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Ann Kennedy

Professor Bell

ENG 1201

26 October 2019

Annotated Bibliography

My research essay will address the challenges foster youth face as they transition out of

the system and into adulthood. Emphasis on legislations put in place to benefit this cause,

specifically the John H. Chafee Foster Care Program for Successful Transition into Adulthood,

will allow for a better understanding of the topic overall. Additionally, I would like to investigate

the revisions to this original legislation and the positive and negative effects they may have given

rise to.

Congratulations, You're On Your Own: Life After Foster Care. Directed by Michael D. Nes.,

performances by Rozo “Regal” Carter, Maritza Vasquez, Florencia Valenzuela, Marcy

Valenzuela, and Chris Hudak, PBS SoCal, 2018.

www.pbssocal.org/programs/congratulations-youre-on-your-own-life-after-foster-

care/congratulations-youre-on-your-own-life-after-foster-care-p5ziqx/

This documentary, directed by Michael D. Nes and appearing on PBSSocal in

2018, provides a greater understanding of aging out of the foster care system through the

stories of 5 former foster youth. Their stories encompass a range of common obstacles

these youth face, including education, employment, substance abuse, housing, and early

parenthood.
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The director’s purpose of this documentary is clearly to inform. The platform on

which this documentary is accessible allows for the opportunity for it to reach audiences

who would have otherwise not known about these issues.

The director of this documentary has a wife who has worked in child welfare since 2006,

as a social worker, supervisor, and administrator. Additionally, input from credible

sources such as a U.S. Representative and the executive director of the National Foster

Youth Institute is given throughout the film.

I intend on using this documentary to provide background on the issues associated

with the transition into adulthood from foster care and the importance and relevance of

addressing them. The stories of each youth also provide first-hand evidence of the

struggles these young adults face today.

Fernandes-Alcantara, Adrienne L. “Youth Transitioning from Foster Care: Background and

Federal Programs.” EveryCRSReport.com, Congressional Research Service, 29 May

2019, www.everycrsreport.com/reports/RL34499.html. Accessed 17 Oct. 2019.

Written by Adriennne Fernandes-Alcantara, “Youth Transitioning from Foster

Care: Background and Federal Programs”, was published in 2008 but was last updated in

May of 2019. This source establishes the lack of security that youth transitioning out of

the foster system possess and acknowledges the high possibility for these individuals to

fall into negative outcomes as a result. This leads to an in-depth analysis of the federal

support available to these individuals through programs administered by the U.S.

Department of Health and Human Services. This article covers support/funding,

eligibility, legislative history, and data collection.

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The author’s purpose in writing this article is to educate the audience, which is

most likely individuals that are already familiar with some aspect of foster care and are in

search of more thorough information on the topic.

The author is a specialist in social policy, which is verified by other sources. The

information is current and a revision history of the article is present. Hyperlinks that lead

to additional information on specific laws, provided by Congress.gov, and footnotes are

also given.

This source will be extremely helpful in presenting background on the John H.

Chafee Foster Care Program for Successful Transition into Adulthood, such as its

legislative history over the past two decades since it was put in place. I also plan on using

this publication as a method source. The report is set up in such a way that it addresses

who is affected, establishes the legislations and federal support in place, and analyzes the

effectiveness of these programs. I hope to mirror aspects of this organization in my own

paper.

Fowler, Patrick J, et al. “Homelessness and Aging Out of Foster Care: A National Comparison of

Child Welfare-Involved Adolescents.” Children and Youth Services Review, U.S.

National Library of Medicine, June 2017,

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5644395/. Accessed 20 Oct. 2019.

This article was published in June of 2017 by the U.S. National Library of

Medicine and appeared on Children and Youth Services Review. The authors of the

article, Fowler, Patrick J, et al., conclude that legislation encouraging states to prolong

foster care until the age of 21, specifically The Fostering Connections to Success and

Increasing Adoption Act of 2008, did not evoke the benefits intended. The authors’
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investigations led to an unexpected correlation between a youth’s reunification with their

family and reduction in literal homelessness. Although some of their findings suggested

the legislation did not succeed to benefit aging-out youth, the unanticipated positive

correlation associated with reunification provided evidence of the legislation’s potential

advantages.

The writer’s purpose of this article is to inform those involved with the foster care

system. The majority of the authors have PhDs and the site on which this article is

credible as it government affiliated. I plan on using this article as an argument source to

provide information on the effects of the revisions made to the John H. Chafee Foster

Care Program.

Heim, Joe. "As foster care teens enter adulthood, obstacles mount, report finds."

Washingtonpost.com, 13 Nov. 2018. Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints,

https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A562113183/OVIC?

u=dayt30401&sid=OVIC&xid=d9391d46. Accessed 20 Oct. 2019.

