Abstract

While state-run foster care organizations continue to provide services for children needing help, there is still the problem of successful independent living for Transitional Aged Foster Youth (TAFY). This is a qualitative study examining the empirical research of factors impacting foster youth living independently. Thirteen structured interviews using resilience theory, and the primary author’s experiences in the state foster care system, helped clarify the study findings. Several resilience factors such as housing, trauma resources and spiritual connections are worth consideration by public policy makers in their analysis of investments in improved independent living outcomes for TAFY.

1. Background

Foster youth and young adults transitioning out of foster care systems confront challenges. In faith-based contexts, there has been concern about transitional aged foster youth receiving religious instruction that can be effective in facing homelessness, unemployment, and psychological trauma ¹. Public professionals seeking to help members of the transitional aged foster youth (TAFY) population make better choices for their unique situations—rather than yielding to pressure from peers and the broader society—sometimes neglect to emphasize the forgiving and loving grace of God as a motivation to make personal decisions ². As a former foster care youth, the first author of the paper, found her experiences are reflected in the literature on such issues as trauma barriers ^{3, 4, 5}. TAFY may have low self-esteem and lack confidence regarding how to maintain their religious practices and integrate them into interactions with peers (e.g., friends at college, work, and in the community) with different sets of values and practices. For example, living with a religious foster family whose members attend church weekly and emphasize such moral precepts as sexual abstinence and regular prayer may impede the integration of TAFY into adult settings (e.g., dormitories, job sites, recreational facilities). Van Bergen et al. ⁶ are among the scholars who have investigated TAFY and the moral dilemmas that they face and identified a role for spiritual guidance in foster care systems. Likewise, spiritual mentorship may provide an opportunity to change the course of negative outcomes through the acquisition of life skills relating to morals and ethics that can promote successful recovery from past traumas and the resilience essential to secure stable employment and housing ⁷.

The present study considers the behaviors of TAFY who have been reared in religious households in which they engaged in activities that might be described as spiritual, religious, moral, or ethical. The findings shed light on the relationship between self-esteem and spiritual well-being and the difficulties that these young people face in seeing themselves positively. Previous research has shown the well-being of TAFY (in this case, 18-24 years of age) in independent living situations to be influenced by resilience factors, one of which is spiritual guidance ^{8, 9}. The results of this research can inform changes in public foster care programs introducing or bolstering spiritual programs and activities that support resilience in the face of challenges outside the foster care system ¹⁰. The public at large has an obvious stake in ensuring that TAFY have access to the resources necessary to acquire life skills and overcome trauma so that they can contribute to their communities.

2. Problem Statement

When TAFY emancipate from foster care, they often lack the spiritual life skills to deal with the trauma that they have endured in and outside the system and have trouble accessing sufficient resources to secure stable housing ^{11, 12}. As a result, these young people often lack resilience. From the perspective of resilience theory, various factors relating to the transition out of foster care conspire to limit the potential of these young people so that they are over-represented among the unemployed and unhoused. The problem is significant: annually, some 20,000 young people age out at around 18 years old (in California, the age is 21years) and cease to receive the resources that previously supported them ¹³. This loss of the financial, educational, and social support that state child welfare systems provide can be catastrophic, especially for those with special mental health needs. The ineffectiveness of efforts to smooth the transition explains the alarming rates of homeless and unemployment among former foster children. Thus, a multistate survey of 600 foster youth conducted in the previous decade found that 47% were unemployed and 71% reported an annual income of less than $25,000 ( ¹⁴, para. 2). In California, more than 50% of former foster youth age out of foster care without family or other adults to support them, while familial support has proved vital for the TAFY who have transitioned successfully ^{15, 16}. California and other states provide a comprehensive array of services for foster youth within the system.

The purpose of this study, then, was to examine the challenges that members of the TAFY population experience in living independently and maintaining resilience when it comes to interacting with peers, finding safe and secure housing, and receiving effective training in how to manage their finances and similar life-skills. When a mother, father, or guardian cannot provide proper care for a minor ¹³, a formal public system is obviously necessary. When such systems become overloaded, the young people whom they serve may lack not only a secure family but also moral direction and life skills and thus be prone to homelessness and cycles of repeated trauma ⁵. To guide our investigation of these issues, we formulated a set of study questions as follows.

