Graduation Year
2022
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree
Ph.D.
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
Degree Granting Department
Child and Family Studies
Major Professor
Oliver Massey, Ph.D.
Committee Member
Bruce Levin, Dr.PH., M.P.H.
Committee Member
Kyaien Conner, Ph.D., L.S.W., M.P.H.
Committee Member
Dinorah Martinez-Tyson, Ph.D., M.P.H., M.A.
Keywords
child welfare, community-based research, foster care
Abstract
The Florida Department of Children and Families notes community-based care (CBC) agencies are competent entities who present with their own method of service delivery and design. Recent evaluations show concerns in service selection to include a tendency to choose programming based on face validity, a lack of capacity and availability of services by geographical location, and a failure to systematically encompass stakeholder voice. The purpose of this study was to gain insight on how agencies make decisions regarding the selection of services for transition-age youth at emancipation.
A set of direct care providers from CBC and non-profit agencies participated in two phases of research. In the first phase, 20 interviewees acknowledged no “per se” model of service selection, verified the presence of protective factors in programming, and specified service challenges to include mental health, substance use, service utilization, and agency operations. The second phase analyzed a survey of 52 direct care providers at CBCs which appeared to validate a lack of an intentional model of service selection and presence of protective factors. Quantitative testing specified underlying relationships and predictor variables.
A lack of an intentional or standardized system of service selection presents youth with an unreliable and ineffective system of care. Protective factors with consideration of community voice and service challenges presents an intentional and evidence-informed framework to assess current service provision for youth transitioning from the system of care to society.
Scholar Commons Citation
Sheffield, Sarah K., "Standardization of Care for Transition-Age Youth at Emancipation: An Analysis of Service Provision" (2022). USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations.
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/etd/10406
