https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5126-3447
Abstract
Child welfare (CW) reforms have called for including family and youth voice. Yet, most initiatives have remained at individual levels, and research has rarely included youth, parent and professional voices simultaneously and equally. This study sought to integrate these perspectives and identify systems-level strategies that could reimagine CW. Using an arts-based method and thematic analysis, researchers investigated recommendations for policy and practice changes needed to transform CW to better support youth. Data were collected from individual and relational poems written by forty-one participants, including youth with foster care (FC) experience and CW professionals. Participants were located in a Midwestern state in the USA. Four themes were generated and several key findings were highlighted. First, results demonstrated relationship-building as central to supporting youth in FC. Secondly, participants described complex, fragmented and fluctuating views about the purpose of CW. Thirdly, strong emotions were commonly demonstrated by both youth and professionals. Fourthly, participants offered prescriptive actions needed to better support youth. Overall, this study indicates that CW should centre relationship-building, youth self-determination and practices that build resilience for youth and professionals. Findings also provide hope for transforming CW towards an accountable, family-centred, well-being system.
Introduction
The US child welfare (CW) system is grounded in the outcomes of safety, permanency and well-being, all of which are routinely monitored by state and federal governments. However, over 20 years and three rounds of federal Child and Family Services Reviews (CFSR) have shown that CW systems regularly fail to achieve these outcomes (Milner and Kelly, 2021). CFSR Round 3 (2015–2018) concluded that few states achieved substantial conformity on two of the seven federally mandated outcomes, and none achieved substantial conformity on the other five outcomes (Children's Bureau, n.d). The US CW system’s inadequate performance has direct consequences for children and families, including separation of siblings and loss of family connections (Font and Kim, 2022), placement instability that may result in new or worsened mental health problems for youth (Konijn et al., 2019) and lack of legal permanence for young people leaving foster care (FC), potentially translating into additional poor outcomes in adulthood (e.g. homelessness, lower educational attainment, lower employment prospects) (Gypen et al., 2017). Consistent with these adverse experiences, youths’ descriptions of CW have been negative, depicting a traumatising system that generally devalues their rights to autonomy and self-determination (Children's Bureau, 2019a). Moreover, CW’s negative outcomes harm some groups disproportionately as demonstrated in the empirical study of structural bias and inequities for youth of colour, sexual minority youth and youth with disabilities (e.g. Slayter, 2016; Wilson and Kastanis, 2018; Wright et al., 2022).
The present study was part of a US federal initiative to improve CW outcomes and, in part, an outgrowth of the US Children’s Bureau’s call to action for states and tribes to ensure that family and youth voice were central to planning and reform (Children's Bureau, 2019b). The US federal government’s move towards family and youth voice was consistent with the recommendations of the United Nations General Assembly Resolution on the rights of the child, which include ensuring full participation of youth in policies and services (Goldman et al., 2020). Despite national and international recommendations, youth, parents and professionals engaging with CW systems often have limited autonomy and voice in designing and implementing services and system-level changes (Hoffman-Cooper, 2021). This study engaged these key actors with a novel and creative approach to reveal new possibilities for transforming the CW system to one that facilitates youth thriving.
Empirical review of youths’, parents’ and professionals’ perspectives in revisioning child welfare
Our literature review concentrated on qualitative studies that included youth, parents and/or professionals, and made four meta-observations of the existing literature. First, studies including children and youth perspectives on FC increased dramatically during the last two decades, mirroring the historical review described above and including two recent meta-syntheses on children’s perspectives in CW. One study focused broadly on experiences of child protection services and included thirty-nine studies from 2001 to 2018 (Wilson et al., 2020). The other study more narrowly focused on children’s participation in CW processes and included twenty-two studies from 2000 to 2021 (McTavish et al., 2022). Both meta-syntheses showed that the number of qualitative studies with youth participants doubled from the first decade of the twenty-first century to the twenty-tens. Secondly, despite an increase in qualitative studies, only four of the thirty-nine studies in Wilson and colleagues’ (2020) paper and only three of the twenty-two studies in McTavish and colleagues’ (2022) paper were conducted in the USA. Thirdly, study participants usually comprised singular participant types (i.e. youth, parent or professionals) with very few studies placing perspectives side by side. For example, Wilson and colleagues’ (2020) meta-synthesis identified two studies that included youth and professionals and five studies that included youth, parents/carers and professionals (Wilson et al., 2020). Despite an increase in qualitative studies, varying perspectives were most often investigated in silos. Fourthly, whilst parents and professionals have been included in many qualitative studies, most of the extant literature is narrowly focused on a specific aspect of practice, or a specific service, programme, strategy or intervention. One scoping review focused broadly on CW reform. However, it comprised eight types of review articles, only three of which were meta-syntheses (i.e. qualitative studies). Still, these researchers found that most reviews could be characterised as intervention/service focused, not macro/policy focused. For example, 38 of 433 reviews were thematically focused on CW organisational policies, procedures and overall environment whilst 252 of 433 reviews were thematically focused on CW interventions, services, programmes and outcomes (McTavish et al., 2022). Notably, only two recent US studies investigated youths’ perspectives on how to change CW systems (Mountz et al., 2020; Taussig and Munson, 2022).
