Foster Care System

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Adolescents aging out of the foster care system face many challenges. Most youth who have reached legal adulthood have been taught essential life skills and have a safety net of family and community support systems (Paul-Ward & Lambdin-Pattavina, 2016). Foster children often age out of the system with little or no social network and lacking the skills to acquire basic necessities such as employment, housing or healthcare. The absence of these two important fundamental needs increases the likelihood of perpetuating a generational cycle of poverty, abuse/neglect, criminality and substance abuse.
This paper will articulate a theoretical foundation for creating a family life education program utilizing the ecological theory framework and life …show more content…
Due to frequent moves experienced while in foster care, youth have difficulty sustaining solid support systems. These frequent placement changes were directly linked to preventing the development of relationships, thereby limiting the youth’s social support connections (Dworsky, et al., 2013). The ecological theory holds that environment shapes human development and that individuals are pack creatures who need human relationships to adapt and grow (White, et al., 2015). This framework supports and explains how the lack of a social network is detrimental to these …show more content…
Additionally, foster youth need to be provided with opportunities to establish and solidify a social network of supports either through some type of mentoring program or with appropriate family members.
Teens aging out of foster care stated they felt disrespected and unimportant because the case managers did not include them in the decision making process, did not communicate well and did not provide adequate information regarding services. (Scannapieco, et al., 2007). In light of this information, it appears that transformative learning theory would be an excellent theory to use with this population. Transformative learning is a style of teaching which guides an individual down a path of self-examination to have them analyze how they see themselves, what they believe and what changes they need to make in order to achieve their goals (Nemec, 2012). Transformative learning is based on the idea that growth comes from challenges which, in turn, provides individuals with a safety place to critical reflect and “examine their abilities, beliefs, assumptions, and values in ways that change them in some significant way” (Nemec, 2012, p. 478). This type of style would allow for these young adults to have ownership in their learning as well as the changes they
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