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Abstract:
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If educators, administrators, and the school system continue to not provide the services
needed to foster youth and proceed to treat them differently than their classmates,
children within the foster care system will continue to struggle with their education, not
only academically but also with peer relations. Foster youth are aware of the negative
stigma that can accompany the label “foster child” and they may begin to take on the
attributes that are expected of them following this label.
Foster youth tend to require more services to aid them with their educational goals.
Unfortunately, they are sometimes receiving fewer services than their classmates.
Teachers and administrators also lack the proper knowledge about how being placed with
in the foster care system may have effects on a child, which in turn may cause them to act
out at school. If teachers were made aware and worked with the foster youth at their
level, there would be more opportunities for foster youth to attain their educational goals.
This researcher conducted eight interviews, which were all audio taped. This researcher
played each interview back and transcribed all of the interviews. After transcribing, this
researcher began the process of coding. After organizing common concepts, this
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researcher began to memo and sort key ideas together to develop main ideas based on
similar ideas that the participants expressed in each of their own interviews.
Participants of this study included eight teachers from the Solano County area with
varying levels of experience. Participants taught in classrooms ranging from elementary
school to high school.
Findings of the study were that educators had an overall negative view of foster youth.
This could be due to the fact that educators are unaware of a child’s status of being in the
foster care system until a behavioral problem has occurred. Thus, foster child and
behavior problems become synonymous. Teachers come to expect all foster youth to
behave poorly because they are only aware of foster students who cause disruptions. |
