Locating “youth voice:” Considering the contexts of speaking in foster care

Within social services, an increasingly significant movement supports giving “voice” to children and youth, enabling them to express their views and to have those views taken into account in matters that affect them. In this article, the author draws from narratives of young people who grew up in foster care, examining stories of their efforts to impact the course of their own lives. The article explores the ways that very specific contexts and relationships of power shaped the utterances of young people in the foster care system and distorted, muted, or amplified their abilities to express their need and interests. This is a beginning attempt to identify ways that contexts of speaking in foster care can be understood and altered in order to strengthen the capacity of young people to voice their concerns and aspirations.

[1]  C. Riessman,et al.  Narrative in Social Work A Critical Review , 2005 .

[2]  L. Mazzei.  An impossibly full voice , 2008 .

[3]  E. Kalyva,et al.  “I want my experiences to make a difference” promoting participation in policy-making and service development by young people who have experienced violence , 2012 .

[4]  A. Honneth,et al.  Redistribution or Recognition?: A Political-Philosophical Exchange , 2003 .

[5]  Gerald P. Mallon.  Entering into a Collaborative Search for Meaning with Gay and Lesbian Youth in Out-of-Home Care: An Empowerment-Based Model for Training Child Welfare Professionals , 1997 .

[6]  Beth Cross.  Hearing Out Children’s Narrative Pathways To Adulthood , 2009 .

[7]  Jennifer Tilton.  Rethinking youth voice and institutional power: Reflections from inside a service learning partnership in a California juvenile hall , 2013 .

[8]  Barry Checkoway,et al.  What is youth participation , 2011 .

[9]  P. Christensen,et al.  Working with Ethical Symmetry in Social Research with Children , 2002 .

[10]  T. Mccormack,et al.  The Struggle for Recognition. The Moral Grammar of Social Conflicts , 1997 .

[11]  Joby Gardner.  Democracy’s Orphans: Rights, Responsibility, and the Role of the State in the Lives of Incarcerated Youth , 2010 .

[12]  J. Riebschleger,et al.  Maximizing educational opportunities for youth aging out of foster care by engaging youth voices in a partnership for social change , 2012 .

[13]  J. Finn,et al.  Childhood, youth, and social work in transformation : implications for policy and practice , 2009 .

[14]  A. Honneth.  Disrespect: The Normative Foundations of Critical Theory , 2007 .

[15]  Alfred G. Pérez,et al.  Helping former foster youth graduate from college through campus support programs , 2010 .

[16]  Justeen Hyde,et al.  Adolescents' perspectives on placement moves and congregate settings: Complex and cumulative instabilities in out-of-home care , 2009 .

[17]  T. Keller,et al.  Executive Summary: Midwest Evaluation of the Adult Functioning of Former Foster Youth: outcomes at Age 21 , 2007 .

[18]  L. Aptekar,et al.  Conflict in the Neighborhood , 1997 .

[19]  Spyros Spyrou.  The limits of children’s voices: From authenticity to critical, reflexive representation , 2011 .

[20]  G. Montgomery,et al.  The many layers of social support: capturing the voices of young people with spina bifida and their parents. , 2009, Health & social work.

[21]  A. James,et al.  A new paradigm for the sociology of childhood? : Provenance, promise and problems , 2015 .

[22]  Jessica Strolin-Goltzman,et al.  Listening to the voices of children in foster care: youths speak out about child welfare workforce turnover and selection. , 2010, Social work.

[23]  Nigel Thomas,et al.  A Handbook of Children and Young People’s Participation , 2011 .

[24]  A. James,et al.  Constructing Childhood: Theory, Policy and Social Practice , 2004 .

[25]  Sharon Stephens.  Children and the Politics of Culture , 1995 .

[26]  Erica Burman,et al.  Deconstructing Developmental Psychology , 2011 .

[27]  Allison James,et al.  Giving Voice to Children's Voices: Practices and Problems, Pitfalls and Potentials , 2007 .

[28]  JoAnn S. Lee,et al.  Midwest Evaluation of the Adult Functioning of Former Foster Youth: Outcomes at Ages 23 and 24 Executive Summary , 2007 .

[29]  Thomas Nigel.  Conclusion: autonomy, dialogue and recognition , 2009 .

[30]  Sirkka Komulainen,et al.  The Ambiguity of the Child's ‘Voice’ in Social Research , 2007 .

[31]  F. Martin.  TALES OF TRANSITION: SELF-NARRATIVE AND DIRECT SCRIBING IN EXPLORING CARE- LEAVING , 1998 .