Former Foster Youths' Relationships with Biological Family

15 September 2019

This study aims to understand how foster youth develop relationships with their biological relatives after gaining the status of a legal adult. The study also aims to see if these same relationships have an impact on youths' transition into adulthood, and if so, is the impact positive or negative. Participants will be asked to take an online survey to answer questions about their demographics, experience while in the foster care system, relationships with family members, and mental well-being.

Keywords

• Alliant International University
• foster care support
• former foster youth
• Young Adult
• young adults
• adulthood
• transition
• psychology
• relationship
• family
• family dynamics
• family health
• fostering
• survey
• survey research
• qualtrics
• transitional age youth
• Clinical psychology
• development
• developmental psychology

Ethical approval

This study has been approved by the Institutional Review Board at Alliant International University.

About the researcher

Samantha Rivas is a 4th year Doctoral Candidate at the California School of Professional Psychology at Alliant International University. She has been working with current and former foster youth since 2015 and has a passionate interest in improving the reunification process for foster youth with their families, upon successful healing. Samantha also has experience in substance use treatment for adolescents and young adults, and for individuals on probation.

Contact researcher