Photovoice Action Research As a Trauma-Processing Tool for Youth Impacted By Foster Care

Background and Purpose: Youth transitioning out of foster care experience significant trauma associated with family separation, displacement, loss, and disrupted relationships. Despite these profound experiences, many such youth lack opportunities to process their trauma or have their voices heeded in system reform. Our research examined how youth participatory action approaches like photovoice can become a therapeutic tool for youth with foster care experience to process trauma related to their system involvement. This study explored how one photovoice project enabled youth to externalize, share, and collectively process experiences that often remain unexpressed—with a focus on its future potential as a social work intervention.

Methods: The research team undertook a photovoice action research project with youth transitioning from foster care (N=6, ages 18-25). Participants represented diverse gender identities (4 female, 1 male, 1 non-binary) and racial/ethnic backgrounds (Hispanic/Latinx, African American/Black, White, and Asian American). Researchers created a supportive, democratic space for project development and involved participants in planning, implementation, analysis, and dissemination of findings. During weekly sessions, participants captured photographs representing their foster care experiences, developed accompanying narratives, and engaged in group discussions about shared themes. Upon project completion, participants volunteered that the project helped them process experiences and trauma related to their system involvement. In response, we performed a secondary analysis of data—including photographs, captions, group dialogue transcripts, and semi-structured interviews one year after completion—to better understand this phenomenon. Analysis employed inductive thematic approaches aligned with trauma-informed frameworks.

Results: Analysis revealed three primary themes: (1) Externalization of Previously Unshared Trauma – participants articulated experiences of family separation, loss of possessions, and relationship disruption that many had never verbalized before; (2) Collective Recognition and Validation – youth reported profound relief in discovering similarities in their experiences, reducing feelings of isolation; and (3) Empowerment Through Visual Testimony – participants expressed newfound agency through showcasing their photographs at community events and advocating for system improvement. Follow-up interviews revealed lasting positive impacts, with participants describing the project as “transformative” and noting significant therapeutic benefits from feeling “heard and seen.” Importantly, participants emphasized how their direct involvement in the project created meaningful connections with peers while allowing them to control their narrative.

Conclusions and Implications: Prior research has found that photovoice can assist participants in processing trauma related to gender-based violence. Our study expands on this work, exploring photovoice and other participatory methods as therapeutic interventions that can strengthen connections between research, practice, and policy. By centering youth voices, photovoice addresses a critical gap in traditional research-to-practice pipelines, where the perspectives of those most impacted is often missing. For social workers in child welfare spaces, this study provides evidence supporting the use of photovoice as a group intervention that can help youth understand and process trauma. For researchers, findings highlight the value of community partnerships in generating culturally responsive knowledge. For policy, the visual testimonies created through the photovoice process offer compelling evidence for reform from those with lived experience.