Practices of Foster Caregivers and the Developmental Outcomes of Youth in Foster Care: A Multi-Method Investigation - Project Summary Youth in foster care have unique experiences and significantly higher trauma load which greatly increase their risk for a range of negative social, behavioral, academic, physical and mental health outcomes. However, despite documentation of many negative outcomes associated with child welfare involvement, there remains heterogeneity in outcomes from foster placement. Most research concludes that foster care is not a cause of worsened outcomes, and that supportive and stable foster care environments have the potential to improve child wellbeing in the short and long term. Given this, more research is warranted to understand the risk and protective factors present for foster youth which may be modified through the foster care environment and caregiving. Understanding what differs from child and caregiver perspective, between those who experience better and worse outcomes, is critical for understanding how to increase likelihood of positive development following foster care placement. The overarching goals of this K08 proposal are threefold. First, the study aims to use existing large-scale longitudinal data collected on youth in the child welfare system to explore critical risk and resilience factors for youth in foster care and whether these are moderated by transracial placement. Second, this study aims to document the parenting practices used by foster parents, their thoughts on the trainings they receive, and their perception of the impact this has on their foster child's functioning. Third, this study will interview key stakeholders (e.g. child welfare workers and foster parents) to assess the current barriers and facilitators of current foster parent trainings, as well as their perception of topics covered and gaps in training, in order to inform future intervention adaptation or development. To achieve these aims, the candidate and multidisciplinary mentorship team have developed a comprehensive training plan that delineates a series of training and research goals. These goals will incorporate training in quantitative and qualitative research methods, as well as intervention development and evaluation. The training and resultant findings will capitalize on existing expertise and provide additional, focused training to allow for the development of a multimodal research program that will position the PI to lead future federally funded multidisciplinary studies with translational implications for populations of youth who experience trauma and/or parental separation. The proposed research represents an important contribution towards advancing our understanding of the risk and protective factors present for youth in foster care, and how to support foster parents through parenting intervention in order to improve adjustment outcomes for foster youth. The institutional environment is ideal for the candidate's goal of developing an independent research line that ultimately aims to improve the psychosocial outcomes for youth who experience parental separation.
