Storyteller Insights: Differing Perceptions of Foster Care Portrayals

Methodology & References

Survey Design 

The survey questions were created and programmed by CSS ahead of data collection. The survey aimed to investigate teens’ perceptions of the accuracy of media representation of foster children and youth from six media examples. An advisory council comprised of content creators and foster care, non-profit leaders, assisted with the creation of the survey protocol. The survey was designed to consist of quantitative and qualitative questions. Likert scale-based questions were used to determine how much the participants agreed that the media examples portrayed foster youth accurately and short-response qualitative questions were used for the participants to express their thoughts more in-depth about these decisions. 

Participant Criteria and Recruitment 

The study enrolled participants aged 18-26, encompassing those with and without firsthand foster care experience. The research team employed purposeful, convenience, and snowball sampling, collaborated with California-based non-profits, and reached out to service providers and youth across the state via email (Merriam, 2009). Participants were also encouraged to share the survey, resulting in 42 diverse respondents reflecting various foster care experiences, gender identities, and racial/ethnic backgrounds.

Data Collection

Data collection was employed through the data collection software, Qualtrics, sent to community stakeholders and participants across California. This survey collected data on their demographic backgrounds, foster care experiences, and responses to questions about their media consumption. In total, the survey process took approximately 35-45 minutes. Participants who completed the survey received a $15 Amazon gift card. The survey opened on January 24, 2023, and closed on March 24, 2023.

Data Analysis

The data analysis process involved two main steps. Initially, a comprehensive review of the collected quantitative data was conducted using the qualitative data analysis software, Dedoose, to identify common themes across the entire sample. Subsequently, the remaining quantitative data underwent calculation using descriptive statistics in Statistical Package for the Social Sciences Version 25 (SPSS V25). The analysis included examining responses based on foster care status, age, and demographic factors such as race and gender. Before analysis, data were meticulously checked for errors, with any faulty responses removed. Additionally, data cleaning and coding procedures were implemented for accuracy.

Limitations and Areas for Future Research

These findings only offer a brief overview of how foster care children and youth are depicted in media. The data were predominately collected in Los Angeles, California, which has the largest foster care system in the nation. Due to time constraints and limited recruitment, the overwhelming majority of youth surveyed had no foster care experience, thus the results should be interpreted with this in mind. We also acknowledge the limitation of questions that were dualistic in nature and provided participants with little to no nuance in their responses. Although we tried to mitigate this by having open-ended questions, we were able to tease out respondents’ perceptions of the representation of foster youth in media. Since there is a clear and distinct stigma surrounding the foster care system and being a foster child, many participants with foster care experience did not explicitly discuss their personal foster care experience.

This data does not encompass Native American perspectives even though they are disproportionately represented in the foster care system. Additional research should explore this topic with control groups in a physical space to mitigate low participant attrition and lack of substantive responses. Also, it would be beneficial for other researchers to identify succinct recommendations directly from youth as opposed to indirect recommendations. 

The findings provide only a brief overview of how foster care children and youth are depicted in media. The data were predominantly collected in Los Angeles, California, home to the largest foster care system in the nation. Due to time constraints and limited recruitment, the majority of surveyed youth had no foster care experience, necessitating an interpretation of the results with this consideration. The study recognizes the limitation of dualistic questions, lacking nuance in participant responses, though attempts were made to address this through open-ended questions. The researchers were successful in extracting respondents' perceptions of the representation of foster youth in media; However, stigma associated with the foster care system and being a foster child resulted in many participants with foster care experience avoiding explicit discussion of their personal experiences. In addition to this, the data does not encompass Native American perspectives, despite their disproportionate representation in the foster care system. Recommendations for future research include exploring this topic with control groups in different physical locations to address low participant attrition and gather more substantive responses. Additionally, researchers are encouraged to obtain succinct recommendations from youth directly rather than relying on indirect suggestions.

References

Alvarez, A. (2017). Lights, camera, action: The images of foster care in the movies. Journal of Child Custody, 14(1), 49-72. DOI: 10.1080/15379418.2017.1288600

Merriam, S. B. (2009). Qualitative research: A guide to design and implementation (2nd ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. 

Meese, R. L. (2012). Modern Family: Adoption and foster care in children's literature. Reading Teacher, 66(2), 129-137. https://doi.org/10.1002/TRTR.01063

The Dave Thomas Foundation. (2007). National foster care adoption attitudes survey. Retrieved November 13, 2023, from https://www.davethomasfoundation.org/library/2007-adoption-attitudes-survey/