Foster care for teenagers: Motivators, barriers, and strategies to overcome barriers

There has long been a shortage of homes for teenagers in foster care due in part to the reality that many people who foster choose not to foster teenagers. An understanding of factors that influence people's willingness to foster teenagers might support an increased supply of available homes for teenagers. Through this qualitative study, we explored why some foster parents are motivated to foster teenagers, what barriers prevent other foster parents from fostering teenagers, and whether there are effective strategies for foster parents to overcome barriers to fostering teenagers. The first author collected data through 19 semi-structured interviews with 16 foster parents and 6 foster care agency staff in Tennessee and used the constant-comparative method to analyze the data and allow grounded theory to emerge. Through this study, we found that people were motivated to foster teenagers by a combination of overarching motivators and teen-specific motivators. Overarching motivators, which influence people who do foster teenagers as well as those who do not, included making a difference and having a family. Financial compensation emerged as an overarching facilitator of fostering. Teen-specific motivators were both foster parent-oriented - ability, lifestyle, passion, preference, and satisfaction - and teenager-oriented - compassion and teenagers' progress. Key barriers to fostering teenagers were also foster parent-oriented - desire to raise children from a young age and preference - as well as teenager-oriented - bad experience, fear, and stereotyping. Strategies for foster parents to overcome barriers to fostering teenagers that emerged through this study were firsthand experience with teenagers in foster care, especially through respite care, and secondhand learning about things like trauma and youth's needs, and agencies are able to facilitate both types of strategies. These findings have implications for research, policy, and practice.