Support and Advocacy for Foster Care Students
First Presenter's Institution
Augusta University
First Presenter's Brief Biography
Meredith Rausch, PhD, NCC is a former Midwesterner who received her undergraduate degree in Public Speaking and master’s degree in Community Counseling, both from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. She then pursued a certificate in improvisational comedy from The Second City in Chicago. Her background ranges from personal trainer and figure competitor to co-founder and vice president of a 501(c)3 dedicated to assisting victims and survivors of intimate partner violence. Meredith has worked extensively with Veterans, performing neuropsychological assessments, writing marriage and career programs for the military, and as an on-call crisis counselor. She obtained her PhD in Counselor Education and Supervision from The University of Iowa and has published over 20 peer-reviewed articles, 8 book chapters, a textbook, and spoken professionally across the United States. She is the co-creator of the podcast Hello Again, Friend. Her list of awards includes the Golden Pen, Boundless Teaching, Early Tenure and Promotion, Promising Scholar, Emerging Leader, and College of Education Research Awards. Meredith is currently an associate professor.
Document Type
Event
Primary Strand
Mental Health
Relevance to Primary Strand
The Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS) reported a total of 407,493 children entering the foster care system as of September 30, 2020 (AFCARS, 2021). School aged children who are in foster care are more likely to have instability in grades K-12 (e.g., absenteeism, repeating a grade, changing schools; Cutuli et al., 2013; Palmieri & La Salle, 2017). College entrance and completion rates also lag behind their peers who were not involved in foster care (Kirk et al., 2013; National Working Group for Foster Care and Education, 2018).
Brinser and Wissel (2020) pointed to specific school interventions for foster care youth (e.g., positive school climate, school culture, enriching educational experiences), the importance of collaborating with stakeholders, and accessing community resources. Palmieri and LaSalle (2017) stressed the importance of including foster care youth in the decision-making processes regarding their education and helping them develop goals and the ability to advocate for themselves.
This presentation describes the current mental health needs of foster care youth (e.g., attachment, transitions, emotional issues) based on a 31-year content analysis of counseling journals. Additionally, it combines the studies and best practices across fields to provide all members of education an opportunity to best serve the needs of foster care youth in their classrooms and buildings. Through providing specific communication methods, staff, administrators, and educators can build positive support systems in their schools to help the growing number of foster care youth.
Alignment with School Improvement Plan Topics
Family and Community Engagement
Brief Program Description
With over 400,000 youth in the foster care system yearly, our school systems are likely to have foster care students in their buildings and classrooms. This presentation combines best practices and research to provide you with methods for communicating with and advocating for this specific population.
Summary
Each year, the United States has over 400,000 youth in the foster care system. While many of us in education have interacted with foster care youth and their social workers, we lack knowledge specific to the mental health issues specific to youth placed in the foster care system. Comparing foster care youth with their peers reveals the specific challenges faced by this population. This presentation will provide a brief overview of some of the main issues faced by foster care youth throughout their development.
Research points to issues with attachment for foster care youth (Gardenhire et al., 2019; Miranda et al., 2020; Schofield et al., 2019), yet also offers attachment opportunities with teachers–which has been linked to success in school. Teachers, administrators, and staff will be provided to ways to work with different attachment styles of foster care youth to help them build and maintain trusted relationships. Other issues include disordered eating, coping strategies, lack of success transitioning to college, self-advocacy, disruption, missing records, and foster family relationships. School counselors, teachers, administrators, and staff can all work to better the opportunities and futures of their foster care students through acknowledging and addressing simple and effective methods for communicating and interacting with foster care youth.
Attendees will take home practical methods for positively interacting with foster care youth according to their specific needs. By building strong support systems within the school, all students can be more successful.
Evidence
The Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS) collects data for all children placed in foster care or who are adopted through the foster care system (United States Department of Health and Human Services, 2021; USDHHS). The most recent data provided at the time of this article (September 30, 2020) reflects a current enrollment of 407,493 children in the foster care system. Over the past five years, enrollment peaked in 2017 (N = 436,552) and slightly decreased (USDHHS, 2021). The foster care system is complex, with children placed into varying foster care system living environments (e.g., relative, non-relative, group home, institution, supervised independent living), with differing case plan goals (e.g., reunification with parents, living with other relatives, adoption, long-term care, emancipation, guardianship), and time spent in the system (USDHHS, 2021). The average age of a child in foster care is 8.4 years old, with children spending anywhere from birth to 20 years in the system, with 21 months as the average time spent in foster care (USDHHS, 2021).
Individuals placed in the foster care system may present in a counseling setting with numerous areas for exploration due to various placements and unique challenges. Issues include completing high school and college (Kirk et al., 2013; Unrau et al., 2012), having basic necessities for living (Pecora et al., 2006), early pregnancy, issues maintaining housing, legal issues (Courtney et al., 2001; Dworsky & Courtney, 2009; Loman & Seigel, 2000; Reilly, 2003), trauma, abuse, loss, and neglect (Brinser & Wissel, 2020). These issues, along with others, should be considered within the context of the complexities of the foster care system in order to provide ethical and comprehensive counseling.
