Summary
While research has documented poor outcomes for youth who have aged out of foster care, Werner (1989) proposed a strengths-based shift in focus on protective factors indicating the potential for youths’ life outcomes to improve if protective factors are fostered throughout time in care. One such protective factor includes the development of and sustained networks of social supports. Since youth in foster care experience disruptive traumatic events due to displacement of their previous support systems and into new territories of care, it is critical to identify the individuals within a youth’s network and the supports received to better understand the barriers and opportunities youth face in developing these much-needed support systems.
In this study, the social network assessment instrument (Blakeslee, 2015) was used to better understand the support networks of youth participants in a college-readiness program aimed at increasing graduation rates and post-secondary transitions for youth in foster care. This measure allows for examination of the changes in the perceived quantity and quality of youth social relationships over time. Specifically, we quantitatively examined and compared the number of individuals who provided consistent support to the youth (network size), the types of support youth were provided (emotional, information, concrete), the frequency of support given (daily, weekly, monthly), and the perceived strength of support (not close, close, very close) among participants in both baseline summer 1 and then in summer 2 (after 9thgrade).
Participants in this study include 16 foster care youth of whom 72% percent identified as Black/African American while the remaining 28 % of youth identified as Hispanic. Twenty-six percent of the youth are served by special education. Thirteen percent of the students are designated as English Language Learners.
Using descriptive statistics, comparisons were made between Summer 1 results (baseline) and Summer 2 results on the social network assessment instrument (SNA). We then probed youth perspectives of social network supports and qualitatively coded interview responses. Youth identified a consistent focus on the family support regardless of their living arrangement. Youth also identified particular supports by school and program personnel (teachers, counselors, coaches)