Fostering Youth Resilience is a public health resilience building intervention that utilizes a multi-level approach. The focus is to build resilience in youth in foster care who have experienced child maltreatment.
Child maltreatment is a major public health issue that impacts 1 in 7 children (CDC, 2022). In consists of physical abuse, sexual abuse, psychological abuse, and neglect. Well-established outcomes associated with maltreatment include future abuse/violence perpetration, mental health problems, higher levels of chronic diseases, increased health risk behaviors, substance use, and criminal system involvement (Child Welfare Information Gateway, 2019).
The target population I have selected for my intervention is youth in foster care located in my community of Gainesville, FL. I selected youth in foster care because they often present with significant profiles of maltreatment and are at risk for negative outcomes. Furthermore, placement into foster care could weaken a child’s sense of stability and may be a traumatic experience for youth (Unrau et al., 2008). There are currently over 400,000 youth in foster care in the US. Federal data indicates that Black youth are overrepresented (i.e., in 2018, they represented 14% of the total US youth population as compared to 23% of the foster care youth population; Kids Count Data Center, 2020). Data indicates that the average age of a child in foster care is 8 years old, there are slightly more boys in foster care, 46% of youth in foster care reside in non-relative foster homes, ant the average length of stay in foster care is 19.6 months (USDHHS AFCARS, 2020).
The theme for my intervention is “improving wellbeing through adaptive coping and emotion regulation.” Research has shown that relaxation and grounding techniques are effective for improving mental health and emotion regulation is necessary for improving mental health (e.g., Inwood & Ferrari, 2018; Li et al., 2015; McDuff, 2016). As such, youth will build resilience through the use of adaptive skills and strategies to help them cope with adversity.
This intervention will be provided through five one-hour sessions (5 hours in total) which would be offered on Saturdays over the summer. Families would commit to 1 hour per week of sessions for 5 weeks plus up to another 5 hours of time spent outside of the sessions putting the skills to practice. The program will take place at a public library and transportation will be provided via shuttle bus, if necessary, to allow for families who are interested in attending to take part without letting transportation issues get in the way.
This intervention has been structured following the social ecological model created by the CDC as a framework for prevention. Here is what I will focus on at each level:
- Individual: Helping youth develop coping skills that include relaxation techniques (e.g., deep breathing and progressive muscle relaxation), grounding skills, and emotion regulation skills (e.g., mindfulness and identifying self-talk). These skills will help promote positive behaviors and adaptive coping among youth who have experienced abuse. The intended outcomes at this level include the ability to self-regulate and cope with high distress.
- Relationship: I will focus on the relationships that youth in foster care have with their foster parents as well as with their biological parents if they still have contact with them. The aim is to build positive relationships between youth and caregiving adults. This includes things like encouraging daily family activities (e.g., having a meal together, going for a walk) and fostering open communication between family members. Intended outcomes at this level will be that youth and their caregivers develop healthy and nurturing relationships where open communication is had.
- Community: I will focus on building community partnerships with local organizations who work with youth involved in the child welfare system. By building community partnerships, we will aim to create safe environments in the community for youth and can provide community based resources for youth in foster care (e.g., access to mental health services). At this level, my intended outcomes are for youth to have connections with community resources and have positive environments where they feel safe.
- Societal: I will advocate for awareness of how youth in foster care are at increased risk of revictimization and poor outcomes and work to change social norms to support foster children and families. Intended outcomes for this level include increased awareness about youth in foster care and child maltreatment as well as positive social norms which center children and families.
In summary, child maltreatment is a major public health concern and youth in foster care are disproportionately impacted by this. Through developing healthy coping skills, we can promote positive outcomes in youth who have experienced foster care and maltreatment. This intervention aims to help youth develop emotion regulation skills and effective relaxation strategies, create supportive and nurturing relationships between youth and their caregiver, connect families with local partnerships who provide resources for children and families and provide supportive and safe environments, as well as change social norms to be supportive of children and families.
References
Center for Disease Control and Prevention. (2022). Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/violencepr...eglect/fastfact.html
Child Welfare Information Gateway. (2019). Long-term consequences of child abuse and neglect. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Children’s Bureau.
Kids Count Data Center. (2020). Black children continue to be disproportionately represented in foster care.
Inwood, E., & Ferrari, M. (2018). Mechanisms of change in the relationship between self‐compassion, emotion regulation, and mental health: A systematic review. Applied Psychology: Health and Well‐Being, 10(2), 215-235.
Li, Y., Wang, R., Tang, J., Chen, C., Tan, L., Wu, Z., ... & Wang, X. (2015). Progressive muscle relaxation improves anxiety and depression of pulmonary arterial hypertension patients. Evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine, 2015.
McDuff, D. R. (2016). Adjustment and anxiety disorders (pp. 1-16). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Unrau, Y. A., Seita, J. R., & Putney, K. S. (2008). Former foster youth remember multiple placement moves: A journey of loss and hope. Children and Youth Services Review, 30(11), 1256-1266.
US Department of Health and Human Services. (2020). Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS) data for FY 2019.
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