UC Santa Barbara

Foster youth face increased risk of mental health disorders related to traumatic experiences that prompted out-of-home placement as well as experiences in foster care itself. Additionally, there is a documented issue of racial disproportionality such that Black, Indigenous, and children of color are overrepresented in foster care, and disparities in outcomes are prevalent. Despite the public health implications and research demonstrating an increased need for cultural humility and trauma-informed parenting approaches, there is an evident gap in research on foster parent attitudes and behaviors in these domains, particularly from a foster youth perspective. This study examined the relationship between former foster youth’s perceptions of their foster parents’ cultural humility, trauma-informed parenting, and their current resilience. This study used an explanatory sequential mixed-methods design with former California foster youth (n = 137), aged 18-25. Hierarchical regression analysis including trauma-informed parenting, culturally humble attitudes, and culturally humble behaviors resulted in a significantly improved model for predicting adult resilience, above and beyond control variables, ΔR2 to .161, F(3, 89) = 8.395, p < .001, raising the explained variance from R2 = .292 to R2 = .452. A subset (n = 14) of former foster youth participated in semi-structured interviews through which ten themes were highlighted related to their experiences in the system and with their foster parents, the perceptions of their own current resilience, and recommendations for system improvements. Important implications are discussed for enhancing foster youth support and foster parent preparedness, driven by the lived experiences of those who have been affected by the current system.