"I just want to be a regular kid:" A qualitative study of sense of belonging among high school youth in foster care. (April 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Johnson, Royel M.; Strayhorn, Terrell L.; Parler, Bridget
• Is Part Of: Children and youth services review. Volume 111(2020)
• Publication Date: 2020-04
• Subjects: Youth in foster care -- Foster youth -- Sense of belonging -- Student success; Social work with children -- Periodicals; Social work with youth -- Periodicals; Adolescent -- Periodicals; Child Welfare -- Periodicals; Social Work -- Periodicals; Service social aux enfants -- Périodiques; Service social à la jeunesse -- Périodiques; Electronic journals; 362.705
• DOI: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2020.104832
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0190-7409

Abstract

Highlights: Frequent residential placement and school changes are a barrier to belonging for youth in foster care. Youth make strategic decisions about disclosing their "foster care" identity in pursuit of belonging and as a buffer against stigma. Students report negative and marginalizing experiences with peers, teachers, and school personnel who sometimes "out" them as "foster youth". Abstract: In this study, we drew on qualitative data gathered during in-depth focus groups with 46 high school youth in foster care. The goal of this research was to center and amplify the often-unheard voices of youth in foster care and their experiences in high school. Drawing on sense of belonging as a theoretical framework, we addressed the following questions: (a) How do youth in foster care describe and make meaning of their sense of belonging in high school? (b) What factors help facilitate or thwart belongingness among high school youth in foster care? The first finding from this study offers insights about how students negotiated disclosure of their "foster identity, " both as a strategy for "fitting in" at school and as a buffer against the negative consequences of stigma. The second finding presented offers insights into how educational instability, as a result of changes in residential placement, reduced their sense of belonging by requiring them to sever ties with their established communities. Implications for policy, practice, and research are delineated.