We don't exactly get the welcome wagon: The experience of gay and lesbian adolescents in New York City's child welfare system.
Item
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Title
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We don't exactly get the welcome wagon: The experience of gay and lesbian adolescents in New York City's child welfare system.
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Identifier
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AAI9432358
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identifier
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9432358
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Creator
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Mallon, Gerald Patrick.
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Contributor
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Adviser: Irwin Epstein
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Date
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1994
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Social Work | Sociology, Public and Social Welfare | Sociology, Individual and Family Studies
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Abstract
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This dissertation is an exploratory study of the experience of gay and lesbian adolescents in New York City's child welfare system. It is an effort to uncover clues about how both professionals and the young people themselves perceive the experience. This study provides the young people, who are most affected, with an opportunity to tell their story in their own words and is the first attempt to comprehensively examine and investigate the meaning and experiences of self-identified gay and lesbian adolescents in out-of-home care child welfare settings.;Using a grounded theory approach, with semi-structured interviews, the investigator examines this experience from the point of view of self-identified gay and lesbian young people currently in placement and the professionals who care for them. Twenty-seven adolescents, and seventy-eight child welfare professionals were formally interviewed. The data for this study were collected from January to June 1993.;Several themes emerged from the analysis of the data. The findings were organized in three major areas: The professional and agency response to gay and lesbian youth; the response of young people to the experience and issues of safety for young gay and lesbian people in care. Direct quotations from the in-depth interviews, which constitute the text of this study, are intentionally presented with little interpretation since it is the investigator's intention that they speak for themselves. It is hoped that such an approach will trigger discussion among those practitioners who are most concerned about children in New York City's child welfare system.;The findings strongly suggest that the presence of verbal harassment and physical violence caused many young people to perceive that group homes and foster homes were unsafe places for a gay or lesbian adolescent. Additionally, such findings indicate the need to consider and support specialized child welfare services for gay and lesbian adolescents, as well as intensive and on-going training and technical assistance for all levels of child welfare practitioners.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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D.S.W.