Brinser and Wissel (2020) pointed to specific school counseling interventions for foster care youth (e.g., positive school climate, school culture, enriching educational experiences), the importance of collaborating with stakeholders, and accessing community resources. Palmieri and LaSalle (2017) stressed the importance of including foster care youth in the decision-making processes regarding their education and helping them develop goals and the ability to advocate for themselves. Small group or individual counseling with foster youth can focus on secure attachment, setting boundaries with others (Kerr & Cossar, 2014), and helping provide psychoeducation to teachers and administrators regarding potentially triggering assignments (Mitchell, 2010; Palmieri & LaSalle, 2017).
Research points to issues with attachment for foster care youth (Gardenhire et al., 2019; Miranda et al., 2020; Schofield et al., 2019), yet also offers attachment opportunities with teachers–which has been linked to success in school (O’Connor & McCartney, 2007; Sabol & Pianta, 2012). Brinser and Wissel (2020) suggested advising classroom teachers to convey a desire to help and asking foster youth ways they can offer help. This may help with foster youth who also hold insecure and avoidant attachment styles (Golding et al., 2013).
Professional counselors and school counselors can work together to create systemic advocacy for LGBTQ+ foster care youth. Research points to the need for school counselors to develop a positive school culture (Bergin & Bergin, 2009; Brinser & Wissel, 2020; MacNeil et al., 2009; Ziomek-Daigle et al., 2016). Creating an atmosphere which shares the expectation that students are welcomed and celebrating improves the school culture. School counselors should model these values in their words and actions, as well as in the symbols chosen for their office. Brinser and Wissel (2020) recommended helping foster care youth develop self-advocacy strategies to help them develop “autonomy in meeting their needs” (p. 172).
Foster care youth may struggle with feeling a loss of control (Octoman et al., 2014; Scherr, 2014) and may experience additional placements based on the resulting complex emotions which may arise due to this loss of control (Octoman et al., 2014). Additional placements may also occur due to foster parents who are non-supportive of different gender and sexual identities and orientations from their own. The more often a child is placed in a different home, the more disruption to their life and feelings of loss of control. Changes of placements may increase the probability that a child will experience trauma. Due to trauma and other contributing factors, foster care youth may have difficulties creating secure attachment (Jankowska et al., 2015).
Helping foster care youth build health attachment can begin with foster care parent training. While it may be incredibly difficult for a foster care parent to determine the attachment styles of themselves, their partner, and their foster care child (Walker, 2008), helping a foster care parent learn methods for calming their distressing thoughts and feelings can be helpful modeling behavior for foster care youth (Walker, 2008). Beginning coping strategies like meditation, mindfulness, journaling, dance, and art can create emotional awareness (Gardenhire et al., 2019). Foster parents who have developed emotional awareness can begin practicing empathy. Gottman (1997) recommended five steps for emotional coaching (e.g., awareness of the child’s emotions, recognizing emotion as an invitation for intimacy and teaching, listening emphatically while validating feelings, helping children label their emotions, set limits and assist the child in developing problem-solving) which may be taught to the family and practiced for counseling homework.
Learning Objective 1
Participants will be able to list mental health issues specific to foster care youth
Learning Objective 2
Participants will be able to describe methods for helping foster care youth with their mental health issues
Learning Objective 3
Participants will be able to name specific methods for improving communication with foster care youth in their schools
Learning Objective 4
Participants will be able to describe methods for advocating for foster care student success
Recommended Citation
Rausch, Meredith A. and Gray, Tyler L., "Support and Advocacy for Foster Care Students" (2023). Southeast Conference on School Climate. 53.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/secsc/2023/2023/53
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Support and Advocacy for Foster Care Students
Each year, the United States has over 400,000 youth in the foster care system. While many of us in education have interacted with foster care youth and their social workers, we lack knowledge specific to the mental health issues specific to youth placed in the foster care system. Comparing foster care youth with their peers reveals the specific challenges faced by this population. This presentation will provide a brief overview of some of the main issues faced by foster care youth throughout their development.
Research points to issues with attachment for foster care youth (Gardenhire et al., 2019; Miranda et al., 2020; Schofield et al., 2019), yet also offers attachment opportunities with teachers–which has been linked to success in school. Teachers, administrators, and staff will be provided to ways to work with different attachment styles of foster care youth to help them build and maintain trusted relationships. Other issues include disordered eating, coping strategies, lack of success transitioning to college, self-advocacy, disruption, missing records, and foster family relationships. School counselors, teachers, administrators, and staff can all work to better the opportunities and futures of their foster care students through acknowledging and addressing simple and effective methods for communicating and interacting with foster care youth.
Attendees will take home practical methods for positively interacting with foster care youth according to their specific needs. By building strong support systems within the school, all students can be more successful.