1. How does trauma affect young adults as they transition out of foster care?

2. Can spiritual mentorship increase the resilience of these young people?

3. What resources are available to these young people for stable housing?

According to resilience theory, the most important factor in overcoming adversity is not its nature but rather the steps taken to manage it ¹⁷. Resilience is, simply put, the capacity to bounce back in the face of adversity, misfortune, or frustration: resilient individuals survive, recover, and even thrive in the face and wake of misfortune. As might be expected, young people who display resilience when they experience hardships tend to enjoy supportive relationships with others, such as friendships and mentorships. Key resilience factors are involved in the ability to secure and maintain safe housing, and a spiritual foundation may be an effective way to foster this kind of resilience ¹⁵. Previous studies of resilience factors in foster care children and youth relating to substance abuse have pointed to the importance of family support services ^{16, 18} that the findings presented here confirm. In comparative studies, TAFY have been found to recover from trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) at the same rates as the general population when they have supportive relationships ^{19, 20, 21}. The traumatic experiences encountered in foster care settings are reflected in the reasons recorded for out-of-home placement: in a recent report, 64% of these cases involved neglect, 35% involved parental drug use, 13% involved caretakers’ inability to cope, and 13% involved abuse ¹³.

3. Literature Review

TAFY make up at least one-third of homeless youth in the United States, and more than 40% of homeless individuals have spent time in a foster care system at some point in their lives ²². Homelessness inevitably leads to a life of poverty and suffering, and it is the frequent fate of young people who lack the life skills to manage money, maintain proper hygiene, communicate in a professional manner, and so on, and complicates efforts to obtain gainful employment. The broader society in turn suffers when individuals who lack legal sources of support feel compelled to turn to crime ¹⁷. Nevertheless, for many young people in this situation, life on the streets is preferable to the sexual, physical, mental, and emotional abuse that they may encounter in the foster care system ¹¹. In any case, without the proper social, medical, moral, and spiritual guidance, TAFY are prone to engage in negative behaviors, including self-medication and even suicide ¹⁷. This section explains the challenges facing TAFY during independent living with respect to resources, life skills, and trauma care.

Family reunification, counseling, and support services are available to young people under the age of 21 years ¹³. For transitioning foster youth leaving the government foster care systems resources are not readily available to help them with independent living in the community. Lack of education is a barrier to obtaining employment that pays a living wage (i.e., income sufficient to cover healthcare, housing, and services necessary to live independently). Often, foster-aged youth do not meet the criteria for access to resources such as the Chaffee Grant for college students, Equal Opportunity Program grants, and various stipends for educational pursuits ²³. This lack of access is only part of the reason that so large a portion of the TAFY population lacks life skills and remains vulnerable to homelessness and various forms of trauma. Such vulnerability, in turn, impedes efforts to concentrate on educational opportunities. For an individual in survival mode, even the concentration required to hold a low-paying job that keeps food on the table can be difficult to maintain. Today’s intricate and elaborate welfare systems consistently fall short when it comes to providing integrated and comprehensive services to those with the greatest need, including those who have recently aged out of foster care.

Job training and access to safe spaces, then, are key factors to reduce trauma of living unhoused among TAFY. However, part of the problem is also the supply of homes. In Los Angeles, for example, from 2020 to 2021, the availability of housing resources decreased by 19% ²⁴. When fortunate enough to find housing opportunities, on the couch of a friend, or co-habitation with a partner, then there is the problem of maintaining a household. Ongoing trauma that negatively impacts their decision-making and outlook in life ²⁵. It may indeed be beneficial for former foster care youth to have the opportunity to reenter the system to receive state support. However, many of those who are eligible hesitate to do so because of traumas that they experienced prior to entering the system and/or while in it. Also, many require care beyond the age of 21 years because they lack the life skills and resources necessary to make healthy life decisions and have not recovered from the trauma associated with their childhood experiences.

