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Promoting Educational Well-Being for Foster Care Youth in Lucas County, Ohio: Exploring the Impact of Race, Age, and Service Provision on the Development of Human Capital

Theiss, Diana L.
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1268077502

Abstract Details

2010, Doctor of Philosophy, Ohio State University, Social Work.
Human capital is defined as physical, social-emotional, educational well-being that predicts future healthy adult functioning. Recent studies have described the poor educational and social-emotional outcomes of many youth who emancipate from foster care. Many of these youth leave foster care without the ability to function as healthy, self-sufficient adults and are as a result at great risk of unemployment, poverty, incarceration, homelessness, and other negative adult outcomes. Prior research has described various challengers that can leave the foster care population more academically vulnerable than other disadvantaged populations. This study utilized child-level secondary data to quantitatively relate race/ethnicity, age, mental health, and reason for foster care entry to service provision and educational performance for 243 foster care children aged 5 to 18 in Lucas County, Ohio. Descriptive findings were consistent with prior research indicating that children in foster care face high rates of mental health disorders, school instability, and placement in special education. African American and older children are particularly vulnerable to harmful influences on their educational progress. Chi square and logistic regression analyses suggest that children of different ages, races, mental health status, and maltreatment histories face differing challenges to educational success after entering the foster care system. Challenges may become particularly evident in early adolescent children. If not identified and addressed, these challenges may threaten the educational well-being, and therefore the future self-sufficiency of the most vulnerable children for years to come. Implications point to the need for the child welfare system to proactively provide stage-salient and culturally competent educational and social-emotional services that support human capital development for children in foster care, beginning early in life and throughout the foster care continuum. A process of data collection and sharing of educational information between the child welfare and educational systems is needed to inform effective and targeted efforts leading to meaningful fulfillment of the federal mandate to provide educational well-being for children in foster care.
Denise Bronson, PhD (Committee Chair)
Tamara Davis, PhD (Committee Member)
Alvin Mares, PhD (Committee Member)
James Altschuld, PhD (Committee Member)
187 p.
Education; Elementary Education; Mental Health; Minority and Ethnic Groups; Public Administration; Social Research; Social Work; Special Education
foster care; education; well-being; human capital

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Theiss, D. L. (2010). Promoting Educational Well-Being for Foster Care Youth in Lucas County, Ohio: Exploring the Impact of Race, Age, and Service Provision on the Development of Human Capital [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1268077502

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Theiss, Diana. Promoting Educational Well-Being for Foster Care Youth in Lucas County, Ohio: Exploring the Impact of Race, Age, and Service Provision on the Development of Human Capital. 2010. Ohio State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1268077502.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Theiss, Diana. "Promoting Educational Well-Being for Foster Care Youth in Lucas County, Ohio: Exploring the Impact of Race, Age, and Service Provision on the Development of Human Capital." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University, 2010. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1268077502

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

osu1268077502
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© 2010, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.