Former Foster Youth in Postsecondary Education

Reaching Higher

Jacob P. Gross

• Publisher: Palgrave Pivot
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN:
  9783319994581
• eBook ISBN:
  9783319994598
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Educational Policy

This book examines the attainment gap between foster youth and their peers. Specifically focusing on post-secondary access and success for foster youth, Gross points out the challenges foster youth face in the primary and secondary school context, such as being less likely to complete high school. These barriers to former foster youth continue once enrolled in post-secondary education, and can manifest as lack of institutional support, financial barriers, and limited to no familial support. The author discusses what policy makers and practitioners need to know to better support the educational attainment of former foster youth. 

© The Author(s) 2019

Jacob P. GrossFormer Foster Youth in Postsecondary Educationhttps://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-99459-8_1

Begin Abstract

1. Introduction

Jacob P. Gross¹

(1)

Louisville, KY, USA

Jacob P. Gross

Email: [email protected]

Abstract

Despite high aspirations, former foster youth (FFY) face substantial barriers to enrolling in and completing college. If foster youth completed high school and enrolled in college at the same rates as their peers, an additional 100,000 FFY in the 18- to 25-year age group would be attending college. This disparity in educational opportunity for FFY is the focus of this book. While most research pays attention to pre-college experiences, enrollment, and success, this book addresses the dearth of research related to what happens during college. The remainder of this introduction prepares the reader for language and background related to studying foster youth, challenges and limitations to this research, and the audience for and the organization of this book.

Keywords

Former foster youthHigher educationEducational attainment

End Abstract

Despite high aspirations, former foster youth (FFY) face substantial barriers to enrolling in and completing college. In one study, over 70% of the youth in care desired to attend college, yet 20% of FFY enrolled in college compared to 60% of peers who had not been in foster care (Wolanin, 2005). Postsecondary graduation rates range from 1 to 11% (Dworsky & Courtney, 2010; Pecora et al., 2003). If foster youth completed high school and enrolled in college at the same rates as their peers, an additional 100,000 FFY in the 18- to 25-year-old age group would be attending college (Wolanin, 2005).

This disparity in educational opportunity for FFY is the focus of this book. Although some attention is being paid to this attainment gap by policymakers and researchers, we need a better understanding of college-going and college experiences of FFY in order to remove barriers and enhance successes. Most research on the postsecondary attainment of FFY has focused on pre-college experiences and characteristics; college enrollment; and college success , but has not delved more deeply into what happens during college. This is the contribution of this book.

Our focus on educational attainment, as opposed to stable housing, mental health services, or other challenges faced by youth in care and FFY, is deliberate and meant to emphasize what we see as the crucial importance of postsecondary educational attainment in addressing conditions that lead to the placement of youth in foster care. This focus on higher education rather than the profound and immediate conditions that prompt the removal and placement of youth into the foster care system warrants additional explanation. Consider causes for removal: Neglect, physical abuse, sexual abuse, parental drug abuse, and more. These are serious and dangerous circumstances, so much so that that state has deemed it necessary to step in as corporate parent (Courtney, 2009) and physically remove the child or youth from the conditions. The effects of these conditions are significant. Youth who have experienced foster care are more likely to struggle with depression, addiction, and other mental health issues (Barth, 1990; Courtney, 2009; Dworsky & Perez, 2010). Social workers, acting on behalf of the state, have an immediate and crucial role to play in ensuring the safety of the youth as well as helping address the conditions that lead to removal. It is hard to understate the importance of this work. Rigorous research is essential to supporting social workers, advocates, counselors, and others who are the front line of support for youth who face conditions that require removal.

However, we adopt the stance in this book that research is also needed to address the underlying conditions that lead to the removal of youth from their homes. These conditions are systemic, stemming from poverty and its effects as well as a lack of support for mental health and behavioral issues in children (Barth & Green, 2006). As we detail in Chapter 2, we believe that education offers a path out of these conditions, which are too often reproduced across generations. The benefits of higher education are substantial. They include increased earnings, decreased likelihood of unemployment, enhanced physical well-being, greater access to health care (including mental health care), and more. This book presents original research to help educators and policymakers understand the experiences of FFY in postsecondary education with the singular goal of helping get more FFY into and through higher education and to mitigate the conditions that lead to the removal of youth. This work is part of a broader stream of research focused on the successful transition of FFY into adulthood (e.g., Courtney, 2009; Courtney, Charles, Okpych, & Halsted, 2014; Courtney & Dworsky, 2006; Courtney, Roderick, Smithgall, Gladden, & Nagoka, 2004; Courtney, Terao, & Bost, 2004; Day, Dworsky, & Feng, 2013; Dworsky & Havlicek, 2010a, 2010b; Dworsky & Perez, 2010; Geiger, Hanrahan, Cheung, & Lietz, 2016).

