IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/cysrev/v103y2019icp264-277.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Foster care for teenagers: Motivators, barriers, and strategies to overcome barriers

Author

Listed:
  • Baer, Lauren
  • Diehl, David K.

Abstract

There has long been a shortage of homes for teenagers in foster care due in part to the reality that many people who foster choose not to foster teenagers. An understanding of factors that influence people's willingness to foster teenagers might support an increased supply of available homes for teenagers. Through this qualitative study, we explored why some foster parents are motivated to foster teenagers, what barriers prevent other foster parents from fostering teenagers, and whether there are effective strategies for foster parents to overcome barriers to fostering teenagers. The first author collected data through 19 semi-structured interviews with 16 foster parents and 6 foster care agency staff in Tennessee and used the constant-comparative method to analyze the data and allow grounded theory to emerge. Through this study, we found that people were motivated to foster teenagers by a combination of overarching motivators and teen-specific motivators. Overarching motivators, which influence people who do foster teenagers as well as those who do not, included making a difference and having a family. Financial compensation emerged as an overarching facilitator of fostering. Teen-specific motivators were both foster parent-oriented – ability, lifestyle, passion, preference, and satisfaction – and teenager-oriented – compassion and teenagers' progress. Key barriers to fostering teenagers were also foster parent-oriented – desire to raise children from a young age and preference – as well as teenager-oriented – bad experience, fear, and stereotyping. Strategies for foster parents to overcome barriers to fostering teenagers that emerged through this study were firsthand experience with teenagers in foster care, especially through respite care, and secondhand learning about things like trauma and youth's needs, and agencies are able to facilitate both types of strategies. These findings have implications for research, policy, and practice.

Suggested Citation

  • Baer, Lauren & Diehl, David K., 2019. "Foster care for teenagers: Motivators, barriers, and strategies to overcome barriers," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 264-277.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:cysrev:v:103:y:2019:i:c:p:264-277
    DOI: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2019.06.004
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0190740919300386
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.childyouth.2019.06.004?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Brown, Jason D. & Gerritts, Julie & Ivanova, Viktoria & Mehta, Nisha & Skrodzki, Donna, 2012. "Motives of aboriginal foster parents," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 34(7), pages 1298-1304.
    2. Daniel, Ellice, 2011. "Gentle iron will: Foster parents' perspectives," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 33(6), pages 910-917, June.
    3. De Maeyer, Skrallan & Vanderfaeillie, Johan & Vanschoonlandt, Femke & Robberechts, Marijke & Van Holen, Frank, 2014. "Motivation for foster care," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 143-149.
    4. Cox, Mary Ellen & Orme, John G. & Kathryn W. & Rhodes, 2002. "Willingness to Foster Special Needs Children and Foster Family Utilization," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 24(5), pages 293-317, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Griffiths, Austin & Holderfield-Gaither, Emily & Funge, Simon P. & Warfel, Erin T., 2021. "Satisfaction, willingness, and well-being: Examining the perceptions of a statewide sample of public and private foster parents," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 121(C).
    2. Findley, Erin & Praetorius, Regina T., 2023. "Points of foster parent stress in the system: A qualitative interpretive meta-synthesis," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 150(C).
    3. Wilkinson, Hannah & Wright, Amy Conley, 2024. "Recruiting carers for older children and youth: Messages and methods of media campaigns," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Griffiths, Austin & Holderfield-Gaither, Emily & Funge, Simon P. & Warfel, Erin T., 2021. "Satisfaction, willingness, and well-being: Examining the perceptions of a statewide sample of public and private foster parents," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 121(C).
    2. Cooley, Morgan E. & Petren, Raymond E., 2020. "A qualitative examination of coparenting among foster parent dyads," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 110(C).
    3. Marinescu, Ioana & Tan, Fei & Greeson, Johanna K.P., 2023. "Economic conditions and the number of children in foster care," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).
    4. Spielfogel, Jill E. & Leathers, Sonya J. & Christian, Errick & McMeel, Lorri S., 2011. "Parent management training, relationships with agency staff, and child mental health: Urban foster parents' perspectives," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 33(11), pages 2366-2374.
    5. De Wilde, Lieselot & Devlieghere, Jochen & Vandenbroeck, Michel & Vanobbergen, Bruno, 2019. "Foster parents between voluntarism and professionalisation: Unpacking the backpack," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 290-296.
    6. Brown, Jason D. & Ivanova, Viktoria & Mehta, Nisha & Skrodzki, Donna & Gerrits, Julie, 2013. "Social needs of aboriginal foster parents," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 35(11), pages 1886-1893.
    7. Elisete Diogo & Francisco Branco, 2019. "How Do People Become Foster Carers in Portugal? The Process of Building the Motivation," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 8(8), pages 1-15, August.
    8. Orme, John G. & Cherry, Donna J. & Rhodes, Kathryn W., 2006. "The Help with Fostering Inventory," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 28(11), pages 1293-1311, November.
    9. Degener, Clementine J. & van Bergen, Diana D. & Grietens, Hans W.E., 2020. "The ethnic identity complexity of transculturally placed foster youth in the Netherlands," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 113(C).
    10. Davi, Nicole & Jones, Jennifer & Gillen, Martie, 2021. "An exploration of the motivations and barriers to being a foster parent in Florida," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 131(C).
    11. Raudkivi, Madli, 2020. "What factors predispose the intention to become a foster family in Estonia: Applying the theory of reasoned action and planned behavior?," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 118(C).
    12. Serbinski, Sarah & Shlonsky, Aron, 2014. "Is it that we are afraid to ask? A scoping review about sons and daughters of foster parents," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 101-114.
    13. Sorek, Yoa & Ben Simon, Brachi & Nijim-Ektelat, Fida, 2020. "Motivation matters: Parents' path to adoption as related to their perceptions of open adoption," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 118(C).
    14. Cox, Mary Ellen & Cherry, Donna J. & Orme, John G., 2011. "Measuring the willingness to foster children with emotional and behavioral problems," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 33(1), pages 59-65, January.
    15. Ahn, Haksoon & DePanfilis, Diane & Frick, Kevin & Barth, Richard P., 2018. "Estimating minimum adequate foster care costs for children in the United States," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 55-67.
    16. Magalhães, Eunice & Costa, Patrício & Pinto, Vânia S. & Graça, João & Baptista, Joana & Ferreira, Sofia & Castro, Emma & Anjos, Catarina & Gouveia, Lucilina, 2022. "Reasons, willingness, and intention to be a foster family: A community-sample study," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 142(C).
    17. Cooley, Morgan E. & Thompson, Heather M. & Wojciak, Armeda Stevenson, 2017. "Risk, resilience, and complexity: Experiences of foster parents," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 35-41.
    18. Brown, Jason D. & Gerritts, Julie & Ivanova, Viktoria & Mehta, Nisha & Skrodzki, Donna, 2012. "Motives of aboriginal foster parents," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 34(7), pages 1298-1304.
    19. Foussiakda, Agino Cécilia & Kasherwa, Amani Clovis, 2020. "The challenges affecting foster care in a “failed-state” context: Case of the SEDI child protection network in South-Kivu Province, Democratic Republic of Congo," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 116(C).
    20. Vanderfaeillie, Johan & Gypen, Laura & West, Delphine & Van Holen, Frank, 2020. "Support needs and satisfaction of Flemish foster parents in long-term foster care: Associated characteristics of foster children, foster parents and foster placements," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 113(C).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:cysrev:v:103:y:2019:i:c:p:264-277. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/childyouth .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.