Abstract
The conventional models used for preparing youth for emancipation from child welfare emphasize independent living services in which youths learn how to find an apartment, apply for jobs or college, and manage money and budget for household expenses. Yet the focus on “independence” for youth leaving the child welfare system does not fit with the developmental tasks of adolescence. A more fitting goal for youth would be “interdependence,” as most young people do not achieve instant independence, but gradually take on the roles of an adult as they navigate through their twenties. During this period they require considerable emotional and practical support from families. Youth become independent and exercise autonomy within these supportive and empowering relationships.
Youth who come into care when they are older may return home, whereas those who enter at younger ages and experience multiple placements may lose contact with extended family and not form a consistent relationship with helping caregiver(s). Youth who are supported into young adulthood by birth or adoptive families or an extended period of assistance from foster parents fare better than youth who do not have these supports. Interventions that engage youth in progressively deepening responsibility for their own destiny, while simultaneously strengthening the support network so critical to successful interdependence beyond foster care, recognize that these youth are not all the same and that “one size does not fit all.” Teaming practices that respect youth voices, promote emerging autonomy, and engage a broad support system represent a needed step beyond life skills curricula that focus on the youth in isolation. They offer a variety of options to agencies working with complex families by building secure interdependence for the youth in their care and can be used as a time-limited decision-making intervention as well as a more comprehensive framework for providing ongoing services.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Annie E. Casey. (2011). Matrix of Family Teaming: Comparison of Approaches, 2011. “Family to Family: Key Characteristics of Family Meetings.” Retrieved from http://www.f2f.ca.gov/res/revision_matrix.pdf.
Annie E. Casey Foundation. (September, 2002). Family to family: Tools for rebuilding foster care. Team decision making. Involving the family and community in child welfare decisions, part Two. Baltimore, MD. Retrieved from http://www.aecf.org.
Arnett, J. J. (2000). Emerging adulthood: A theory of development from the late teens through the twenties. American Psychologist, 55, 469–480.
Avery, R. J. (2010). An examination of theory and promising practices for achieving permanency for teens before they age out of foster care. Children and Youth Services Review, 32, 399–408.
Barber, B. K. (1997). Introduction: Adolescent socialization in context—connection, regulation and autonomy in multiple contexts. Journal of Adolescent Research, 12(2), 173–177.
Berzin, S. C., Cohen, E., Thomas, K., & Dawson, W. C. (2008). Does family group decision making affect child welfare outcomes? Findings form a randomized control study. Child Welfare, 87, 35–54.
Casey Family Programs. (2010). Ensuring safe, nurturing and permanent families for children: the need for federal finance reform. Seattle, WA: Author. Retrieved from http://www.casey.org/Resources/Publications/pdf/NeedForFinanceReform.pdf.
Casey Family Services. (2005). A call to action: An integrated approach to youth permanency and preparation for adulthood. Retrieved from http://www.aecf.org/upload/publicationfiles/casey_permanency_0505.pdf.
Center for the Study of Social Policy. (2002). Bringing families to the table: A Comparative Guide to Family Meetings in Child Welfare. Washington, DC: Author.
Clark, H. B., & Crosland, K. A. (2009). Social and life skills development : Preparing and facilitating youth for transition into young adults. In B. Kerman, M. Freundlich, & A. Maluccio (Eds.), Achieving permanence for older children and youth in foster care. New York: Columbia Press.
Collins, M. (2001). Foster youth transition to adulthood: a longitudinal view of leaving care. Child Welfare League of America, 86, 6.
Collins, M. E. (2004). Enhancing services to youths leaving foster care: Analysis of recent legislation, its potential and impact. Children and Youth Services Review, 26, 1051–1065.
Courtney, M. E. (2009). The difficult transition to adulthood for foster youth in the US: implications for the State as corporate parent. Society for Research in Child Development, 23(1).
Courtney, M. E., Dworksky, A., Cusick, G., Havlicek, J., Perez, A., & Keller, T. (2007). Midwest evaluation of the adult functioning of former foster youth: outcomes of youth at age 21. Chicago: Chapin Hall Center for Children at the University of Chicago.
Crampton, D., & Natarajan, A. (2005). Connections between group work and family meetings in child welfare practice: What can we learn from each other? Social Work with Groups, 28(1), 65–79.