This news source was published in November of 2018 and appeared on the

Washington Post. Author Joe Heim analyzes the results of a report titled, "Fostering

Youth Transitions," which addresses the obstacles young adults face when transitioning

out of foster care and into adulthood, and the need for improvement across the system.

Significant emphasis is put on unemployment and the incompletion of high school

education among these youth, although a lack of housing and early parenthood are

additional issues brought to light.

The author’s purpose in writing this article is to bring awareness to the general

public of the brokenness of the foster care system, especially within the aging-out
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process. The source is current to my topic as the last revision made to the John H. Chafee

Foster Program was in February of 2018.

This source relies on credible data such as that from the federal government's

Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System and the National Youth in

Transition Database and American Community Survey.

I will implement this as an evidence source within my research essay to supply

information on the issues present within the transition from the foster system to

adulthood.

Mech, Edmund V., and Hewitt B. Clark. Uncertain Futures: Foster Youth in Transition to

Adulthood. CWLA Press, 2003.

Edmund V. Mech’s book, Uncertain Futures: Foster Youth in Transition to

Adulthood, was published in 2003 by the Child Welfare League of America. This work

covers a multitude of topics applying to youth transitioning out of the foster system,

including transitional expectations, services, and legislations that cover everything from

education and income to personal responsibility. Assessments of effectiveness, trends,

and 10-year outcomes of former foster youth form an analysis of the system overall when

it comes to this age group.

The author has a PhD and MSW, and has received several awards, one being from

the Department of Health and Human Services. The publisher, the Child Welfare League

of America, suggests the purpose of this book is not only to educate, but also to consider

practical solutions to the problems the book entertains.

This book came out 4 years after the John H. Chafee Foster Program was

established and a year after the first revision was made to the program. Although this
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source isn’t as current as a lot of the others, its time frame provides a different

perspective, that of one in which the Chafee Program was more recently enacted. I will

definitely take advantage of this fact by using it to compare and contrast among the

information of other sources, in which multiple revisions to the Program had been put in

place.

Piel, Megan Hayes. “Challenges in the Transition to Higher Education for Foster Care Youth.”

New Directions for Community Colleges, no. 181, 1 Jan. 2018, pp. 21–28. ERIC,

EBSCOhost, sinclair.ohionet.org:80/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?

direct=true&db=eric&AN=EJ1172440&site=eds-live. Accessed 20 Oct. 2019.

Written by Megan Hayes Piel, “Challenges in the Transition to Higher Education

for Foster Care Youth” was published in 2018 to EBSCOhost. Piel explores several

factors that contribute to a grim outlook on postsecondary education for foster youth,

including early parenthood, unstable housing, lack of support (emotional, social, and

financial), as well as factors that start while these individuals are still within the system,

such as school placement instability and a lack of emphasis on educational achievement.

Despite all of this, Piel sees hope for higher education opportunities at community

colleges. The benefits of community colleges in terms of the challenges foster youth face

when transitioning out of the system are discussed.

The author’s purpose of writing this article is to not only shed light on the

obstacles foster youth face in correlation to pursuing higher education, but also to provide

concrete ideas that may work to remedy the problems. The audience is mainly

researchers, educators, and practitioners, as they have an ability to tend to this cause first

hand.
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Author Megan Hayes Piel has a Phd and MSW and works as an assistant

professor in the School of Social Work at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan.

She has also served as the associate director of the Transition to Independence Program at

Wayne State University, making her a credible source. The database on which the source

is published is also known for its scholarly articles.

I aim to use this article to develop a deeper analysis of a major aspect of what

many attribute to independence and adulthood, the completion of higher education. I may

also use it as an argument source to debate the way in which the issues of aging out of

foster care are addressed.

Shirk, Martha, and Gary J. Stangler. On Their Own: What Happens to Kids When They Age out

of the Foster Care System? Basic Books, 2006.

Martha Shirk and Gary Stangler’s book, On Their Own: What Happens to Kids

When They Age out of the Foster Care System? was published in 2004. Shirk and

Stangler share the stories of ten former foster youth, from their upbringing to their

transition into adulthood. The authors’ purpose in writing this book is for their readers to

gain a better understanding of the additional challenges youth face when leaving the

foster care system, through the reading of each story. Ultimately, they hope a better

understanding may lead to an introduction of change in the future.

Gary Stangler was executive director of the Jim Casey Youth Opportunities

Initiative at the time the book was published, and also served as director of the Missouri

Department of Social Services for over a decade. The book’s foreword is written by

President Jimmy Carter, adding a whole new level of credibility to the source.
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Despite its lack of currency in comparison to other sources, the struggles depicted

within each of the ten stories are still very much realities today. I intend to utilize the

stories told to form an appeal of pathos within my research paper.