Foster Care Youth in the Equity Lens and 4-H
4-H has made a commitment to youth across the United States to better reflect the diverse needs and social conditions of the country. The 4-H Program Leaders Working Group, Access, Equity, and Belonging Committee (AEBC) joined the 4-H Thriving Model Taskforce to ensure this nationally adopted model is explored and utilized through an equity lens. With this equity lens, youth in foster care is a focus because they are a diverse and in-need population of Positive Youth Development programming.
On one level, youth in foster care present needs that are more complex than their peers who have not experienced being in foster care. This has to do with the trauma and adverse conditions that these youth have gone through. Knowing the consistency of unfavorable conditions youth in foster care have experienced, there comes a great need for the same opportunities and experiences as their peers. These needs include caring adults, structure and stability, and healthy spaces in order to take the developmentally appropriate risks that are essential to growing up. (Ableidinger et at., 2015).
Many foster care youth experience Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) which lead to a greater risk of mental and physical illnesses throughout their lives. ACEs are experienced by all social groups, but at higher rates with those who live in concentrated areas of unemployment, housing instability, food insecurity, violence, inadequate schools, and a lack of healthy options, resources, or social services. In such environments, youth and parents are exposed to toxic levels of stress and trauma. These adverse experiences manifest with some families in different ways including a lack of resources, mental illness, substance abuse, physical and domestic violence, ineffective parenting strategies, child maltreatment, incarceration and parental separation and divorce. These are common the foster care system.
Foster care placement is also considered an adverse experience because of family separation, continuation of instability in the home, inconsistent parental figures, and school environments. On average, youth live in 3.4 foster homes before being placed into a permanent home or becoming a legal adult at the age of 18. With these compounding adversities, it is clear to see the need for 4-H programming for this demographic of youth.
Through adverse conditions, the resilience and strength gained can be nurtured for these youth. Resilience refers to both personal and environmental processes that promote positive outcomes and provide youth the resources and support they need to cope with adversity (Ungar, 2011). If protective factors are increased, in a youth’s life, it is one way to increase the likelihood of positive outcomes.
Studies have found protective factors for youth in foster care to included positive relationships with case workers, high self-esteem, engagement in school, participation in after school activities, social support, contact with biological family, and a warm stable predictable home. When youth engage in programs such as 4-H, which offer the Positive Youth Development (PYD) approach, youth will present higher levels of resilience, future aspirations and goals, and prosocial behavior. Any PYD programming encourages adults to support youths’ personal agency, focus on their strengths, and cultivates respect of the youth as an individual, no matter their circumstances.
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