A new project led by Research Associate Professor Mary Beth Rauktis, along with collaborators from the School of Social Work James Huguley, Fengyan Tang, Rachel E. Robertson (School of Education), and Aimee Sgourakis (Library System) entitled "Supporting the education of youth in foster care during the pandemic: foster parent and agency perspectives" has been selected as an awardee for Pitt Momentum Funds 2020-21 Seeding Grants.
Foster youth are at risk of poorer educational outcomes than their peers; foster youth take longer to graduate from secondary education, are less likely to obtain a high school diploma and fewer than 10% obtain a college diploma (NYTD, 2019). Since education correlates with employment, and thus, health insurance, financial, housing and food security, these youth are at risk for poor outcomes in young adulthood as many navigate these years without family support. The COVID-19 pandemic and educational closures has created a “double jeopardy” for this already at risk educational group, yet we know very little about how they have been impacted.
The purpose of this exploratory study is to examine the educational/mental health impact of the COVID- required changes in K-12 education (remote learning, fewer or no in-class sessions, no in-school supports and mental health services including IEPs) from the perspective of foster parents who are the primary education support in the home and from foster parent agencies. A second purpose is to obtain foster parent perception of how impactful the initial resources provided through the schools and the foster parent agencies have been for supporting foster parents and what else may be needed to continue to support youth learning at home. Researchers will use a client-participatory, mixed methods approach which includes focus groups and surveys well as a systematic review of educational best practices and implementation.
By involving foster parents and agency staff in creating the tools and collaborating on interpretation and writing, researchers will a have a more comprehensive and nuanced understanding and better products to share with the community. Approximately 150 foster parents from this region will be surveyed and foster-care agency staff will participate in focus groups. A systematic review will be conducted on evidence-based educational practices for vulnerable K-12 populations. The products of the study will include one to two manuscripts published in a child-welfare focused journal or education journal; (2) feedback in the form of a brief graphic report to all the agencies who assisted or worked with us (3) a series of two to three data and policy briefs.