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This study reports preliminary permanency findings of the Fostering Healthy Futures for Teens program, a 30-week mentoring intervention for maltreated teenagers with open child welfare cases. Participants included 245 8th and 9th graders who were randomized to intervention or control conditions. The program evidenced high rates of engagement and satisfaction. There were few statistically significant differences between intervention/ control groups on baseline risk factors, yet, after controlling for covariates, intervention youth had 7 times the odds of attaining permanency at long-term follow-up.
Adolescents' experiences of substantial and traumatic adversity (e.g., abuse and neglect, exposure to violence, disruptions in school and living situations) is linked to their diminished physical and mental health, academic underachievement, substance use, homelessness, and incarceration (Felitti et al., 1998; Weiler, Garrido, & Taussig, 2016). Despite all odds, however, some youth avoid this negative trajectory (Hass & Graydon, 2008; Simmel, 2007). While perspectives differ as to why and how some youth exhibit resilience (i.e., the maintenance of positive adaptation despite experiences of significant adversity; Luthar, Cicchetti, & Becker, 2000), central to most empirical and theoretical frameworks is the presence of competent, caring adults in the lives of children. Youth-centered relationships characterized by trust, consistency, and respect can result in positive youth development, which has been shown to buffer the impact of adversity on children's life trajectories (Raposa, Rhodes, & Herrera, 2016).
Child welfare policy has directed resources to the primary aims of the child welfare system: creating safety, permanency, and well-being for children and families. The 1999 John H. Chafee Foster Care Independence Act ("Chafee"), which focused on adolescents transitioning from foster care to independent living, provided funding for programming to improve teens' education, employment, financial health, housing, emotional support, and connections with caring adults. A recent report summarized the knowledge base related to Chafee and asserted a "next-generation Chafee evaluation agenda" (Courtney et al., 2017). In this agenda, authors highlight the need for rigorously testing programs that consider the impact of trauma and use a positive youth development lens, focus on building resiliency, and emphasize supportive relationships between adolescents and caring adults. Such programs show promise in improving social skills (Roth & Brooks-Gunn, 2003), but their effect on long-term concrete outcomes such as stability and self-sufficiency for youth in the child...