Factors favoring psychological resilience among fostered young people

Gender Differences in the Relationship Between Self-Esteem and Aggression in Young People Leaving Care

“…Rees (2006) notes that low self-esteem is common among looked after children and relates this to a history of poor attachments. However, it should be noted that these studies did not used formal measures of self-esteem, and, in contrast, a study which did use a formal self-esteem measure found that most looked after children in their study had 'well preserved global self-esteem' (Blower, Addo, Hodgson, Lamington, & Towlson, 2004) see also (Legault, Anawati, & Flynn, 2006;Lyman & Bird, 1996).…”

Analysis of factors involved in the social inclusion process of young people fostered in residential care institutions

“…They report that the best quality of attention was observed when residences focused more on the children than on the centre, when centres promoted a good relationship between children and staff; nevertheless, the deficits in socioemotional development, the instability of the staff and the marginal role of the families constituted a permanent problem. In the same vein, Legault, Anawati & Flynn (2006) found that the psychological adjustment of fostered youths is associated with better-quality relationships with the caregiver, a smaller number of primary caregivers, a greater number of close friendships, greater use of approach coping strategies, less frequent use of avoidant coping strategies and higher self-esteem. The different agents involved in the care of foster children agree that one of the most important processes is the out of care system.…”

The Impact of Emotional Abuse on Psychological Distress among Child Protective Services-Involved Adolescents with Borderline-to-Mild Intellectual Disability

“…As many youth with borderline-to-mild ID move into alternate care environments, their lack of severe cognitive deficits may give rise to conventional caregiver responses (e.g., use of louder voice, more stern approach, escalating disciplinary measures), when smaller information chunks and the use of nonverbal communication would be helpful augmentations. These youths' development would benefit from their residential stabilization and access to prior foster care providers with whom they felt attached, a practice that does not seem to be common in current child welfare (Legault, Anawati, & Flynn, 2006). Unfortunately, it is not uncommon for adolescents to return to family of origin once they have "aged out" of CPS support (Collins, Paris, & Ward, 2008), which may support neither the cognitive nor mental health trajectories of these potentially under-detected and under-served youths leaving the child system.…”