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In an effort to learn about the day-to-day lives and experiences of foster youth, Washington State has begun a comprehensive phone survey of the youth themselves. The survey is believed to be the first of its kind in terms of the number of youth interviewed and the depth of the questioning. The state just completed a phone survey of 1,200 foster parents and other caregivers last fall. Both surveys are designed to gauge improvements to the system mandated by the Settlement Agreement in Braam v. Washington.
About 800 youth aged 15-18 will be surveyed by phone on a range of topics, including their placement; school experience; health and mental health care; relationships, including with their foster parents or other caregivers, siblings, and social worker; and their plans and preparedness to live on their own after they age out of the foster care system at age 18.
The survey is being conducted by Washington State University’s Social and Economic Sciences Research Center, and survey results are designed to help the work of the Children’s Administration in improving the system, and the Braam Oversight Panel in monitoring the Braam settlement process. The results will also be made available to the public.
Participation is voluntary, and youth have the option of declining to be surveyed when they are contacted. However, to encourage participation, respondents’ names will be entered in a drawing for a chance to win one of 18 cash gifts of $100 each (three per region) after completing the survey.
All personally identifying information will be kept confidential and will not be shared with the Braam Panel or Children’s Administration. All survey answers will be combined with those of other survey participants so that individual answers cannot be identified in the results.
Results will be posted this summer at: http://www.dshs.wa.gov/ca.
Questions should be directed to the Braam youth survey coordinator at SESRC: 1-800-833-0867 or sesrcweb6(at)wsu.edu
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