Psychology & Brain Sciences 391FT - S-Foster Care: Psych & Soc Per

The experience of foster care will be examined from psychological (developmental, clinical, multicultural) and societal (economic, cultural, historical, legal) perspectives. The seminar will first explore societal conditions that put children at risk for being removed from their families into care. The seminar will next examine the process through which children are placed in foster care, and the process through which adults become foster parents. Supplementing empirical research studies, first-person accounts (e.g., memoirs, videos) will be used to illustrate children and youth's experiences in the child welfare system. We will next examine what happens as children in care get older, including possibilities for reunification with their family, adoption, or aging out of the system without a permanent family. Outcomes for children who have exited the system in various ways will be examined to understand the cycle of child welfare and perpetuation of conditions that put next generations of children at risk. Although the seminar will focus primarily on experiences in the United States, comparison with child welfare systems in other countries will be used throughout the semester to highlight how different systems yield different outcomes. Successful programs and interventions will be studied, as will calls for reform in the child welfare system. As we consider perspectives on foster care, the guiding principle will be to serve the best interests of children, as informed by a strong research base and the narratives of those who have experienced care.

Open to Senior and Junior Psychology majors only. Pre Req: PSYCH 241