TPC Journal V8, Issue 2 - FULL ISSUE

159 Regina Gavin Williams, Stanley B. Baker, ClarLynda R. Williams-DeVane Effects of Customized Counseling Interventions on Career and College Readiness Self-Efficacy of Three Female Foster Care Youth Three female foster care youth, aged 15, 17, and 17, volunteered to participate in customized counseling interventions. A theory-based presentation framework was used to conduct an A-B-A single-case research design. A female licensed professional counselor collaborated with the participants in customizing interventions, delivering the intervention, and collecting the outcome data, with the three participants engaging in self-monitoring to provide outcome data. Four career and college readiness self-efficacy factor scores were used to determine the components of the customized interventions and to assess the participants’ progress. The factors were: (a) college knowledge, (b) positive personal characteristics, (c) academic competence, and (d) potential to set and achieve future goals. Positive trends occurred for each participant, although different factor-specific outcome data patterns occurred for each participant. Effect sizes ranged from small to large across the participants and factors, and the participants found value in their respective customized interventions. Keywords: foster care youth, customized counseling interventions, single-case research design, career readiness self-efficacy, college readiness self-efficacy Appropriate assistance is important for effective navigation of the demanding postsecondary education preparation process and is vital for attaining admittance into higher education (Pecora, Williams, et al., 2006). Youth who are academic low achievers from middle-to-low income families, underrepresented minorities, the disabled, and youth from families in which no one has previously attended college find it especially difficult to navigate access to higher education (College Board, 2006). Moreover, youth in the foster care system potentially face all of the listed access challenges. Foster care youth have been removed from their family units through decisions determined in the courts. Judges may decide to place youth in foster homes, in group homes, or with their relatives (i.e., kinship foster care; C. M. Kirk, Lewis, Nilsen, & Colvin, 2013). More long-term placement outcomes include adoption or aging out of foster care. According to statistics from the Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS; 2013), there were approximately 402,378 youth in foster care, and 47% of these youth resided in non-relative foster care homes. Additionally, foster placements spent 20 months on average in multiple placement settings (AFCARS, 2013). These circumstances create various multiple educational attainment barriers for foster care youth. According to C. M. Kirk et al. (2013), about 10% of former foster care youth were enrolled in college, and only 4% of these youth obtained a bachelor’s degree. Youth in foster care are more likely to drop out of high school, repeat a grade, or be suspended or expelled (Unrau, Font, & Rawls, 2012). Only one third of foster care youth who age out of the foster care system after their 18th birthday possess a driver’s license, own basic necessities for living, or have money upon leaving the foster system (Pecora, Kessler, et al., 2006). Furthermore, very little is known about the readiness of foster care youth to undertake a postsecondary education, the developmental necessities of these youth The Professional Counselor Volume 8, Issue 2, Pages 159-174 http://tpcjournal.nbcc.org © 2018 NBCC, Inc. and Affiliates doi:10.15241/rgw.8.2.159 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.