Fostering Photovoice: Understanding the Impact of the Foster Care System on Youth and Their Familial Relationships

Background and Purpose: Youth in foster care often experience disrupted family and sibling connections due to being removed from their families of origin. However, limited research deeply explores their first-hand perspectives and meaning-making around these relationships during and after foster care placement. This photovoice study aimed to understand how former foster youth conceptualize family and sibling bonds, and give them a voice to share their lived experiences through photographs and narratives. The central research question was: How do youth who have experienced foster care perceive and ascribe meaning to family and sibling relationships during and after their time in care?

Method: Participants were transition age youth (TAY; N=6), ages 18-25, recruited through social media and foster youth organizations, and residing across Los Angeles County. Participants identified as female (4), male (1), and non-binary (1); Hispanic/Latinx (3), African American/Black (2), White (2), and Asian/AA (1). One identified as LGBTQ+.

This qualitative study utilized a participatory photovoice approach, wherein participants took photos and reflected and conversed about the motivations, sentiments, and experiences underlying the photographs they captured and curated. Over two months, they attended 8 meetings, via Zoom and in person, focused on expanding their photography skills, personal narrative development, and engaging in reflective discussions with fellow participants. Data collected included photographs, written narratives, participant feedback, and researcher reflections. Participants were engaged in all aspects of the research process, including using an inductive thematic analysis approach to analyze visual and textual data and developing a public photography exhibition to expand community awareness about youth with foster care experience.

Results: Two overarching themes related to the personal and familial impacts of foster care involvement were identified: 1) Fragmented Identities and Stretched Definitions of Family, and 2) Erosion of Personal Agency, Privacy and Support Systems.

The first theme highlighted how participants had diverse, expanded conceptualizations of "family" beyond just biological ties due to disrupted family bonds from being in care. Many considered adoptive families, friends, and teammates as core family members, re-defining familial belonging and identity. The second theme illustrated how youth experienced deprivation of rights, autonomy, privacy and unstable support networks during their time in foster care. Participants reported feeling isolated, with unreliable adult support, unable to see siblings, belongings confiscated, and restrictions on activities. Private family details were excessively shared with tertiary professionals, eroding their agency over personal/family situations and needs for confidentiality.

Conclusions and Implications: Results illuminated the profound identity impacts of having one's familial structures fractured, as well as the undermining of basic personal needs like autonomy, privacy, and supportive relationships during a critical developmental period. Policy and practice implications include involving youth in care planning, enforcing policies that encourage autonomy in foster care, facilitating formal/informal family supports, and bolstering strengths-based family preservation efforts. Findings demonstrate the value of participatory approaches to understand the nuanced realities of youth in foster care and better address their relational needs.