Shaping Identity: Racial and Ethnic Development for Young People in Foster Care
A new brief from Child Trends explores how time in foster care can influence young people’s racial and ethnic identities. Foster Care and the Development of Racial and Ethnic Identity recommends how best to support the critical process of identity development for youth who may feel disconnected from their roots. Funded by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the brief features interviews with young people who have experienced the child welfare system and highlights their need for information, resources and ongoing conversations as they embrace or shift their identities.
The brief builds on a 2022 study from Child Trends that found forging a racial and ethnic identity is a normal part of adolescent development and may include many shifts as young people explore their histories. However, denied or delayed knowledge of family history, placements in transracial or transethnic foster homes and decreased access to individuals who share their racial or ethnic identity can all complicate how young people in foster care develop racial and ethnic identities. These factors make it more likely for these youth to move away from an identity, compared to peers outside the system, the study found.
In its analysis, the team behind Foster Care and the Development of Racial and Ethnic Identity noted young people expressed a wide spectrum of attitudes after shifting their racial or ethnic identities. Drawing on interviews with 29 young people who have experience in foster care, the brief details the inconsistent experiences in the child welfare system that influenced the development of their racial and ethnic identities. Some youth described foster parents who helped them learn more about their cultures, gain self-confidence and connect with culturally appropriate services. Others mentioned caseworkers or foster parents who contributed to feelings of disconnection or ostracization.
A 34-year-old interviewee who now identifies as Asian and is still processing her identity, explained:
“I am still learning about the importance of my heritage and different ways to connect. I try not to feel like I’m alienated from all these groups because on the exterior, I look Asian, but on the interior, I was raised, you know, in a Caucasian community [by foster parents who told me I was Caucasian].”
Additional findings include:
- Of the influences that most affected why they changed their identities, 79% pointed to adults in the child welfare system. Respondents could choose more than one answer to this question, and family members (45%), adults and peers at school (45%) and employment practices (21%) rounded out the top four.
- Reasons for changes included responding to social biases, learning new information about a family of origin and experiencing a stronger sense of identity with a particular racial and ethnic group.
- Two-thirds of respondents reported a more positive view of their identity after making a change, although they were about evenly split on whether the change led to a more positive or negative view of the world.
A 26-year-old interviewee who selectively identifies as Black depending on the situation or context, described the process of developing her racial and ethnic identity:
“It was hard to go through, and I never really, like, stopped … or looked at it until, like, right now. It made me, like, bitter to some people or some situations, because … I just feel like I was never accepted, or I felt like I needed to be [a white person] to be accepted. Even with me being in our foster home and my foster mom being white, I felt so out of place.”
The brief urges child welfare systems and related organizations to leverage these findings to ensure that adults working with young people are culturally competent. It is vital that they are ready to help youth develop clearer understandings of themselves and actively connect them with people and resources that can support their journeys. Encouraging young people to develop their identities, accurately capturing those identities — even as they evolve — and learning from their experiences can create a more just child welfare system.
