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Youth in foster care experience significant barriers as it relates to their physical, mental and emotional well-being. The impact of these barriers has been proven to hurt their ability to achieve adult self-sufficiency.
As communities across the nation experience crises related to a global pandemic, racial injustice and economic inequality, people working to facilitate the needs of foster care youth must recognize that these youths need more than their basic needs met during difficult times.
If adults working with or caring for foster youth understand what these varying levels of needs are, they can continue to help them toward the path of adult self-sufficiency upon exiting the foster care system. Keeping these needs in context is especially pertinent when youth in foster care are exposed to situations related to crisis and trauma. Utilizing Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs can help adults understand the psychological and self-fulfillment needs of foster care youth beyond their basic, physiological needs.
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs consists of a five-tier model depicting human needs in a hierarchical pyramid. With a focus on the development of healthy individuals, Maslow believed that people want to reach self-actualization, but a various number of basic and psychological needs must be met first.
Beginning at the bottom of the pyramid, these needs are: physiological (e.g. food, water, rest, clothing, air, etc.); safety (e.g. security, safety, health, employment); love and belonging (e.g. friendship, family, intimate relationships, sense of connection); esteem (e.g. self-esteem, respect, recognition, status, freedom, strength), and self-actualization (e.g. achieving one’s full potential).
Physiological and safety needs: It should be a common understanding that foster youth should be provided with an abundance of resources related to food and water, a safe living environment and a calm place to rest at night. For instance, extending support to youth turning 18 and aging out of the foster care system during the pandemic was an essential move for New Mexico’s Children, Youth & Families Department, allowing these youth to have continued financial and housing support.
Moreover, the health and well-being of youth in foster care is important to maintain during a crisis. In this regard, it is important for adults caring for and working with foster youth to look for signs of stress such as mood changes, behavior issues, frequently crying, sleep issues or changes in appetite.
Providing a stable and predictable home environment, one where youth in foster care feel they are protected and a routine is established, may help reduce the level of stress or anxiety they may be experiencing during a crisis. For instance, providing a physically and emotionally safe home environment for foster youth is vital as there has been an increase in severe cases of child abuse since the coronavirus pandemic occurred.
It is also important for adults supporting foster youth to express the normalcy of being anxious during times of uncertainty, while also remaining optimistic about the future during these instances. Additionally, it is imperative to give youth some quiet time to themselves and ensure that their privacy is protected.
Regina Gavin Williams
Love, belonging and esteem: The foster care system must preserve youths’ sense of belongingness, particularly during times of crisis. This includes helping to ensure foster youth have constant and positive interactions with the people around them, plus knowing that stable bonds are being made, one where mutual concern for each other is evident for the long term.
Ensuring stable bonds can be difficult to maintain, particularly for youth in long-term foster care. Thus, it is important for child welfare systems to attempt fewer moves for foster youth, to focus on a faster path to permanency such as family reunification or kinship placement, utilize trauma-informed interventions, try to keep siblings together and keep them living close to their neighborhoods and friends as much as possible.
The ability of foster families to demonstrate openness, such as inviting foster youth into their family’s daily activities and adjusting to the foster youth’s routines, are all essential components of foster their sense of belonging. Elements of a supportive foster home where youth can thrive include foster caregivers providing guidance/support in helping youth prepare for the future (e.g. directing youth to positive resources), taking a genuine interest in their lives (i.e. establishing a genuine connection or relationship with youth) and providing a sense of normalcy/structure (i.e. establishing a routine as expressed through safety needs). Establishing these elements in the forefront can help provide a stable home base for foster youth if or when a crisis arises.
Build their self-esteem, potential
Foster caregivers must also, if possible, demonstrate openness to the youth’s birth parents, such as discussing notable upbringing matters, conferring on daily interactions such as parental visitations and including birth parents in important milestone events in the youth’s life. If a crisis such as the pandemic is hindering youth from in-person visits, foster caregivers should check with their child welfare agencies for safe, approved options such as video sessions.
One must note that the latter option can come with a sense of further separation and equity issues that must be addressed appropriately and effectively by child welfare systems. These situations must be handled with care as it relates to the emotional well-being of the youth. The child welfare agency in New Mexico has found a way to continue in-person contact by recommending parent visitations at public parks that do not have any playground equipment to ensure social distancing.
Helping youth in foster care build their confidence and self-esteem can help them face challenges that may occur in their lives. This may include praising youth for their efforts, maintaining an optimistic attitude amid adversity, creating opportunities that will allow them to make positive and informed decisions and giving them opportunities to engage in volunteer service work. Research even shows altruistic volunteering may have a significant impact on the lifespan.
Self-actualization: For youth in foster care to reach their full potential, especially during challenging times, it is important for the adults in their lives to help them continuously work toward achieving adult self-sufficiency. This may include helping to improve their educational outcomes, introducing independent living, education and training services and helping them navigate access to mental health counseling services. Moreover, simply maintaining consistent and supportive adults in the lives of foster youth, particularly when challenges may arise, can serve as a critical component in helping them reach their full potential.
By recognizing that foster youth need more than their basic, physiological needs met, especially during times of crisis, supportive adults can help keep them on the path toward adult sufficiency, while providing love, a sense of belonging, and boosting their confidence and esteem along the way.
Regina Gavin Williams, Ph.D., NCC, LCMHC, is a clinical assistant professor of counselor education and program coordinator of higher education administration at North Carolina Central University. Her research focuses on the career and college readiness and adult self-sufficiency of adolescents aging out of the foster care system.
