Posts

A calm port in the storm: Mentors serve as reliable support for youth in the foster care system

Greeson, J.K., Thompson, A.E., Ali, S., & Wenger, R.S. (2015). It’s good to know that you got somebody that’s not going anywhere: Attitudes and beliefs of older youth in foster care about child welfare-based natural mentoring. Children and Youth Services Review, 48, 140-149. doi:10.1016/j.childyouth.2014.12.015 Summarized by Benjamin Alford   Introduction: Research shows that older youth […]

New study explores the mentoring in youth transitioning out of foster care

Munson, M.R., Brown, S., Spencer, R., Edguer, M., & Tracy, E. (2015). Supportive relationships among former system youth with mental health challenges. Journal of Adolescent Research, 30(4), 501-529. Background “Former system youth,” or young adults transitioning out of foster care, mental health, child welfare, and juvenile systems, experience poorer documented outcomes in domains of education, […]

Making a Difference With Youth Mentors

By NANCY H. TILGHMAN Published: April 18, 2004 in the New York Times TAQUIOYA CAUSEY is 16 years old and has lived in at least 12 foster homes. She said that she couldn’t remember her father’s voice, and that her mother, a substance abuser, abandoned Taquioya and her older brother Kevin in Westbury six years […]

Mentor Foster Parents Featured in Herald News

PHOTO/ HERALD NEWS PHOTO | JACK FOLEY Nanci Fiddes gets kissed by her her adopted children, Davien, 5, and Kryssa, 6. Published in the Herald News  (author unidentified) FALL RIVER — On a typical day, Nanci Fiddes is up at 5 a.m. making breakfast for her three kids so she can get them dressed in their […]

Study shows mentors can reduce trauma symptoms in foster care youths

Johnson, S. B., & Pryce, J. M. (2013). Therapeutic of mentoring: Reducing the impact of trauma for foster care youth. Child Welfare, 92(3), 9-25.  Summarized by Elyssa Weber, UMass Boston Clinical doctoral student Introduction: It is estimated that fifty to seventy-five percent of children coming into the foster care system have serious emotional or behavioral […]

Webinar on Mentoring Youth Transitioning Out of Foster Care

Thursday, July 17, 20141:00 PM – 2:15 PM EDT Register today! Youth aging out of foster care tend to experience homelessness, unemployment, incarceration, and early parenting at a higher rate than the average young adult of the same age. A caring mentor in the life of a foster care youth can assist with career exploration, […]

Children in the foster-care system: New research on the caregiving-self-regulation link

Dozier, M., Zeanah, C., & Bernard, K. (2013). Infants and toddlers in foster care. Child Development Perspectives, 7(3), 166-171. summarized by UMB clinical psychology doctoral student Laura Yoviene Introduction: It is unfortunately an all too common experience that infants and young children in the child welfare system have experienced some form of maltreatment and disruptive […]

The Short Course@UMB: Mentoring Youth in the Foster Care System

The MENTOR/UMass Boston Center for Evidence-Based Mentoring is thrilled with the success of its first Short Course @ UMass Boston. The goal of this intensive 1.5 day course was to provide practitioners with a series of expert lectures and group discussions aimed at deepening their capacity to train and supervise volunteer mentors working with youth […]