Publication Date

2024

Document Type

Article

Abstract

Objective: Many child welfare scholars, practitioners, and funders are calling for greater inclusion of “lived experience” data and stakeholder voices in foster care research. Yet to date there have been no comprehensive summaries of studies that analyze data collected directly from older youth and adults with lived experience in out-of-home care. To address this knowledge gap, this scoping review maps the extent, nature, and sample characteristics of studies that analyzed data provided by persons age 14 and older with lived foster care experience. Method: We conducted a systematic search of 11 scholarly databases to locate studies (published from1999–2021) that analyzed interview, focus group, survey, or other qualitative data provided by persons (age 14+) with history of out-of-home placement in the United States. Results: Database searches yielded a total of 5785 records, 614 full-text items were screened for eligibility, and 513studies met inclusion criteria. In the average study sample, females comprised a majority of participants, and a plurality of participants identified themselves as Black or African American. Among studies that reported participants’ states of residence, Western and Midwestern states were overrepresented and Southeastern states were underrepresented. Findings also include an analysis of the instruments used to collect data from lived experts. Conclusions: Results suggest a need for additional research involving participants in Southern states and states with large foster care populations, and on understudied topics (e.g., psychotropic medications, technology, religion and spirituality). Overall, findings indicate that qualitative methodologies and diverse stakeholder groups are better represented in foster care research than may be commonly believed/

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

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