Development, Feasibility, and Piloting of a Novel Natural Mentoring Intervention for Older Youth in Foster Care

ABSTRACT

Aging out of foster care is associated with deleterious emerging adulthood outcomes. The enduring presence of a caring adult, such as a natural mentor, can improve outcomes for emancipating foster youth. Caring Adults ‘R’ Everywhere (C.A.R.E.) is a novel, child welfare-based intervention designed to facilitate natural mentor relationships among aging-out youth. Our aims were to test the feasibility of implementing C.A.R.E. and the feasibility of conducting a randomized controlled study with older foster youth. Twenty-four foster youth aged 18–20.5 years were recruited and randomly assigned to the intervention (n = 12) or control groups (n = 12). Ten natural mentors were identified and contacted for participation in the intervention and study. Process-oriented qualitative data and quantitative pre- and postintervention outcome data were collected and analyzed. Utilizing a controlled rigorous design, the findings highlight the positive experience of both the intervention youth and their natural mentors with C.A.R.E. Overall, results support the continued refinement, delivery, and rigorous testing of C.A.R.E. with great promise for programmatically supporting natural mentor relationships among youth aging out of foster care.

KEYWORDS:

• Foster care
• natural mentoring
• aging out
• emerging adulthood
• child welfare intervention
• feasibility study

Note

Ethical Approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed Consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Conflict of Interest

Johanna Greeson declares that she has no conflict of interest. Allison Thompson declares that she has no conflict of interest.

Funding

Funding for the project was provided by the Philadelphia Department of Human Services, which received a grant (HHS-2013-ACF-ACYF-CA-0636) from the Administration on Children, Youth & Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Washington, D.C., to subcontract and partner with Johanna Greeson to implement the C.A.R.E. intervention.

Notes

1. Trauma informed refers to understanding the effect of trauma on child/youth development and learning how to effectively minimize its effects without causing additional trauma.