THE INDEPENDENT LIFE SKILLS PREPARATION PROJECT: A MODEL FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF A SPECIALIZED FOSTER PARENT TRAINING PROGRAM.
Item
-
Title
-
THE INDEPENDENT LIFE SKILLS PREPARATION PROJECT: A MODEL FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF A SPECIALIZED FOSTER PARENT TRAINING PROGRAM.
-
Identifier
-
AAI8629679
-
identifier
-
8629679
-
Creator
-
CARTEN, ALMA JACKSON.
-
Contributor
-
Simon Slavin
-
Date
-
1986
-
Language
-
English
-
Publisher
-
City University of New York.
-
Subject
-
Social Work
-
Abstract
-
Research on the community adjustment of youth who have been discharged from the foster care system suggests that many of them are entering into a growing population of homeless young adults. These findings emphasize their lack of preparedness for independent living and highlights the need to organize foster care services with a continuing array of programs.;The Independent Life Skills Preparation Project was developed as a demonstration foster parent training program to address the gap in services to this client group. A model is presented for the use of planned group interventions that are organized as independent life skills preparation programs and offered as pre-discharge services to foster adolescents. The curriculum supports those skills that reduce placement disruption and assists the adult caretaker to teach the adolescent the skills that will be needed in independence. The conceptual framework of the project was based on the premise that the family performs the function of preparing children for independence. Three assumptions of the project design acknowledged the ethnicity of the families making use of services, the strengths of the black foster family system and the need to organize foster care services in a continuum of care. The innovative aspect of ILSPP was in its conceptualization of the placement model and the role of the foster parent.;Twenty foster parents and adolescents participated in two training programs that differed in instructional format and group composition. The Behavior Management program was attended only by the foster parents and a didactic instructional format was emphasized. The Communication Interaction Program was attended by both foster parents and adolescents with emphasis on a process format. A comparative research design was used to assess the relative effectiveness of the two training strategies and their relationship to placement stability and fostering skill. The evaluation of the program did not reveal a difference in the mean scores of the foster parents, however, there were observed differences in the effects of the training. These differences and the implication that the variables of group composition and instructional format have for the design of independent living programs are discussed.
-
Type
-
dissertation
-
Source
-
PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
-
degree
-
D.S.W.
-
Program
-
Social Welfare