The California Department of Social Services transitions foster youth who meet one of five criteria into the state-funded Independent Living Program, but this program does not address the emotional, spiritual, and mental (trauma) needs of those it serves. Part of the purpose of the present study was to determine whether this limitation in the scope of the program limits its effectiveness. Spiritually guided mentorships for aged-out foster youth offer new possibilities at the intersection of social services, life skills, and resources, beginning with the effort to resolve the issue of homelessness among TAFY ²⁴.

According to a recent report by Alternative Family Solutions ²⁶, 47% of current foster youth experienced being unhoused with their biological family, while the figure was only 9% for non-foster youth (2020). Homelessness among TAFY has been increasing steadily over time ²⁴. Individuals without a job that earns a living wage experience homelessness, and as already noted, TAFY account for one-third of all homeless youth in the United States ^{22, 43}. The instability and struggle to survive create mental stress that predisposes TAFY to negative outcomes. Individuals who interact with them must have training or experience regarding how to avoid triggering the past traumatic events that 90% of these young people have experienced ²². Some studies suggest that nonprofit workers who help those suffering from traumatic experiences and victimization may themselves suffer in the process ^{17, 22}, which is even more reason for agencies tasked with assisting TAFY to provide their employees with guidance for managing stress and avoiding triggering trauma.

As soon as foster youth age out of the system, the services that they have been receiving cease, often resulting in a break in access. In one survey, 35% of TAFY felt that they lacked the necessary skills to live independently ²⁷. They also, as alluded to earlier, tend to lack supportive adult relationships in general that could help them navigate life after foster care ^{27, 28}. Mentoring can promote resilience, especially when it comes to developing beneficial social relationships ^{17, 43}. Negative experiences for former foster youth in adulthood often include problems with interpersonal relations, such as difficulties interacting with a boss or finding friends who share a moral or ethical code, for instance, one rooted in Christian beliefs. Successful interventions for TAFY often involve a break with the past that creates fresh opportunities for positive transformation. Interventions of this sort can compensate for a negative young adulthood ¹⁷. The Casey Foundation ¹⁹, which works to strengthen families and communities and, thereby, to minimize the need for foster care, reported that the TAFY who participated in their support programs had better outcomes than those who did not participate. The importance of mentoring has already been mentioned; this kind of interaction serves as a path to fresh opportunities. Given the right resources, an entire community can make a break with the past and discover such a path. For communities and individuals, these resources include access to transitional housing, counseling to address traumatic experiences, training to cultivate life skills, and mentorship.

Dangerous and traumatic events, especially those that involve physical injury, as is well known, can result in PTSD, the symptoms of which include flashbacks and other uncontrollable thoughts that interfere with sufferers’ day-to-day functioning ¹¹. Simply put, trauma negatively impacts the health of TAFY, and proper care can help ^{29, 40}. Too often, though, former foster youth continue to suffer from trauma and, thus, are unprepared to face additional adversity. Again, when TAFY age out of the system, they lose access to the social workers who were making resources available to them and often lack the knowledge of how to access other sources of assistance.

The Covid-19 pandemic has only increased the hardships that foster youth and former foster youth who lack a safety net experience. Lacking connections to family, mentors, and other forms of support, many are plagued by feelings of anxiety, hopelessness, and depression (Scientific American, 2021). Covid-19 can is a communal trauma, but individuals often suffer alone. Foster youth, most of whom have a history of hardship and developmental delay, have been particularly vulnerable to this trauma, which negatively impacts their mental, physical, and emotional wellbeing. Thus, naturally, TAFY who experience abuse and other forms of trauma are at high-risk for mental illness ^{30, 31}. According to one estimate 80% of the children in foster care have significant mental health issues, compared with 18-22% of children in the general population ^{27, 32}. TAFY endure, on average, three times more adverse experiences than their peers without a foster care history, including juvenile detention, jail, or prison, failing to attend school, unemployment, and dependency on government assistance ²⁶. There is no disputing the long-term effects of trauma, which range from anxiety and fear to a predisposition to substance abuse, depression, eating disorders, self-injury, and suicide ²⁵. Resilience theory, however, can be combined with a faith lens to promote well-being by encouraging spiritually guided choices and explaining the role of virtue ³³. Spiritually based supportive mentorships may be especially effective in controlling the negative consequences of trauma within the TAFY population.

