Sign Up Now
Get instant access to over 1 million+ study documents
OR
Already registered? click here to login
By creating your account, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and student honor code.
¶ … exiting out of the foster care system and consistent research points to the value of a support network in helping them do so.
Law necessitates that foster children exit the foster care system between the ages of 16-18. However, study after study shows the difficulties that these individuals face upon release. Many of them are unable to throw themselves into independence and very few are able to grapple with the struggles of life. Studies and analysis (* e.g.) show that most of these individuals are unemployed,50% leave foster care without a high school diploma, 7% were incarcerated in a state prison, 2% reported experiencing homelessness, 30% experience health problems, 32% need health care, and 55% have no type of health insurance. Further studies (*e.g.) show that youths with more foster care placements are more likely to have encountered violence in their dating relationships, were more likely to have spent time in jail and were associated with higher rates of pregnancies.
Social support, therefore, is extremely important for young adults existing out of the foster care system. In fact, the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (*), found that mentored foster youth fared better on self-reports of health, educational attainment, physical aggression, suicide risk, and risk of sexually transmitted infection than did non-mentored foster care youth. Supportive relationships include caseworkers, foster parents, therapists, original...
Youths maintaining positive supportive relationships are associated with more positive outcomes risk of sexually transmitted infection than did non-mentored foster care youth.
One of the organizations that is reputed for meeting these needs and providing just such a social support framework is the Anderson Educational Employment Center that is located in El Cajon, California and is established for young adults (aged 16-18)exiting out of the foster care system who live throughout the San Diego County. This specific organization was chosen as target for study since it deals with a population that is most in need of support and care given its recent displacement from the foster Center. It was for this reason that Anderson Educational Employment Center was chosen as subject of this essay.
The organization's mission statement is "to provide supportive community-based services for youths moving from the foster care system to adulthood."
This organization has a solid track record of 25 years with providing professional services such as job placement skills, financial workshops, educational assistance, interviewing skills, resume writing, and career building skills. Additionally, 90% of the foster care youths go on to complete their college degrees, join the military, and seek steady employment.
The objective of this study is to investigate whether or not, and in which way, the Anderson Educational…
Sources
Hycner, RH (1985) Some guidelines for the phenomenological analysis of interview data, Human Studies 8, 279-303
Foster Care Community Assessment: Foster Care Youth Needs What is a community assessment? A community assessment is a process by which a collaborative partnership gathers information on the current strengths, concerns, needs, and conditions of children, families, and the community. The information comes from many sources -- especially parents and family members -- and is elicited by many techniques, including interviews, focus groups, and scanning demographic data collected by local agencies. Because
A large number of these youth are not prepared to be independent, regardless of their maturity level; they do not have the skills and services in place to do so. Having to live on one's own maximizes the stresses and personal challenges and requires skills that are even difficult for those who have never been in foster care. Not only are these young adults moving to independence without positive support,
foster children face, especially when they become emancipated and begin to live life on their own. It has often been suggested that many more African-American children are in foster care than are children of other races. In order to understand whether or not this is accurate, a thorough review of available literature on the topic is necessary. Literature on this topic will include statistics, gender differences, and cultural diversity. The
Financial Literacy One of the objectives of foster care should be to provide as any parent or guardian should provide, which means getting foster care youth ready for the adult world. When a youth graduates from the foster care program, ideally that youth will have all of the skills and tools needed to survive on his or her own. Reilly (2003) identified some of the issues that foster care youth face when
D., further discusses the social implications of foster care on the overall financial education and life-skill ability of aged out foster care children. According to his research, the average income of an aging-out youth is less than $6,000, which is drastically less than the federal poverty amount of $7,890. This author proposes that the only means of ending the cycle and allowing foster care children the opportunity to gain the
Alternative and Traditional Therapeutic Methods and Interventions: The Treatment of Children in Foster Care Children who live in a foster care environment often have emotional difficulties that must be dealt with by their caregivers. It is true that some of these children also have physical disabilities and ailments, but most of these physical problems can be handled more easily than some of the emotional scars that these children carry. Many of these