How the COVID-19 Pandemic Impacted Young Parents With Foster Care Experience

A new webi­nar from the Annie E. Casey Foun­da­tion exam­ines how the COVID-19 pan­dem­ic has affect­ed young par­ents with expe­ri­ence in fos­ter care. 

The webi­nar, Five Ways the COVID-19 Pan­dem­ic Affect­ed Young Par­ents With Fos­ter Care Expe­ri­ence, shares find­ings from a Foun­da­tion-fund­ed study involv­ing 26 young par­ents. It includes quotes and pho­tos from the par­ents as well as a pre­sen­ta­tion by researchers from the Uni­ver­si­ty of Mary­land and Mont­clair State University. 

The pan­elists, includ­ing a young father who served on the research team, explore five themes dur­ing the 90-minute ses­sion. These themes — culled from par­ent input — are: 

1. employ­ment dis­rup­tions and eco­nom­ic hardships;
2. edu­ca­tion­al challenges;
3. men­tal health challenges;
4. insuf­fi­cient resources and bar­ri­ers to receiv­ing ser­vices; and
5. sil­ver lin­ings, such as the oppor­tu­ni­ty to spend more time with chil­dren and build resilience.

Alli­son Holmes, a senior research asso­ciate with the Casey Foun­da­tion, mod­er­ates the ses­sion. Pan­elists included:

• Eliz­a­beth M. Apari­cio, assis­tant pro­fes­sor with the Uni­ver­si­ty of Maryland’s School of Pub­lic Health
• Svet­lana Shpiegel, asso­ciate pro­fes­sor with Mont­clair State University’s Depart­ment of Social Work and Child Advocacy 
• Alexan­der Sanchez, researcher and young father
• Tam­mi Flem­ing, senior asso­ciate with the Casey Foundation

Learn more about the research

• View the Storms & Blos­soms book of pho­tos tak­en by the young parents
• Watch a webi­nar and read a report to learn how young par­ents feel about COVID-19 vaccination
• Explore more resources via the ReSHAP­ING Net­work, a web­site devot­ed to this research
  

Learn more about young par­ents in fos­ter care

• Down­load a fact sheet about young peo­ple with fos­ter care expe­ri­ence and their eli­gi­bil­i­ty for pan­dem­ic relief

• Go to a tool kit for sys­tem lead­ers about expec­tant and par­ent­ing youth in fos­ter care

Review the slides from this webi­nar presentation