Positive Youth Development and Foster Care Youth: A Digital Perspective

Abstract

The virtual world of the Internet may be used to support positive youth development. Accessing resources in educational, employment, health, and social domains is enhanced by the ability to effectively use digital technology. Foster youth are at risk for poor developmental outcomes and may face barriers to competent use of the Internet. We discuss the benefits and risks of Internet use and the importance of digital literacy to protect against risks, and we offer suggestions on ways that child welfare agencies, case managers, and foster parents can work with youth to support safe and effective use of digital technology. POSITIVE YOUTH DEVELOPMENTDigital technology can be used to support positive youth development (PYD) through opportunities for learning that increase competence and confidence, by facilitating connections that can provide social support, for exploring the depth and diversity of values as youth develop their own values and character, and for expanding opportunities for caring for others. Foster youth face multiple challenges to the effective use of this increasingly important means of accessing resources and establishing connections with institutions and people. Acquiring the ability to use the Internet must also include the skills for protection and risk reduction that Internet use can present. We describe the potential benefits of Internet use from a PYD perspective and the importance of digital literacy to protect against risks, and we offer suggestions on ways youth as well as child welfare agencies, case managers, and foster parents can work with youth to support safe and effective use of the Internet and social media. FOSTER YOUTH AND THE INTERNETFoster youth, who have experienced maltreatment followed by removal from their family, are at additional risk for placement instability or multiple placements during their average time in care of two years or more (Havlicek, 2011). Changes in placement often mean concurrent disruptions in

A Systematic Review of Internet Communication Technology Use by Youth in Foster Care

“…Lerner and colleagues posit that the presence of the 5cs leads to a sixth C, positive contributions to the community, and serves as a protective factor against problem behaviors. Although a number of formal interventions attempt to map their work to Lerner’s 5 C’s (Graham et al, 2015 ; Taussig et al, 2019 ; Travis & Leech, 2014 ), we find that youth are able to meet many of these capacities informally via ICTs, which are likely both more accessible (when access is afforded) and acceptable to youth.…”

Impacts of media on sexual behaviour and relationships among youth in foster care

“…We used an interpretivist paradigm, which posits that what we know is always negotiated within cultures, social settings, and relationship with other people, and the specific method of thematic analysis to analyse the data (Braun & Clarke, ; RWJF—Qualitative Research Guidelines Project, ). We did not use a specific conceptual theory to inform our analysis, however, based on existing literature, we specifically looked for themes related to (a) impacts of early life experiences on media use; (b) monitoring and mediation of media use; and (c) impacts of media on attitudes, norms, and behaviours in romantic and sexual relationships (Gustavsson & MacEachron, ; Petrovic, ).…”

“…With appropriate support and education from social workers and caregivers, YFC may be able to use social media to maintain positive connections with peers and trusted adults, such as former foster caregivers and other caregiving professionals. A better understanding of this topic might open the door to effective, low‐burden intervention strategies to improve reproductive and other health outcomes in this vulnerable population (Gustavsson & MacEachron, ; Petrovic, ).…”

Digital welfare for children in China: Human needs and sustainability

“…Communication with case workers is problematic due to inherent tensions between their position as employees of the state, and their ethical, social and emotional responsibilities to the children. Another related factor is the linguistic challenge when case workers and children (and especially youth) communicate via text messaging, which is most convenient for poor children (Dodsworth et al, 2013; Gustavsson and MacEachron, 2015). Problems can arise from the use of different messaging styles between generations and sexes, with a rapidly changing style among youth creating intricate problems for case workers with regard to their choice of expressions – should case workers use the current youth language or should youth change their language in order to talk politely to adults and thus defeat the purpose of having meaningful and equal communication?…”