Creative and arts-based research in child welfare
Creative and arts-based research is especially fitting for community-based qualitative studies that aim to identify innovative practices and policies for CW systems. Arts-based research methods challenge the status quo in knowledge development by positioning creativity as part of the scientific process (Leavy, 2018). In doing so, arts-based research methods illuminate the truths of lived experience (Murphy and Alexander, 2019; Segal-Engelchin et al., 2019) through felt, embodied and emotive expressions. This process generates knowledge that would be difficult to achieve through traditional quantitative and qualitative methods (Denzin, 2002; Leavy, 2018; Huss and Sela-Amit, 2019). These methods utilise a variety of artistic mediums (e.g. poems, music, drawing, painting), and position artwork as a primary data source expanding knowledge about people’s lived expertise (Denzin, 2002; Leavy, 2018). Given the permeating effects of CW systems on the lives of those receiving and delivering services, arts-based research provides a strategy for CW scholarship to prioritise the lived-experience and develop research that represents the emotions, power and desires of study participants.
Our literature review found seven studies that used arts-based methods to explore issues within FC or CW settings. Three studies used photo voice to examine transitional housing amongst youth ageing out of FC (Curry and Abrams, 2015), Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, and Queer (LGBTQ) youth formerly in FC (Capous-Desyllas and Mountz, 2019), and youth ageing out of FC (Doucet et al., 2021). Two studies applied body mapping to explore experiences of mothers whose children had been placed in FC (Collings et al., 2021) and youth with complex support needs during their transition out of FC (Ellem et al., 2020). One study used narrative analysis as one form of poetic inquiry with college students in FC (Mountz et al., 2023) and one study used narradrama to explore the experiences of young women adopted from FC (Savage, 2020).
Across these seven studies, several common themes were noted. First, these studies described youths’ perceptions of adolescent development, including challenges and successes with identity development, skill development, self-love and acceptance and a gradual growth in independence (Curry and Abrams, 2015; Capous-Desyllas et al., 2019; Savage, 2020; Doucet et al., 2021). Secondly, strong emotions were revealed across different arts-based methods, such as grief, loss and heartbreak (Ellem et al., 2020; Savage, 2020; Collings et al., 2021); powerlessness, feeling dehumanised and voiceless (Capous-Desyllas et al., 2019); alienated from cultural belonging and cultural identity (Doucet et al., 2021); and proud and accomplished for resilience and growth (Curry and Abrams, 2015). Thirdly, relationships and connections were observed as supportive, powerful and critically necessary (Ellem et al., 2020; Doucet et al., 2021).
Study rationale
Given the existing literature, this study sought to amplify the voices of two relevant groups: (1) youth with lived expertise of FC and (2) professionals with deep work experiences of the system, including professionals who were parents with lived CW expertise. We applied arts-based research for its potential to reveal meaningful recommendations for transforming CW. We found that the literature lacked findings integrated across youth, parents and professional voices and does not fully acknowledge or integrate various perspectives in systems-level work aiming to redesign CW.
