Dr Stephan Lund from UWA’s School of Allied Health evaluated the outcomes of two Western Australian trial programs that prioritized the needs of young people entrusted to the care of the state. The findings, published in Parity recommended extending the age of foster care to 21 to significantly improve care exit options.
The primary goal of this study was to explore whether individual resiliency factors measured by the Resilience Scale (RS) influence academic success for Bermudian foster care adolescents, a population previously unstudied in the literature. Results revealed a statistically significant positive relationship between resiliency and reading achievement but no relationship between resiliency and GPA and resiliency and math achievement.
Three potential underlying constructs, namely emotional resilience, interpersonal characteristics and external factors, were found to emerge from the data and identified as likely to influence foster placement outcomes. These data provide a springboard for further quantitative investigation with the potential to screen prospective carers to identify those best suited to “difficult” placements in order to maximise success for the benefit of all concerned.
The purpose of this literature review is to examine the practice literature and correlate the findings of what are the best practices for youth transitioning out of care that realize successful outcomes for them as adults.
Due to the emergence of rich personal narratives within recent research, the purpose of this paper is to review and to explore the experience of transition from care and consider how these accounts can inform care services.