How does youth engagement influence the findings and implications of the work? (5) How have projects changed due to youth engagement? and (6) How can the lessons learned be applied to incorporating young people with lived experience in foster care in the future? The discussion will explicitly and consistently discuss the ways in which panelists recognize and confront bias in their experiences together including bias in many forms such as race, age, and gender. Panelists and the audience will then discuss how these lessons can be applied to youth engagement in research and research translation in other public systems.

The panelists will base their reflections on their participation in numerous projects and programs including, but not limited to, the evaluation of the Texas Foster Youth Health Initiative, First Place for Youth, and the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Population Affairs Research to Practice Center for Adolescent Health Promotion to Prevent Teenage Pregnancy.