dc.contributor.author	Porter, Jennifer L.
dc.coverage.spatial	United States	en_US
dc.coverage.temporal	c. 2019-2021	en_US
dc.date.accessioned	2022-01-11T16:27:09Z
dc.date.available	2022-01-11T16:27:09Z
dc.date.issued	2021-10
dc.identifier.other	9DCB393C-02E5-E3AD-4A28-BC662AFFD182	en_US
dc.identifier.uri	https://hdl.handle.net/10428/5187
dc.description.abstract	Education is associated with many individual life advantages; yet disparities in educational outcomes exist for some vulnerable populations. Foster youths are young adults generally age 18-25 who were formerly wards of their state due to legal intervention resulting from parental abuse or neglect. The success of these young adults affects the well-being of society, inviting interest from policymakers and child welfare practitioners. The Independent Living Program (ILP) was introduced nationally by the federal government and is administered by states. This program assists foster youths in their transition to adulthood through various supports and services. The present study explored the effects of ILP services on the educational enrollment of foster youths beyond the legal emancipation age of 18. Logistic regression was utilized to examine relationships between the receipt of ILP services and enrollment in high school, General Education Development (GED) classes, postsecondary vocational training, or college courses while controlling for common life outcome barriers. Ethnicity and gender were also examined. The study results revealed statistically significant relationships between certain ILP services and enrollment. Results also showed youths who remained in foster care had greater odds of being enrolled. Further results indicated a statistically significant relationship between Black and Hispanic youths and enrollment in each analysis compared to White youths. Female foster youths were also found to be more likely than male foster youths to be enrolled with ILP services. Factors that decreased the odds of enrollment included past incarceration and having children.	en_US
dc.description.tableofcontents	Abstract I -- List Of Tables V -- Acknowledgements Vi -- Dedication Vii -- Chapter I Introduction 1 -- Study Overview 1 -- The Emerging Adult 5 -- Theoretical Framework 6 -- Scope of the Problem 6 -- Significance of Postsecondary Education 6 -- Enrollment of Foster Youths during Emerging Adulthood 7 -- Lower Achievement of Foster Youths 8 -- Purpose of the Study 9 -- Study Significance 10 -- Summary 11 -- Chapter II LITERATURE REVIEW 14 -- Theoretical Framework Overview 14 -- Adolescent Brain Development and the Emerging Adult 16 -- The Foster Care System 20 -- Negative Outcomes Associated with the Foster Care System 22 -- Low Educational Achievement and Educational Unpreparedness 24 -- Mental Health 26 -- Homelessness and Housing Instability 29 -- Poverty and Unemployment 30 -- Criminal Justice System Involvement 31 -- Pregnancy and Early Parenting 31 -- Connections and Social Support 32 -- Ethnicity and Gender 34 -- The Independent Living Program 36 -- Historical Overview of the Independent Living Program 37 -- Program Administration among States 39 -- Life Skills Training 44 -- Employment Services 44 -- Financial Support 46 -- Study Hypotheses 48 -- Summary 49 -- Chapter III METHODOLOGY 51 -- Research Objectives 51 -- Operationalization of Terms 53 -- Dependent Variable 54 -- Independent Variables 54 -- Control Variables 55 -- Data Collection 58 -- Data Preparation 59 -- Analytic Procedures 60 -- Multivariate Analysis 60 -- Chapter IV RESULTS 62 -- Descriptive Statistics 63 -- Foster Youth Population Description 63 -- Logistic Regression Analysis 68 -- Research Question 1 69 -- Research Question 2 74 -- Research Question 3 79 -- Summary 87 -- Chapter V CONCLUSION 92 -- Introduction 92 -- Interpretation of Findings 94 -- Research Question 1 94 -- Research Question 2 95 -- Research Question 3 96 -- Life Outcome Variables 100 -- Demographic Traits 102 -- Limitations 104 -- Future Research 105 -- Policy and Practice Implications 107 -- Conclusion 111 -- REFERENCES 113	en_US
dc.format.extent	1 electronic document and derivatives, 135 pages. 870892 bytes.	en_US
dc.format.mimetype	application/pdf	en_US
dc.language.iso	en_US	en_US
dc.rights	This dissertation is protected by the Copyright Laws of the United States (Public Law 94-553, revised in 1976). Consistent with fair use as defined in the Copyright Laws, brief quotations from this material are allowed with proper acknowledgement. Use of the materials for financial gain with the author's expressed written permissions is not allowed.	en_US
dc.subject	Child welfare	en_US
dc.subject	Dissertations, Academic--United States	en_US
dc.subject	Foster children	en_US
dc.subject	Foster home care	en_US
dc.subject	Independent Living Program	en_US
dc.subject	Public Administration	en_US
dc.subject	School enrollment	en_US
dc.title	Effect of Independent Living Program Services on Enrollment of Foster Youth	en_US
dc.type	Dissertation	en_US
dc.contributor.department	Department of Political Science of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences	en_US
dc.description.advisor	Banerjee, Neena
dc.description.committee	Peterson, Bonnie
dc.description.committee	Lowney, Kathleen S.
dc.description.degree	D.P.A.	en_US
dc.description.major	Public Administration	en_US