Whilst not the first community-based participatory research (CBPR; Hacker, 2013) study to raise up youth perspectives on the FC system, this study may uniquely address CW systems reform in three important ways. First, the study works towards levelling power differentials experienced by youth, placing their contributions side-by-side with professionals and parent partners. To avoid a false dichotomy that youths’ lived expertise is fundamentally different or less valuable than the experiences of professionals and parents, this study sought to acknowledge the humanity and wisdom of these perspectives. Secondly, by undertaking poetic inquiry, this study applied a methodological approach that has rarely been applied with youth, professionals and/or parent partners in CW. The arts-based feature of this approach was intentionally used to make space for emotions and creativity. Thirdly, this study attempted to make an explicit shift from a singular focus on individual level issues and solutions to an inclusive systems-level approach. With this rationale as a backdrop and guidance from youth, our overarching research question was: How can CW systems be reimagined to support young people in FC towards thriving through positive experiences and outcomes?
Method
Project setting
This study was part of a five-year federally funded research collaborative aimed at improving CW agency and court practices in a US Midwestern state. The project was guided by a university–public–private partnership that included the public and private CW agencies, birth parent advisory and support agency, training organisation and the state’s youth advisory council. Whilst led by a university team, the multi-organisation steering committee provided leadership in design, implementation and evaluation. Furthermore, this sub-study was conducted with guidance from the state’s youth advisory council, and the research team included members with lived expertise in FC. Protocols for human subjects research were approved by the University of Kansas Institutional Review Board.
Research design
Poetic inquiry was selected as a key design element of this CBPR study for several reasons. First, the youth advisory council identified creative approaches as their preferred method for collecting data. Secondly, the research question was congruent with methods that foster creative expression and generation of authentic and bold ideas. Thirdly, poetry was a democratising approach that could establish evenness amongst voices that were typically ordered in a strict hierarchy. Fourthly, the research team saw poetic inquiry as a viable method for encouraging connection and empathy and thus selected this approach for these purposes (Brown et al., 2021). Relational poetry (Witkin, 2007) was utilised as the guiding data collection method for this poetic inquiry. Relational poetry is developed by participants individually writing poems and then collectively reorganising them into collaborative poems. Relational poems are different from individual poems, illuminating new understanding by weaving multiple perspectives into a common message (Witkin, 2007).
Participants
A total of forty-one participants were included in this study via purposive sampling within the statewide project. Amongst these forty-one people were young people with FC experience (n = 11) and CW professionals (n = 30). The professional group included parent partners (n = 2) who had lived experience in CW and whose roles include mentoring and advocating for system-involved families. Professionals and parents were recruited from the project’s steering committee. Recruitment of young people with lived expertise included several strategies including direct outreach by youth advisory council members and caseworkers’ outreach to youth they served to recruit youth of ages fourteen and older. Compensation for participation was provided to youth ($25) but was not provided to parents and professionals because their participation was part of their regular work duties.
Data collection procedures
Data were collected in focus groups where participants wrote poems in response to prompts about envisioning supports and experiences that promote positive youth outcomes in CW systems. Participants were provided with four prompts co-developed with the youth advisory council to guide their writing: (1) What supports do youth need to thrive? (2) How do caseworkers best help, impact or support youth? (3) What advice would I give to others about how to communicate with youth in FC? (4) What insights do I wish foster parents or placement providers had about youth in FC? Seven focus groups were held from October 2020 through March 2021; four with young people with lived experience of FC and three with professionals. Focus groups ranged in size from 2 to 14 participants per group. The number of participants varied due to attendance patterns such as unforeseen scheduling conflicts. All data collection, preparation and analysis were conducted virtually.
Two research team members facilitated poetry focus groups following a specific agenda. Facilitators explained the study’s purpose to participants and defined poetic inquiry and relational poems. Next, they provided step-by-step instructions for how poems would generate research data. After consent and assent procedures, participants participated in brief centring activities such as meditation or listening to a calming playlist. Then they wrote poems individually. Next, participants copied their individual anonymised poems into a shared document and worked with other participants to co-create relational poems that interlaced lines from individual poems. In all, data collection resulted in forty-one individual poems and fifteen relational poems. Figure 1 provides an example of a relational poem that was developed by youth participants.
Poem by youth participants.
