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Mentors for adolescents in foster care

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Abstract

Significant numbers of adolescents in foster placement plan to live independently following discharge. Mentoring is increasingly being used as a support service to assist older foster youths to make the transition to adult living. A survey of 29 child welfare programs indicate that a variety of mentoring models are in use. The main models are transitional Life Skills Mentors, Cultural-Empowerment Mentors, and Corporate-Business Mentors. Mentoring connects foster wards with a cross-section of community citizens who provide a bridge to higher education and employment, and serve as a resource for transitional problem-solving. Information is needed on the impacts of mentor-mentee matches and efforts to sustain mentor-mentee relationships.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Social Work, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1207 W. Oregon, 61801, Urbana, IL

    Edmund V. Mech Ph.D. (Professor),  Julie A. Pryde MSW (Adjunct Faculty at the school and senior research associate of the Adolescent Mentor Project) &  Joan R. Rycraft Ph.D. (Assistant Professor at the school and faculty research associate, Adolescent Mentor Project)

Authors
  1. Edmund V. Mech Ph.D.
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  2. Julie A. Pryde MSW
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  3. Joan R. Rycraft Ph.D.
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the Principal Investigator, Foster Youth Project and Adolescent Mentor Project.

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Mech, E.V., Pryde, J.A. & Rycraft, J.R. Mentors for adolescents in foster care. Child Adolesc Soc Work J 12, 317–328 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01875982

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