Preparing Adolescents For Life After Foster Care

In recent years, attention has been given in the foster family care literature to adolescents' readiness for living on their own following aging out of their foster care placement. This book offers ideas on ways to help adolescents master the tasks required to successfully prepare for independent living following discharge from foster care. It is practice-oriented and draws upon the experience of researchers, trainers, consultants, and families. The chapters in Part 1 examine the various dimensions of the problem including the concept of interdependence as the goal of services for this population. It also discusses recruiting foster parents, examining adolescent development, and the need for these young people to mourn their losses before they can move on. Part 2 considers meeting the challenges of preparing these adolescents for life after foster care from the perspective of policy and program. Emphasis is placed on the importance of involving biological parents as resources for adolescents and the resources that black foster parents offer to teenagers in their care. Part 3 focuses on practice methods and strategies in work with adolescents and their foster parents. Also discussed are the needs of minority teenagers; problems of maltreatment; discipline; and assessment tools that can measure the independent-living skills of adolescents. (Contains over 300 references.) (JDM)