By one estimate, in the United States, 80% of young people 15-19 years old believe in the existence of God and divinity of Jesus, but only 18% attend weekly religious services ¹. To the extent that spiritual practices based on a foundational belief in God can improve the overall emotional wellbeing of individuals, such practices may be beneficial for foster youth who suffer from trauma. Coping strategies associated with religious ideas have already been shown to have a positive impact on the wellbeing of TAFY ^{33, 41}. National research ⁷ shows that TAFY tend to suffer from mental illness, including panic disorders, at higher rates than their peers who are not in foster care. The spiritual pathway to independent living is promising for those who have a faith-based orientation and for others willing to try it.

Spiritually based transitional homes for aged-out foster youth can assist in making social services, life-skills training, and other resources available to those at risk of homelessness ¹¹. This type of support can ease the transition for young people aging out of foster care who lack access to supportive adults and long-lasting relationships ^{9, 34}. Too many of these young people must develop residential flexibility or “couch surfing” skills amid episodes of homelessness ³⁴. Volunteers of America Sacramento ³⁵ is one of the organizations seeking to provide affordable housing to TAFY along with employment and life skills training in California.

Spiritually based Christian mentors rely on their moral understanding to solve problems using biblical precepts. Workers in non-profit organizations who have spiritual training emphasize faith-based practices such as prayer and using church resources and support services to help young people recover from trauma and associate with their pro-social peers. Again, these social workers tend to experience work-related stress at higher rates than their private-sector counterparts. Mentoring services offered by nonprofits require resolute staff and resources. Life-skills mentoring can foster such key aspects of human development as self-awareness, mutual communication skills, and building the confidence to lead others ³⁶.

4. Methodology

The inclusion criteria for participation in this qualitative study ³⁷ were being 18 to 25 years of age, having lived in foster care, and living independently in the community at the time of the research. The recruitment of the participants began six months after the primary researcher received the Richter Fellowship during her graduate studies at Azusa Pacific University, which helped to support this project. Various agencies, which asked to remain anonymous, assisted in the recruitment (with flyers) and provided space for the interviews. A total of thirty responded to the flyer invitation and thirteen participated in structured interviews. The participants received a $10 gift card for their time and participation in this research study. Each filled responded to six open-ended questions, and the primary author of this study used notetaking and coding. Their opinions are in this paper.

The study took place during the Covid-19 pandemic, and the associated restrictions did limit the interests in the study. Nevertheless, the interviews were conducted in accordance with the plan that the Institutional Research Board approved and, in a manner, consistent with its standards. Thus, the participants’ personal identifying information remained confidential. In addition to the qualitative information gathered in the research, the study relied on statistical data and knowledge about the TAFY population in archival research and library databases (specifically, JSTOR, EBSCO, and LexisNexis). The IRB review process helped to refine the data-gathering from the members of a sensitive population.

Quantitative measures did help with assessing the relevance of various theoretical approaches but have not proven insightful to mitigate the problem or the context in which it occurs ^{17, 41}. Every effort was made to respect the privacy of the participants interviewed in this study. Again, the research adhered to the ethical standards of honesty, anonymity, and integrity established by Azusa Pacific University’s Institutional Review Board.

5. Results

The qualitative methodology provided the participants in the study with the opportunity to share their lived experiences as TAFY. The participants were asked to share their experiences and the responses that served as data for inductive category development for each illustration shown. The thirteen participants interviewed were asked to describe their primary needs to help with the transition to living in the community.

In general, they felt that the necessary life skills and resources were lacking when exiting foster care. They discussed their top three needs (Figure 1), specifically, 34% of the participants said that they needed help working through traumas that interfered with the achievement of their goals and relationships with others. The participants said that they were unaware how to utilize resources and life skills training and apply to independent living. For example, Participant 2 said, “I took the independent living classes about money, but didn’t know how to budget without getting into debt.”

In Figure 2, the participants were asked to share the top three resources available to them during independent living away from the foster care system and its resources.

Only 13% of the participants discussed having stable housing when transitioning out of foster care, which meant living with a friend, church community, or significant other. The overwhelming majority (65%) reported problems with homelessness or with unemployment that rendered their living situations unstable. Members of the TAFY population face multiple challenges relating to inadequate housing and employment as they transition to adulthood.