Data analysis
Researchers imported individual and relational poems into Dedoose for coding and analysis. Reflexive thematic analysis (Attride-Stirling, 2001; Braun and Clarke, 2021) was used to identify codes, categories and themes across the poems. Consistent with Braun and Clarke’s (2021) six-phase approach to thematic analysis, data were analysed through an iterative process that enhanced rigor and trustworthiness through ongoing self-reflection via memo writing, peer debriefing and member checking. In the first phase of data analysis, the study team, comprised of four researchers, became familiar with the data by reading all forty-one poems independently. Additionally, the study team wrote memos identifying potential codes. In the second phase of analysis, four members of the research team met to establish and apply codes as a team. A codebook was maintained throughout the process as an audit trail of the code definitions and example quotes. During initial coding, researchers read poems aloud which was followed by group discussion and consensus-building to determine code application for each line of the poems. In the third phase, the study team began to analyse relationships between codes by organising them into categories, making note of potential themes describing these relationships. In the fourth phase, initial themes were compared and refined by analysing them in the context of the entire dataset. Each theme was discussed for its presence and prevalence across different participant groups. During the fifth phase of analysis, the team worked collaboratively to identify, discuss and refine the data’s most prevalent themes. Across all phases of coding and analysis, the four-member research team met virtually, discussed any differences and resolved them through consensus-building. Results were shared with youth with lived FC experience and expertise, including one member of the research team; CW professionals and parent partners for member checking. Per Braun and Clarke (2021), the final phase of data analysis involved writing results in context of the current literature.
Results
Four themes were generated in the analysis of individual and relational poems. Whilst acknowledging overlap and connectedness across themes, this section describes distinct themes and provides poem excerpts to demonstrate how they emerged within and across poems.
Theme 1: Relationship-Building is Central to Supporting Youth in Foster Care
Theme 1 identified the importance of characteristics and actions that supported development of meaningful relationships for youth. Examples included qualities such as kindness, empathy and compassion. Aspects of supportive relationships were described across most individual and relational poems. In essence, poems highlighted the significance of human connection and described human connection as necessary to youth well-being. Excerpts represented in this theme illuminated that social connection, love and support are basic human needs essential for thriving.
Many poems demonstrated a need for youth to feel that they mattered as individuals and were unconditionally loved and cared for. One youth participant described the impact of being ‘shown love from the brokenness of a system; pulled together’, underscoring the relevance of individual worth. Importantly, poem excerpts explained how youth often find their worth and value within relationships, requiring external validation of their value and significance to identify it themselves. One youth participant named critical features of relationships that demonstrate and reinforce this recognition of self-worth as persistence, dedication and loyalty:
A relational poem created by youth revealed unconditional positive regard as further evidence of this theme and the centrality of relationships as follows:
This excerpt reflects the value this youth placed on important relational characteristics.
Youth poems noted the qualities needed from others in relationships, but also spoke to their own presence in those relationships. These excerpts demonstrated a desire amongst youth for permission to show up authentically in relationships and be deeply considered and understood as a means of healing. One youth wrote:
The youth participant continued:
Through their words, this participant revealed that youth voice comes in many forms. Authentic relationships where transparency and vulnerability are honoured and protected may draw out these forms of communication that reflect youths’ authentic selves, feelings and beliefs in ways they sometimes are not prepared for or capable of communicating verbally.
Youth participants also named specific relationships that were particularly formative in their FC experience, such as with caseworkers, placement providers, mentors, family and friends. One relational poem developed by youth participants expressed the importance of being situated amongst community:
Though any supportive relationship can be protective, this poem reflects recognition by youth that their needs are vast and may not be met by one single person. A community of care is necessary.
Further, the significance of maintaining and nurturing familial and kinship relationships for youth in FC was named by participants from all three groups. One professional poem asked simply:
Interestingly, this sentiment aligns with the current push towards kin-first policy that promotes and supports the use of family and kin caregiving when placement is necessary. However, it is inconsistent with the current common practice of primarily using non-relative FC for youth placement. This shift may indicate a philosophical change in the field in progress but incomplete, or it may reflect systemic or personal bias and dissonance between practice and purported beliefs.
Interestingly, both youth and professional poems communicated a connection felt between youth and CW professionals. Poems demonstrated feelings of common humanity between youth and professionals and acknowledgement that the characteristics of this relationship are paramount to youth feeling valued and significant, or not. Additionally, professionals described relationships with youth as reciprocally generative, naming benefits inherent in their work with youth. For example, one professional encouraged others to ‘be grateful for the gifts that they unknowingly give to us’. Another relational poem expressed:
Another read:
In addition to recognising the reciprocity of relationships, these excerpts demonstrate attempts by both youth and workers to join with each other and be seen as a fellow human, perhaps in an effort to level the power dynamic.