Crampton, D., & Pennell, J. (2009). Family involvement meetings with older children in foster care: Promising practices and the challenge of child welfare reform. In B. Kerman, M. Freundlich, & A. Maluccio (Eds.), Achieving permanence for older children and youth in foster care. New York: Columbia Press.
Crea, T. M., Crampton, D. S., Abramson-Madden, A., & Usher, C. (2008). Variability in the implementation of Team Decisionmaking (TDM): Scope and compliance with the family to family practice model. Children and Youth Services Review, 30, 1221–1232.
Crea, T. M., & Berzin, S. C. (2009). Family involvement in child welfare decision making: Strategies and research on inclusive practices. Journal of Public Child Welfare, 3, 305–327.
Frey, L., Cushing, G., Freunlich, M., & Brenner, E. (2008). Achieving permanency for youth in foster care: Assessing and strengthening emotional security. Child & Family Social Work, 13, 218–226.
Garcia, J. A., Sivak, P., & Tibrewal, S. (2003). Transforming relationships in practice and research: What is the Stanislaus model? Protecting Children, 18(1&2), 22–29.
Goodkind, S., Schelbe, L. A., & Shook, J. J. (2011). Why youth leave care: Understandings of adulthood and transition successes and challenges among youth aging out of child welfare. Children and Youth Services Review, 3(6), 1039–1048.
Greenblatt, S., Kerman, B., Freundlich, M., & Frey, L. (2010). Permanency teams and other permanency practices: Ongoing strategies to strengthen family relationships in child welfare. Protecting Children, 25, 52–63.
Gunderson, K. (2005). Family group conferences for youth in care. Seattle, WA: Northwest Institute for Children and Families and Washington State Children’s Administration.
Henry, D. L. (2005). The 3-5-7 model: Preparing children for permanency. Children and Youth Services Review, 27, 197–212.
Hudson, J., Morris, A., Maxwell, G., & Galaway, B. (Eds.). (1996). Family group conferences: Perspectives on policy and practice. Annandale, New South Wales, Australia/New York: The Federation Press/Criminal Justice Press.
Hyde, J., & Kammerer, N. (2009). Adolescents’ perspectives on placement moves and congregate settings: Couples and cumulative instabilities in out-of-home care. Children and Youth Services Review, 31, 265–273.
Kerman, B., Lahti, M., & Lee, J. (2009). Intensive ongoing permanency teams in child welfare: getting inside the black box of teaming. Presented at the American Humane FGDM & other engagement approaches conference, June 4, 2009. Pittsburgh, PA.
Kerman, B., Wildfire, J., & Barth, R. (2002). Outcomes for young adults who experienced foster care. Children and Youth Services Review, 24(5), 319–344.
Mares, A. (2010). An assessment of independent living needs among emancipating foster youth. Child Adolescence Social Work Journal, 27, 79–96.
Maza, P. J. (2009). A comparative examination of foster youth who did and did not achieve permanency. In B. Kerman, M. Freundlich, & A. Maluccio (Eds.), Achieving permanence for older children and youth in foster care (pp. 32–39). New York: Columbia Press.
McCoy, H., McMillen, J. C., & Spitznagel, E. L. (2008). Older youth leaving the foster care system: Who, what, when, where and why? Children and Youth Services Review, 30, 735–745.
McMillen, J. C., Rideout, G. B., Fisher, R. H., & Tucker, J. (1997). Independent-living services: The views of former foster youth. Families in Society, 78(5), 471–479.
McMillen, J. C., & Tucker, J. (1999). The status of older adolescents at exit from out-of-home care. Child Welfare, 78, 339–360.
Merkel-Holguin, L. (2001). Family Group Conferencing: An “Extended Family” process to safeguard children and strengthen family-well being. In: E. Walton, P. Sandau-Beckler, M. Mannes (Eds.), Balancing family-centered services and child well-being: exploring issues in policy, practice, theory and research. Columbia University Press: New York
Merkel-Holguin, L., Tinworth, K., & Horner, A. (2007). Using family group conferencing to achieve permanency for youth. Protecting Children, 22(1), 38–49.
Montgomery, P., Donkoh, C., & Underhill, K. (2006). Independent living programs for young people leaving the care system: The state of the evidence. Children and Youth Services Review, 28(12), 1435–1448.
Mortimer, J. T., & Larson, R. W. (Eds.). (2002). The changing adolescent experience: societal trends and the transition to adulthood. New York: Cambridge University Press.
