Finding Understanding and Support: Navigating Online Communities to Share and Connect at the Intersection of Abuse and Foster Care Experiences

Background and Purpose: Children in foster care often face challenging experiences rooted in childhood maltreatment and unstable family relationships, while other members of the foster care system, such as foster parents and social workers, encounter other forms of difficulties. This study analyzes 10 years of Reddit data to explore how different members of the foster care system find support and shared experiences at the intersection of the foster care and abuse survivor online communities. The objectives are twofold: (1) to identify the discourses of users who cross boundaries between these two communities, and (2) to understand the roles these boundary-crossing users play within the communities.

Methods: We employed an AI-powered mixed methods approach, using a dataset of 259,350 Reddit posts and comments from 7 relevant subreddits over 10 years comments or posts and 30,372 unique users. To address the first research question, we used topic modeling and qualitative coding to analyze the discourse at the intersection of the foster care and abuse survivor subreddit communities. For the second research question, we used propensity score matching to compare behavioral and linguistic differences between boundary-crossing users and a control group, single community users. We used Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) to qualitatively examine the social and community roles of boundary-crossing users.

Results: We found that boundary-crossing users between foster care and trauma communities play a vital role in community engagement, though they are a small part of the total use base. These users are more interactive and often discuss complex issues within the foster care system, including the challenges of foster parenting, child behavioral issues and therapy, trauma, and signs of abuse. Our findings also indicated that these boundary-crossing users tend to be long-standing members of their communities. They come from various backgrounds such as caregivers, former foster children, child welfare professionals, and abuse survivors, with many holding multiple roles.

Conclusion and Implications: The intersection between foster care and abuse survivor communities on Reddit serves as a unique space for discussing sensitive issues related to challenging experiences in a more accepting environment. Boundary-crossing users, with their diverse roles, can empathize with various perspectives within the complex foster care system. Our findings suggest that online platforms could better support individuals who have faced adversity by recommending relevant communities and users based on shared topics and experiences. Additionally, our findings highlight the value of collaborating with moderators of online platforms to nurture virtual communities by using optional badges to identify knowledgeable and supportive users. By connecting people with similar experiences and facilitating the exchange of support, online communities can play a vital role in helping members who are healing from challenging situations.