Theme 2: Views on the Purpose of Child Welfare Systems Were Complex, Fragmented and in Flux
Theme 2 reflected the complexities that participants described experiencing within the CW system. Professional poems demonstrated contrasting ideas about the purpose of the CW system with varying opinions about who should be centred in CW systems. A few professional poems depicted the purpose of CW as primarily to serve and protect children. One professional expressed:
Another wrote simply, ‘Children are treasures.’ This stance reflects a current tension in the field between what are seen by some as competing goals of the system; the historical focus of child safety or child saving versus a focus of family connection and family preservation (McGowan, 2014). In contrast to the child focus, others highlighted the system’s primary purpose as serving families. One individual poem written by a professional indicated that ‘we prioritize practices and policies to center families’. Others took a more nuanced stance and described serving both children and families as the primary purpose of the CW system; as one participant conveyed, ‘We hope to create a child welfare system that protects and nurtures the children, youth, and families.’ Notably, poems written by youth did not name this tension. However, as Theme 1 revealed, the central and impactful role of relationships for youth points to family connection and family preservation as an essential goal of the system to ensure youth have what they need to develop and thrive into adulthood.
Moreover, many professional individual and relational poems described complexities in determining what is in the best interests of youth impacted by the CW system. For example, one professional asked:
This passage reveals the difficulty practitioners experience integrating youth voice into case planning in real-life settings. This is particularly germane when priorities, preferences and needs vary, or when opinions differ. In CW, decision-making power is ultimately held by the state agency. In a hierarchical relationship such as this, the loser when opinions differ is often the family or youth. True integration requires balancing of all perspectives and compromise that weigh safety along with other essential youth needs.
Whilst the potential conflicts between child saving and family preservation showed up in the professional and not the youth poems, both identified a key system challenge: the problematic nature of system bureaucracy. A relational poem developed by professional participants identified:
Other professional poems also recognised checkboxes, paperwork and bureaucracy as problematic. One professional wrote:
Documentation is essential, yet burdensome (McGowan et al., 2009). These excerpts reveal that paperwork is only one aspect of CW practice, yet workers felt helpless to organise this aspect of their work to prioritise direct service.
Youth further described the overfocus on ‘paperwork’ and ‘files’ as especially harmful. Youth expressed frustrations with a lack of privacy related to file sharing amongst CW professionals and with the assumptions made about who they were based on case records. As one youth expressed in an individual poem:
In stark contrast to themes around relationships and common humanity, these parts of poems punctuated the harm and dehumanising experiences that arose from bureaucracy.
Theme 3: Experiences with the Foster Care System Elicited Emotional Responses from Young People and Professionals
Theme 3 demonstrated the powerful emotions underlying nearly all individual and relational poems. The poems highlighted the reality and rawness of youth, professional and parent experiences and reflected intense affect and a range of emotions. Participants expressed emotions such as grief, anger, loss and fear. For example, one participant wrote ‘rage against the injustices’. Another individual poem described:
In this theme, participant responses revealed the toll of CW decisions, particularly as it relates to youths’ sense of self-worth. Whilst relational connections may build self-worth, grief, loss and the trauma of experiencing the CW system may undermine those gains. This aspect of the poems revealed a system that creates and perpetuates harm in everyday actions. Rather than consistently describing large, impactful events, participants’ poems painted a picture of a system that commits many small and repeated acts that accumulate into significant harms. They further described the emotional impacts that youth and workers alike experience and carry as a result of these harms.
Alongside painful emotions, participants also communicated hope, compassion, gratitude and wonder. One professional wrote, ‘We hope to change the world.’ One youth wrote:
Included in the many visceral reactions illustrated in the individual and relational poems was a sense of youth strength, capacity and resilience. This aspect of the poems not only contradicted the negative emotions, but also stood out as if in defiance against the harm.
Highlighting the complexity of CW, the perspectives and feelings shared through poetic inquiry reflect a plurality of experiences for youth, parents and professionals, both negative and positive. The FC experience is not one thing, but rather a complex tangle of strengths, challenges, barriers, resources, traumas and supports. However, across professional and youth poems, a resounding commitment to youth voice, well-being and empowerment emerged. Professionals and youth alike identified the power and importance of youth voice. One youth participant exclaiming their own power wrote:
Thus, these participants’ poems articulated the adverse context of FC whilst also lifting up and centring youth empowerment, suggesting hope for this system to be overhauled and reimagined.
