Abstract
Foster youth participation in their transitional independent living plan (TILP) development is a legally mandated process. Youths’ active involvement in these decision-making processes is recognized as a potential protective factor during their transition from care to independent adulthood. Despite this, little empirical research has examined predictors of youth participation. This study uses a representative sample of [STATE] foster youth (n = 727) to investigate youth-level and county-level predictors of youths’ roles in their TILP development and satisfaction with the care decision meetings. Nearly a third of the youths were either not aware of or not involved in their TILP at age 17. The majority of youths who participated in care decision meetings were satisfied with the meetings. Regression analysis results find that the odds of youth participating in the TILP development were positively associated with their age, conscientiousness and agreeableness personality traits, their rating of helpfulness of their caseworker, and physical disabilities documented by caseworkers. The odds of youth being satisfied with the team meetings were positively associated with their rating of helpfulness of their social worker and being a parent.