Below (Table 1) is a selection of some participant comments regarding trauma and resources.

Ninety-seven percent of participants mentioned experiencing trauma and presently managing some traumatic events as emancipated foster care adults. Fifty percent of them indicated traumatic experiences were in relationships and hardships after emancipation because they had no parental figure or other close relative to turn to whom they trusted. Only 3% said they were receiving or had received counseling or trauma care of any type.

Eighty percent of the participants reported having engaged in some form of spiritual practice in the context of a church or community group. Ten percent discussed combining spiritual practice with mentoring; and 20% discussed having had mentors.

6. Discussion and Recommendations

The results of the study shown in Figure 1 shows the extent to which the needs of TAFY are not being met in terms of acquiring life skills, securing housing, and dealing with trauma. This outcome is consistent with previous research showing that those who leave juvenile hall settings without a strong connection to family members have often struggled in adulthood ³. Figure 2 shows the participants’ perceptions of the relationship between affordable housing and holding down a job that pays a living wage. Complicating factors in this regard may include insufficient job skills and/or education and daycare issues. Regarding spirituality, as shown in Figure 3, indicates that spirituality has some importance in the life of the TAFY. One participant mentioned a belief in a “divine power.,” Some did not engage in regular spiritual practices and relied on spiritual practices; one didn’t rely on either. The mentors of the participants included online experts, older friends, and, in a few cases, prior foster guardians. Believing in a supreme power (God) is essential to shaping moral behaving and connecting to spiritual activities is helpful ³⁸. All the interviewees spoke of a lack of resources available to them for addressing the issues of life skills, employment, housing, and trauma after they aged out of foster care. Often, former foster youth do not meet the criteria for access to support for college (e.g., a Chaffee Grant) ²³. In California, only 3% of foster youth who enter college graduate with a degree, so the members of this population tend to remain at a pay disadvantage throughout their lives ⁴². As a result, many TAFY experience such poverty, homelessness, and trauma that education takes a backseat to working a low-paying job to keep food on the table.

In confronting these problems, it is important to keep in mind that faith and resilience are often linked. Thus, some participants reported that having a deep faith in God was most important to building trusting relationships between caretaker and foster care clients. Connecting TAFY to community networks for jobs, safe living, and healthcare services is an aspect of godly love among neighbors. Researchers ³⁹ found that religion played a significant role in the mitigation of risk factors—specifically, smoking, drug (marijuana) and alcohol use, truancy, sexual activity, and depression—among at-risk youth after controlling for family background and self-esteem.

This paper has indicated the potential benefits of practitioners incorporating godly principles in their work. Through such practices, public servants may facilitate the flow of the grace of God through service to those in their communities ². Those with a spiritual background, therefore, are well positioned to leverage their faith to discern, through listening, the best means to help those whom they serve—in this case, TAFY. Spiritual guidance is imperative to prevent burnout, uncover the true needs of the participants in various programs, and allow the love of God to transcend through their work ². Organizations that seek to help TAFY may, then, find their efforts facilitated by the inclusion of a spiritual component in their outreach and intervention efforts.

7. Conclusions

Spiritually based transitional homes for former foster youth represent one way to make the most of the resources available to them, including social services and life-skills training. Spiritual practices can improve the social interactions among housemates and between staff and clients so that young people acquire the necessary skills to succeed in life. Accordingly, case managers and community leaders should consider, where appropriate, tending to their clients’ spiritual needs as well as their social, emotional, trauma-recovery, skill-acquisition, and housing needs. Individuals with a faith-based background can, by leading with their hearts, create a haven for the vulnerable in society. Further research is needed to evaluate the effectiveness of long-term, spiritually based assistance in such contexts as transitional housing and life-skills training. Unlike their peers who continue to live with or receive financial assistance from their parents, members of the TAFY population tend to struggle just to maintain access to safe housing. Long-term, spiritually based housing programs have the potential to decrease homelessness and provide life skills as well as trauma-informed care. It is up to public policy programs to make available the resources needed to improve the resilience of TAFY including through the incorporation of spiritual practices and increased emphasis on mentorship into initiatives designed to promote independent living through the acquisition of life skills and access to trauma care.

References