Ahmann, Elizabeth, Deborah Dokken. “Supporting Youth Aging Out of Foster Care” Pediatric

Nursing Vol. 43 No. 1 (2017): CINAHL Complete. Web. October 18, 2017.

Summary: Ahmann and Dokken outline different issues that young adults find when they age out of foster care, including lack of adequate health care, behavioral issues, lack of education (either no high school degree or not being able to go to college), financial issues, early pregnancies and other problems. The rest of the article goes in depth and defines the issues, gives evidence that the issues are very prevalent, and at the end, provides some ideas for bettering the lives of former foster children. One of the most prevalent issues, which leads to other issues, is the lack of healthy adult relationships in a foster child’s life. Ahmann and Dokken make it very clear that having an adult role model, someone trustworthy or an advocate to go to is extremely important for kids who have had their lives disrupted. Even one caring adult can change a child’s life.

Quality: This research paper is a laundry list of the things that happen to foster kids who slip through the cracks. The writers used specific details about what happens after foster care, focusing on the kids who never got a happily ever after. Deborah and Elizabeth revealed the gross truth about kids who may have been perfectly fine in foster care, but are now living on the streets or dealing drugs to get by. I found the paper extremely detailed and in my personal experience, very accurate. I think the stress they put on the importance of adult relationships was particularly important. Having an adult to rely on can make the so much of a difference in a child’s life.

Issues: I didn’t have very many issues with the source, it described the faults in the program very well. What I think the writers could have done to make it more informative was maybe interview former foster kids who face the struggles outlined in the report. It’s one thing to read facts and statistics about what could happen, but it is so much more moving to hear from the teenagers it actually happened to.

Key Words/Phrases: Runaway, Child welfare, Foster care, Elopement, AWOL, Functional assessment

First Post

White, Kevin R. “Placement Discontinuity for Older Children and Adolescents Who Exit Foster

Care Through Adoption Or Guardianship: A Systematic Review”. Child and Adolescent

Social Work Journal 33.4 (2015): 377-394 PSYCInfo. Web. 13 October 2017.

Summary: In this source, White looks deep into the American foster care system and how it works when and older child or a child with special needs has to be placed into a permanent home after unionization is no longer a viable option for the family. He includes legislation written in the last ten years, incentives put in place for states to find homes rather than leave kids in foster care until the “age out” (become adults). There is the Preventing Sex Trafficking and Strengthening Families Act of 2014 demanded that states regularly look for permanency options for foster children. The Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act gave incentives for states to find adoptive homes for older kids and kids with special needs, including more assistance finding those homes, and expanded the availability of subsidized guardianship payments for relatives providing more children with homes.

Quality: This source had a lot of good information about the different legislation regarding children under the care of the state. White was very thorough in his research and he is a respected professor of social work at East Carolina University. Throughout his paper, White used specific examples whenever he made a statement. For example when he spoke of recent legislation that would improve child permanency, he mentioned the Preventing Sex Trafficking and Strengthening Families Act of 2014, the  Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act, and statistics regarding the number of foster children being adopted in 1998 and 2008. Each time White introduces a key word or phrase he gives a detailed definition for the reader.

Key Words/Phrases:  Adoption, foster care, guardianship, discontinuity, child welfare, permanency