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Foster Care Liaisons in Higher Education: A Conceptual Framework for Supporting Post-secondary Success Among College Students with Experience in Foster Care

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Abstract

Students with experience in foster care (SEFC) are an often overlooked student subgroup within the first-generation student population in higher education. The lack of attention on SEFC as a marginalized group in need of specialized support and guidance in higher education is the impetus for this study. In order to address this gap, the Texas Education Code (TEC) Section 51.9356 mandated all 2-year and 4-year state institutions in Texas accepting the tuition and fee waiver to have at least one university representative act as a foster care liaison. However, no guidelines were provided for what this role should include. Based on a pragmatic, problem-driven content analysis of documents from other states with similar roles, this study provides a theoretical rational and conceptual framework for foster care liaisons in higher education, including liaison expectations, training, and evaluation. The study concludes by examining future directions for practice, policy, and scholarship related to training and evaluating foster care liaisons in order to better support SEFC in higher education, and examines the role that social work can play in this process.

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No funding, nor do the authors have any financial interests entwined in this research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Education Reach for Texans, Denton, TX, USA

    Sheila Bustillos

  2. School of Social Work, Texas State University, 601 University Dr., San Marcos, TX, 78666, USA

    Christine Lynn Norton

  3. Washington School of Psychiatry, 5028 Wisconsin Avenue, Suite 400, Washington, DC, 20016-4118, USA

    Elia Tamplin

Authors
  1. Sheila Bustillos
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  2. Christine Lynn Norton
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  3. Elia Tamplin
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Correspondence to Christine Lynn Norton.

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Bustillos, S., Norton, C.L. & Tamplin, E. Foster Care Liaisons in Higher Education: A Conceptual Framework for Supporting Post-secondary Success Among College Students with Experience in Foster Care. Child Adolesc Soc Work J 40, 177–191 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10560-022-00903-y

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