Theme 4: Actions to Support Youth Were Frequent, Varied, and Prescriptive
Participants’ individual and relational poems identified specific actions to best support youth. These included varying types from more passive to overtly observable behaviours. Examples of passive behaviours included actions such as listening, looking and being mindfully present. One relational poem identified:
Examples of more overt behaviours included acting with integrity, being dependable and modelling positive behaviours. One professional described how youth need others to ‘Be there when it matters.’ Another poem encouraged workers to, ‘Deliver on your promises.’ Similarly, one youth explained the importance of honesty and expressed, ‘Always tell me the truth even if it might hurt’ reflecting the importance of transparency in practice.
Participants also emphasised the importance of acting in ways that reduce harm and benefit youth. One professional wrote simply, ‘Do the most good.’ One youth encouraged others to ‘Never jump to the worse case.” Others highlighted the importance of centring youths’ expertise and knowledge about themselves. One individual poem expressed:
Across these recommendations were the sentiment that connection to and trust in youth is essential in order to hear and meet their needs.
Suggestions of ways to support youth spanned across different levels of practice (e.g. individuals, organisations, CW system) and encouraged actions from a variety of system participants (e.g. foster parents, caseworkers). Some system-wide actions included creating policies and practices that ‘ensure equity and social justice’. Other poems highlighted the importance of system-wide efforts to centre youths’ experience and expertise. For example, one professional poem encouraged the CW system to, ‘Involve youth in decisions affecting them.’ Some poems identified a need for youth and family voice throughout the CW system:
From this evidence, we see a call for systematic and comprehensive inclusion of family and youth voice that is authentic and multilevel in order to change both individual and systemwide practice, ensuring families are at the centre of decision-making.
Discussion
Responding to calls to centre youth and family voice in CW scholarship and practice (Children’s Bureau, 2019b; Goldman et al., 2020), this study contributes to the literature by demonstrating an arts-based, creative approach to inquiry. Scarce is research identifying supports suggested by youth with lived foster care experiences, parents and professionals who work with them. This study generated four themes related to reimagining the CW system as one that supports the thriving of youth in FC. These themes centred relationship-building; identified strong emotions; amplified the need for action of many types and at multiple levels; and uncovered the CW system’s purpose as complex, fragmented and in-flux. by
This study provides support for use of arts-based research methods and demonstrates the power of co-developing knowledge through creative methods. Huss (2017) asserted that arts-based methodologies provide processes for ‘negotiating multiple understandings and initiating new perspectives’ (p. 48). Supporting this claim, this study elicited participation from people engaged with the CW system in a variety of capacities. Recognising that youth with lived experience and professionals working in CW can have both unique/distinct and shared understandings of the system’s challenges and strengths, this study included and integrated their voices as equally valuable. Whilst scholarship often creates silos around youth, parent and professional voices, we argue that failing to notice the commonality amongst these perspectives may result in missed opportunities for social change.
Notably, though participants in this study represented different engagement points with the CW system, common themes were present across poems. The consistent messages across perspectives may demonstrate that system failings should not be singularly positioned with individuals, such as professionals working in direct service capacities. Furthermore, levers for change exist at structural and institutional levels in addition to the micro level between youth and worker. We urge continued acknowledgement and accountability on the part of CW systems to identify and implement multilevel practices and policies that holistically support youth by prioritising relationships, social connections and reducing barriers to youth well-being. Additionally, continued research prioritising multiple perspectives is needed to examine the systemic barriers and identify solutions for implementing effective and impactful CW service delivery.
Interestingly, some professional participants in this study wrote from the perspective of youth. Whilst this may not be surprising given that arts-based research methods encourage the use of imagination, we draw attention to the potential for imagination to promote humanism and the development of qualities such as empathy, compassion and care. As identified by study participants, these qualities are necessary relational factors supporting the well-being of youth in FC. Thus, we encourage further use of arts-based research methods in CW to develop scholarship promoting compassionate imagination to further support youth.
Morley et al. (2023) purported that neo-liberalism and managerialism create work contexts that inhibit CW workers from centring child and family voice in practice. Similarly, this present study highlighted hyper-fixation with paperwork, checkboxes and bureaucratic processes as problematic and harmful to youth. Others have argued that critical self-reflection may support CW workers in improving work with children and families within the constraints of neo-liberal managerialism (Morley et al., 2023). As a potential extension of critical self-reflection, this study reveals the existing possibility in transformative and creative research methodologies to empower practitioners towards child and family centred practice that prioritises the voice and power of service recipients.
