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COMPLETED

Reducing Risks for Teenagers in Foster Care

Background

This three year project (2004-07) was funded by a grant from the Big Lottery Fund. The work included research and the production of a training programme and other resources, to help reduce the risks for young people in foster care. The aim of the project was to bring about long-term improvements in the quality of life of young people aged 13-16 years in foster care. The project sought to improve the way foster families managed risky behaviour to strike a balance between protecting young people and enabling them to take the risks that are part of teenage development.

The project had two stages. Firstly, research to explore how foster carers manage the behaviour of teenagers in their care, taking into consideration the involvement and experiences of the young people themselves, parents and social workers. The next stage involved the development, piloting and dissemination of training materials, practice guidelines and resources for young people and foster carers, on managing and supervising risky behaviour.

Research

The research was carried out with a local authority in each UK country and at three different stages.

Stage 1: Focus groups with teenagers in foster care, birth parents (where applicable), foster carers, and social workers, to provide contextual information.

Stage 2: Individual interviews with teenagers, foster carers, social workers, and birth parents (where applicable) to explore how behaviour is managed and supervised within the foster home.

Stage 3: Seven-day diaries completed by teenagers and their foster carers, to explore the realities of managing young peoples' behaviour.

Training materials

The research findings emphasised the significance of trust for young people in foster care. This led the project team to move away from the narrow notion of a 'risk-management' training programme to material that explore ways of promoting positive relationships. Two resources were created: a training manual to enable trainers to run a 4 session programme Teenagers in Foster Care - Promoting Positive Relationships (2007) and a magazine-style resource for young people in foster care called Getting Along (2007). Both resources focused on issues related to promoting positive relationships for/with young people. The resources are available from Young People in Focus publications . A full research report is also available.

Project staff

Jayne Hellett ( Principal Training Co-ordinator ), Kevin Lowe (Co-Director and project manager) and Dr Stephanie Stace (Research Officer), were responsible for this project.

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June 2009