Rationale for a New Direction in Foster Youth Substance Use Disorder Prevention

Of the 463,000 children residing in United States foster care, 29,000 annually exit the system because they have "aged out," are thus dropped from supportive services, and become responsible for their own housing, finances, and health needs. Given histories of maltreatment, housing instability, and parental substance use, youth preparing to exit care are at substantial risk of developing substance use disorders. Unfortunately, access to services is often limited, both before and after exit from care.

With the goal of developing a relevant substance use intervention for these youth, focus groups were conducted with foster care staff, administrators, and parents to assess the feasibility of potential approaches.

Participants identified several population-specific barriers to delivering adapted intervention models developed for normative populations. They expressed concerns about foster youth developing, then quickly ending, relationships with interventionists, as well as admitting to substance use, given foster care program sanctions for such behavior. Group members stressed the importance of tailoring interventions, using creative, motivational procedures.

Foster youth seem to encounter unique barriers to receiving adequate care. In light of these results, a novel, engaging approach to overcoming these barriers is also presented.