Findings from this study situated the overfocus on managerialism in direct opposition of the humane aspects of CW work. Additionally, healthy, supportive relationships characterised by unconditional love and acceptance were discussed as necessary to youth well-being. These findings are consistent with previous scholarship (Ellem et al., 2020; Doucet et al., 2021), and further illuminate the need for reprioritisation of CW policies and practice to focus on nurturing relationships for youth in FC and those significant to them (e.g. mentors, family and kin). Whilst many participants acknowledged the importance of family relationships to youth in FC, others suggested that the primary role of CW systems is to protect children. This tension between protecting children and preserving families is well documented (Myers, 2008; Fluke et al., 2016). However, Samuels (2008) suggested that a family-centred approach must acknowledge an expansive view of what family means to include non-consanguineous relationships. Doing so requires ‘…an important philosophical, policy, and practice shift’ (p. 5).
Results from this study exhibit the importance of CW workers providing humanistic, person-centred, compassionate service delivery. Professionals in this study positioned the relational aspects of their work as paramount. However, they also reported a sense of helplessness about the enormity of their work and identified barriers to compassionate care beyond their control. More research is needed to investigate strategies for reducing systemic barriers to humane care and increasing the capacity of the CW system and its workforce to prioritise and enact empathy, kindness, acceptance and compassion.
Consistent with previous studies exploring youth experience in FC (Ellem et al., 2020; Savage, 2020; Collings et al., 2021), participants in this study identified strong emotions. Further research is needed to examine policies and practices that can support the emotional expression and well-being of youth in FC and those working with them. As a more explicit disruption of neo-liberalism and managerialism is needed within CW systems, space to name, express and describe the range of emotions experienced within CW is warranted. Alongside participants writing about the grief, loss and pain youth experience, participants also described youth resilience and strength. Together, findings from Curry and Abram’s (2015) study and the current study demonstrate that youth in FC possess resilience, strength and capabilities that must be honoured and nurtured. Additional scholarship is needed to examine how CW systems can further contribute to youth resilience and strength rather than detracting from it.
Limitations
The findings from this study should be interpreted alongside several limitations. First, whilst purposive sampling was appropriate for the study design, we acknowledge that this sampling strategy limited the scope of the study to participants in one Midwestern state. Additional research is needed in other geographical locations and in different CW settings (e.g. public CW systems). Secondly, recruitment efforts sought to maximise the participation of youth with lived FC expertise. However, accessing youth proved to be challenging and resulted in fewer youth participants than desired. Future research should account for recruitment and access difficulties with this population. Further, all of the youth participants in this study were university students or connected to the youth advisory council that guided the design and development of the study. More research is needed to explore the perspectives of diverse youth, community members and CW adjacent professionals such as judges, doctors and teachers. Lastly, this study utilised poetic inquiry. Additional scholarship utilising a variety of arts-based methods is warranted.
Conclusion
Creative and arts-based methods offer opportunities to expand our understanding and centre youth expertise. Poems suggest areas of challenge and ideas for growth and inspiration. Future research should continue to incorporate the views of youth with FC experiences alongside parents and professionals. Sharing multiple perspectives simultaneously is an important step towards honouring youth and parents, and ensuring that their needs, dreams and resiliencies are considered. Additionally, this study suggests that CW systems should be restructured to emphasise relationship-building, maximise youth self-determination and spread practices that build resilience amongst youth and professionals. It also suggests that systems could be transformed to activate towards an accountable, family-centred, well-being system.
Funding
This study was part of the Kansas Strong for Children and Families project, which is funded by the Children’s Bureau, Administration on Children, Youth and Families, Administration for Children and Families, United States Department of Health and Human Services, under grant number 90-CO-1139. The contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the Children’s Bureau.
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank those who collaborated on this study. First, we express our gratitude to the community partners involved in this study, with special thanks for the Kansas Youth Advisory Council members who participated in designing this study. Secondly, we thank the youth and child welfare professionals who participated in this study for sharing their creativity, insights and visions for a transformed child welfare system.
Conflict of interest statement. None declared.
