Full Digest V8, I2

9 TPC Digest H igher education is oftentimes viewed as the gateway to financial stability and overall upward mobility and success. However, for individuals who are underrepresented within higher education institutions, the road to achieve access to postsecondary education is not one easily traveled. Within this number is a subpopulation of individuals that are often invisible when documenting postsecondary education access and success—youth in the foster care system. The multiple barriers that foster care youth face prove to be a detrimental hindrance to both their personal and educational growth. Little is known about the factors that are associated with foster care youth’s readiness to live independently after transitioning out of foster care, let alone about their readiness to engage in college during this “aging-out” period. Moreover, for those foster care youth who do gain admittance to higher education, little is known about their developmental needs during their high school-to-college transition, or ways in which the child welfare system, adults, and professionals can be of assistance to them. The experiences of these youth have been scarcely documented within the literature; thus, the youth have remained voiceless. Counselors can play a pivotal role in the educational success and the postsecondary access of youth aging out of foster care by enhancing their career and college readiness self-efficacy. In this regard, creating interventions that both keep the unique circumstances of the foster care youth experience in mind and enhance their career and college readiness self-efficacy may increase their ability to gain access to postsecondary education opportunities. This is especially important because there has been a lack of information regarding the career and college readiness of foster care youth presented in the counseling literature. Moreover, studies show that individual interventions can be useful in enhancing the educational development of foster care youth; however, there have been no studies that examined the effects of such interventions on individual participants. The purpose of the study was to examine the effects of customized individual counseling interventions on the career and college readiness self-efficacy of adolescents within foster care. A 10-week intervention program created by the counselor/investigator was entitled Students That Are Reaching Success (S.T.A.R.S.). The three female participants were adolescents who were in foster care custody. An N = 1/A-B-A single-subject experimental design was utilized. The customized individual career and college readiness counseling intervention was the independent variable, and four career and college readiness self-efficacy factors, derived from the Career and College Readiness Self-Efficacy Inventory, were the dependent variables. Data were recorded and positive trends occurred for each participant with varying outcomes across the four factors. Recommendations for counseling practice and future research regarding the career and college readiness of foster care youth are shared. Regina Gavin Williams, NCC, is the Director of Student Engagement and Diversity Coordinator at North Carolina State University. Stanley B. Baker, NCC, is a professor at North Carolina State University. ClarLynda R. Williams-DeVane is an associate professor at North Carolina Central University. Correspondence can be addressed to Regina Gavin Williams, 2310 Stinson Dr., CB 7801, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695-7801, rjgavin@ncsu.edu. Effects of Customized Counseling Interventions on Career and College Readiness Self-Efficacy of Three Female Foster Care Youth Regina Gavin Williams, Stanley B. Baker, ClarLynda R. Williams-DeVane

RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NDU5MTM1