Well-being and Foster Care Transitions: Service Awareness and Utilization

• In Event: 153 - Section on Children and Youth Refereed Roundtable Session and Business Meeting
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 05. Social Work and Children's Welfare

Abstract

Title: Well-Being and Foster Care Transitions: Service Awareness and Utilization
Background/Purpose: The transition to adulthood is often a tumultuous period for current and former foster youth. These young people face challenges in establishing themselves as independent, self-sufficient adults. This paper examines the association between characteristics and experiences of youth and patterns of receiving independent living services.
Methods: Using a longitudinal design, foster youth experiences, personal demographics, and system-level factors help predict Chafee Foster Care Independent Living service utilization. The inaugural year of tracking (2011) identifies a cohort of youth eligible for federally funded Chafee transitional services at age 16 years (2010) and potential recipients of services at age 17. Youth in the 2010 Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System and the 2011 National Youth in Transition Database are linked. Latent Class Analysis identifies clusters of service utilization. Bivariate tabulations and multinomial logistic regression models are used to examine youth characteristics and patterns of service involvements.
Results: Statistically significant associations are identified across the domains of independent variables (macro, meso and micro) included in the analyses. Strikingly, macro policy level variables remain important even after controlling for community, residential and individual level indicators. Important refinements are identified, including the relevance of considering the race classification of the youth identified as Hispanic.
Conclusions/Implications: The characteristics associated with receipt of services suggest subpopulations that could be targeted for increased service provision (e.g., youth with mental health problems and those in kin and non-relative foster family care).

Authors

• Alfred Pérez, University of Texas-San Antonio

• Richard J. Harris, University of Texas-San Antonio