Our Framework

Throughout the book, we refer to adults who were no longer in foster care as FFY and youth who are in foster care as youth in care . Other descriptors are used in the literature, such as foster youth, foster care alumni, youth who have experienced care, current foster youth, or youth in foster care. The words chosen to denote that someone currently is or once was in the foster care system can emphasize certain aspects of that experience. For example, describing someone as a FFY may imply that because a youth is now an adult and no longer in the foster care system that the experience is in the past, when in fact the impacts and experiences may forever shape that individual. Moreover, saying foster youth may imply to some that being in the foster care system is related to intrinsic characteristics of the individual youth. Describing someone as an alumni or alumnus of the foster care system may similarly imply that one graduates from foster care and forever leaves it behind (Whitman, 2016). Even describing foster care as an experience can have the effect of minimizing how impactful such an experience can be for individuals. Language, of course, conveys meaning and has the power to shape perceptions.

The language used to talk about foster care and people who are or have been in foster care is dynamic. It is a matter of important discourse and debate that is not academic in the sense that it is theoretical. Rather, it has the power to shape viewpoints, ascribe meaning, and claim ownership of experience and identity. Pragmatically, we had to choose labels to refer to the population of people who are in foster care or who have been in foster care. The choice of the term FFY is deliberate in that we want to convey that we are referring to adults who were in the foster care system; that lived experiences in foster care may be profoundly impactful for those adults; and that characteristics associated with adults who have been in foster care (e.g., poor academic preparation , higher incidence of mental health issues) are not intrinsic to the individual per se, but a function of the environment and context. This last point is important to understanding how we frame the work in this book.

Too often in education, researchers, educators, and policymakers adopt deficit perspectives when trying to understand and address achievement gaps in education attainment. Deficit cognitive frames are those in which individuals may be inclined to attribute differences in educational outcomes to incorrect cultural stereotypes (e.g., lack of motivation among low-income families); poor socialization; or maladapted characteristics of individual students (Bensimon, 2005). Such frames can lead to the erroneous conclusion that individuals are solely responsible for their educational attainment, when in fact societal and organizational factors are at play. Although student experiences are the focus of much of this book, we are interested foremost in barriers presented by organizations and social systems. For example, in Chapter 2 we examine barriers to academic preparation for FFY. While it is the individual whose level of academic preparation may be insufficient for college-level work, our discussion focuses on organizational and systemic causes for that, such as school mobility among youth in care.

Our choice of terms in this book is pragmatic and is not meant to be definitive. Other terms can be used depending on one’s perspectives on foster care and one’s positionality. We recognize that in choosing our terms, however, we are shaping perceptions. One danger in referring to FFY is that we are inherently aggregating a diverse group of people whose experiences with foster care are also diverse. Not only are youth in care diverse racially, ethnically, geographically, and otherwise, but the conditions that triggered their entry into care are varied along with how they may experience care. In Chapter 3, we describe and discuss the diversity of foster care, but it is important to acknowledge the diversity that our choice of language may obscure. We try to be transparent about our choice; however, we suspect we have overlooked other implications of the language we use.

In addition to using language designed to combat deficit perspectives on the educational attainment of FFY, we also strive to highlight successes, strengths, and resilience throughout the book. For example, in Chapter 5 we find that FFY are adaptive in relying on teachers and counselors for information about college more than non-FFY, perhaps because FFY do not have the familial support to gather information about college. Also, we find that FFY engage in a number of positive behaviors in college, such as seeking out faculty, that are associated with being more likely to succeed in college. A focus on successes, strengths, and resilience is intended to combat deficit perspectives on the educational attainment of FFY by drawing attention on the agency FFY exert in pursuing an education and overcoming barriers. This focus is also intended to help educators think of ways they can leverage the strength and resilience of FFY to support their pursuit of a postsecondary credential .

Higher Education

Our choice of terms to describe higher education also needs explanation and warrants consideration. For simplicity, we most often use the term college in this book, although we also use higher education, postsecondary education , and university at times to avoid repetition in certain areas. Although subtle differences exist in the meanings of these words—especially among educational scholars—we use them to refer to all institutions of education beyond the secondary level. This includes vocational and technical schools, community colleges, four-year colleges, beauty schools, research-intensive universities, for-profit institutions, and more. Postsecondary education in the USA is a diverse and expansive sector. For example, in 2016 (the latest year of available data), there were 6733 postsecondary institutions (excluding those in US territories and abroad) recognized for federal financial aid purposes. Of these, 733 were public, four-year or above; 517 were private, non-profit, four-year or above; 984 were public two-year; 157 ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Front Matter
• 1. Introduction
• 2. Benefits of and Barriers to Higher Education
• 3. An Overview: Foster Care and Policies Designed to Support Youth in Care
• 4. Transitions Out of Care
• 5. College Readiness and Enrollment Among Baccalaureate Degree Seekers
• 6. How Former Foster Youth Finance Higher Education
• 7. Campus-Based Support Programs
• 8. Conclusion
• Back Matter