O’Connor, T. G., Allen, J. P., Bell, K. L., & Hauser, S. T. (1996). Adolescent-parent relationships and leaving home in young adulthood. New Directions in Child Development, 71, 39–52.
Pecora, P. J., Kessler, R. C., Williams, J., O’Brien, K., Downs, A. C., English, D., White, J., Hiripi, E., White, C. R., Wiggins, T., & Holmes, K. E. (2005). Improving family foster care: Findings from the Northwest Foster Care Alumni Study. Seattle, WA: Casey Family Programs.
Pecora, P., Whittaker, J., Maluccio, A., Barth, R., DePanfilis, D., & Plotnick, R. (2008). The child welfare challenge policy, practice, research (3rd ed.). New Jersey: Aldine.
Pennell, J., & Crampton, D. S. (2009). Family-involvement meetings with older children in foster care: Promising practices and the challenge of child welfare reform. In B. Kerman, M. Freundlich, & A. Maluccio (Eds.), Achieving Permanence for Older Children and Youth in Foster Care. New York, NY: Columbia University Press.
Propp, J., Ortega, D. M., & NewHeart, F. (2003). Independence or interdependence: Rethinking the transition from “ward of the court” to adulthood. Families in Society, 84(2), 259–266.
Rauktis, M. E., Fusco, R. A., Cahalane, H. G., Bennett, I., & Reinhart, S. (2011). “Try to Make It Seem Like We’re Regular Kids”: Youth perceptions of restrictiveness in out-of-home care. Children and Youth Services Review, 33(7), 1224–1233.
Samuels, G. M. & Pryce, J. M. (2008). What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger: Survivalist self-reliance and risk among young adults aging out of foster care. Children and Youth Services Review, 10, 1198–1210.
Shin, S. (2009). Improving social work practice with foster care adolescents: examining readiness for independence. Journal of Public Child Welfare, 3, 354–371.
Steinberg, L. (2005a). Cognitive and affective development in adolescence. TRENDS in Cognitive Sciences, 9(2), 69–74.
Steinberg, L. (2005b). Adolescence (7th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill. Retrieved from http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cb/stats_research/afcars/tar/report17.htm.
US Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Administration on Children, Youth and Families, Children’s Bureau. (2007). Child welfare Outcomes (2004–2007). Report to Congress. Washington, DC: Author. Retrieved from an http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cb/pubs/cwo04-07/cwo04-07.pdf.
US Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Administration on Children, Youth and Families, Children’s Bureau (2013). The AFCARS Report. Preliminary FY 2012 estimates as of July 2013(20). Retrieved from http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cb/resource/afcars-report-20.
US General Accounting Office (GAO). (1999). Foster care: Effectiveness of independent living services unknown. Washington, DC: General Accounting Office, GAO/HEHS-00-03.
Velen, M., & Devine, L. (2005). Use of FGDM with children in care the longest: It’s about time. Protecting Children, 19(4), 25–35.
Weigenberg, E. C., Barth, R. P., & Guo, S. (2009). Family group decision making: A propensity score analysis to evaluate child and family services at baseline and after 36 months. Children and Youth Services Review, 31, 383–390.
Wildfire, J., Rideout, P., & Crampton, D. (2009). Transforming child welfare one team decision making meeting at a time. Protecting Children, 25(2), 40–50.
Wulczyn, F. (2004). Family reunification. Future of Children, 14(1), 95–113.
Wulczyn, F. (2009). In B. Kerman, M. Freundlich & A. Maluccio (Eds.), Foster youth in context. Achieving permanence for older children and youth in foster care. (pp. 13–31). New York: Columbia Press
Acknowledgements
Special thanks to the following individuals: The Pennsylvania Child Welfare Resource Center team of Wendy Unger, Christina Fatzinger, Cynthia Gore, and Justin Lee, who assisted with the FGDM section; Suzanne Barnard of the Annie E. Casey Foundation, who provided assistance with the TDM portion of this chapter; and Lauren Frey, who assisted with the LFC sections.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2013 Springer Science+Business Media New York
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Rauktis, M.E., Kerman, B., Phillips, C.M. (2013). Transitioning into Adulthood: Promoting Youth Engagement, Empowerment, and Interdependence Through Teaming Practices. In: Cahalane, H. (eds) Contemporary Issues in Child Welfare Practice. Contemporary Social Work Practice. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-8627-5_5
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-8627-5_5
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4614-8626-8
Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-8627-5
eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and LawSocial Sciences (R0)