The plans, goals, and concerns of pre-emancipated youth in foster care

Daisy Lemus, Susan P. Farruggia, Gary Germo and Esther S. Chang

Children and Youth Services Review, 2017, vol. 78, issue C, 48-55

Abstract: This study focuses on the plans, goals, and concerns of foster care youth prior to leaving care. Participants were 179 pre-emancipated youth between the ages of 17 and 20years old (M=17.82, SD=0.79) from a large metropolitan area in Southern California. Self-articulated immediate plans were grouped into 4 major categories and self-articulated life goals were grouped into 10 categories while also examining the prioritization of, estimated time frame for, and youth's sense of control over their life goals. Survey and interview data reveal the importance of educational and occupational life goals and their prioritization. Youth reported a high level of certainty in their immediate plans, but the youth were less explicit in describing their immediate plans for the year after foster care. Foster youth may have difficulty identifying concrete steps to make plans a reality despite their ideas for the future. Youths' worries and concerns about their post-emancipation plans and life goals typically centered around academics and finances. This study contributes to the limited literature on the life goals and plans for foster youth; these results reinforce the need for greater support in planning and goal setting prior to emancipation.

Keywords: Foster care; Pre-emancipated youth; Life planning; Goal-setting (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0190740917303663
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:cysrev:v:78:y:2017:i:c:p:48-55

DOI: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2017.05.003

Access Statistics for this article

Children and Youth Services Review is currently edited by Duncan Lindsey

More articles in Children and Youth Services Review from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().