TAKE-HOME MESSAGE…

This article addresses the potential challenges of mentoring youth who are transitioning out of foster care. Given the vulnerability of this population, the authors warn that the traditional conditions of an effective mentoring relationship may be significantly harder to meet.

The authors discuss and outline the conditions of effective mentoring, addressing them in four areas:

1.   Duration of the mentoring relationship

2.   Consistency of mentor-mentee contact

3.   Emotional connection between mentor and mentee

4.   Program support

If properly met, these conditions can be beneficial to a foster care youth. However, the authors state that these things must serve as a supplement to, not substitute for, social networks and concrete assistance (e.g., safe housing, employment, etc.).

If your program plans to form matches with foster care youth, it is important clarify the program’s goals, philosophies, expectations and policies early on. Furthermore, it is important to have a thorough screening process of mentors that includes a discussion of potential challenges that may be found in mentoring a youth from these circumstances. As the authors suggest, foster care youth may be disinclined to form a close bond with mentors due to trust issues. Therefore, it is essential that potential mentors are made aware of this, so that they can decide if such a mentoring relationship is right for them.  

THE DETAILS…

What was the purpose of this study? 
To examine the literature on youth mentoring programs and assess how they may or may not attend to the psychosocial needs of foster care youth.   

What did the researchers do?
Researched the effectiveness of youth mentoring programs, paying particular attention to four conditions: duration, consistency, emotional connection and program support.

Developed an ecological model to explain how these four conditions may be hard to achieve with foster care youth (particularly youth who are transitioning out of foster care). The model addresses three areas:

1.   The interpersonal relationship between the mentor and mentee

2.   The administration of mentoring programs

3.   The policies concerning mentoring initiatives for youth in child welfare systems

What did the researchers find?
While mentoring relationships can lead to positive outcomes in youth, it is more challenging for youth who are transitioning out of the foster care system. The aforementioned conditions (duration, consistency, emotional connection, and program support) must be upheld with the utmost diligence in order to create a positive effect on foster care youth. Furthermore, the mentoring relationship should serve as a supplement to social work efforts and concrete assistance (safe housing, employment, etc.). It should NOT serve as a substitute.  

Source: Spencer, R., Collins, M., Ward, R., & Smashnaya, S. (2010). Mentoring for young people leaving foster care: Promise and potential pitfalls. Social Work, 55, 225-234.