Opportunity Role Structure, Social Support, and Leadership: Processes of Foster Youth Advisory Board Participation

Abstract

Youth aging out of foster care constitute a vulnerable and understudied population. In spite of evidence that suggests civic participation may be an empowering, developmental process for youth in the general population, few community psychology studies have investigated civic participation among youth aging out of state systems. This qualitative study used in-depth interviewing with foster Youth Advisory Board leaders as the primary means to explore this intersection. Triangulated data collection also included (a) descriptive survey research with youth leaders, (b) in-depth interviewing and descriptive research with civic youth workers/adult coordinators, and (c) nonparticipant observation of Youth Advisory Board meetings. Directed content analysis revealed 3 emergent themes (civic literacy, Youth Advisory Board as family, and privileged positions) related to foster youth civic participation. These themes are assumed to support and extend processes allied with intraorganizational empowerment (opportunity role structure, social support, and leadership). Implications for policy, practice, and future research are discussed.

Empowering Processes of a Countywide Arts Intervention for High School Youth

“…5195/jyd.2017.35 Empowering Processes of an Arts Intervention 33 that as being political." Instead, program participation was viewed in apolitical terms, which is congruent with findings from other youth engagement research (see Forenza, 2016a).…”

“…These forces include racism, sexism, homophobia, poverty, victimization, domestic violence, substance abuse, mental illness, and criminality, as well as commonly identified youth issues like peer pressure and bullying (Cheng, Lo & Weber, 2015;Haen & Weil, 2010;Iyer-Eimerbrink, Scielzo & Jensen-Campbell, 2015;Slayton, 2012). These forms of oppression are typically not addressed in targeted, pro-social, youth development initiatives like Scouts or 4-H (Forenza, 2016a). As Arnold and Cater (2011) note, those landmark programs were founded, in part, to thwart the anticipated deficiencies of youth development.…”

Understanding support network capacity during the transition from foster care: Youth-identified barriers, facilitators, and enhancement strategies

“…Importantly, a common thread in these approaches is a peer support and/or near-peer mentoring component, where young people with similar lived experience can normalize difficult circumstances and promote informal relationship-building and youth-directed service engagement. Additionally, foster youth advisory boards and related youth leadership development activities provide youth opportunities to work with similar peers, meet supportive adults, and share their lived experiences with child welfare system decision-makers to improve services (Forenza, 2016; Havlicek, Lin, & Villapando, 2016). …”

Conceptualizing Youth Participation in Children’s Health Research: Insights from a Youth-Driven Process for Developing a Youth Advisory Council

“…To counter these pitfalls, Richards-Schuster, reporting on the work of a teen advisory council focused on youth grant-making, puts forth four core principles of success, including valuing teens as advisors in the research process, providing them with opportunities to engage in research, ongoing training, and education to support their involvement, and the requirement that adult leaders trust the views of young people [46]. The authors suggest ensuring that YACs focus on leveraging strengths, not only ‘fixing’ youth problems, as well as ensuring that YACs afford opportunities for youth growth [46,47].…”