Understanding How School Climate Affects Overall Mood in Residential Care: Perspectives of Adolescent Girls in Foster Care and Juvenile Justice Systems

• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/jfcj.12120
• Published date: 01 December 2018
• Author: Casey Sutter,Angelique G. Day,Jun Sung Hong,Cheryl L. Somers,Beverly A. Baroni,Jenna Niewiadomski
• Date: 01 December 2018

Understanding How School Climate Affects

Overall Mood in Residential Care: Perspectives of

Adolescent Girls in Foster Care and Juvenile

Justice Systems

By Cheryl L. Somers, Angelique G. Day, Jenna Niewiadomski, Casey Sutter,

Beverly A. Baroni, and Jun Sung Hong

ABSTRACT

The aim of the study is to understand the perceptions of court-involved adoles-

cent girls in residential treatment (40% delinquency, 60% foster care/child abuse

and neglect) on school climate and factors that affect their mood in school. Partici-

pants included 27 adolescent females in residential care for both types of court

involvement in a large urban area in a Midwestern state. Age of the participants ran-

ged from 12 to 18. Four major themes from the three focus groups that were con-

ducted included relationships and interactions with peers, interactions with staff and

Cheryl L. Somers, Ph.D., is a Professor in Educational Psychology and School Psychology focusing on

contextual predictors of academic success among disadvantaged youth and interventions that promote resilience.

Angelique G. Day is an Assistant Professor in social work, specializing in national policy in emo-

tional and education well-being for youth in foster care.

Jenna Niewiadomski and Casey Sutter are practicing school psychologists in the Detroitmetropoli-

tan area, working withyouth of all backgrounds to achieve highestacademic and personal potential.

Beverly A. Baroni is a principal at a residential treatment center school in the Detroit area that has

primarily court-involved students in attendance. She is emphasizing the implementation of trauma informed

teaching interventions.

Jun Sung Hong is an Assistant Professor in social work focusing on youth bullying, victimization,

and violence.

Compliance with Ethical Standards: The study was fully compliant with all ethical standards and fol-

lowed all IRB-approved procedures.

Conflict of Interest: The authors all declare that there is no conflict of interest.

Human Participants/Animals: All procedures performed in studies involving human participants

were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and

with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards

Informed Consent: Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the

study.

Juvenile and Family Court Journal 69, No. 4

©2018 National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges

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teachers and their perceptions about these interactions, the demands of the learning

environment, and sensitivity to being touched. Practice implications are discussed.

Key words: foster care, mood, perceptions , residential care, education, juvenile delinquency.

The unpredictable and traumatic events that adolescents, particularly girls in the

foster care and juvenile justice system, experience precede their placement in out-of-

home care (e.g., residential care programs) and often leads to emotional and behavioral

problems (Conn, Szilagyi, Alpert-Gillis, Baldwin, & Jee, 2015). Many studies have

shown that in general, youth in the foster care (Conn et al., 2015; Jones, 2012; Tarren-

Sweeney, 2017) and juvenile justice system (Callahan, Cocozza, Steadman, & Tillman,

2012; Vincent, Grisso, Terry, & Banks, 2008) exhibit higher rate of behavior problems

and academic risks relative to their peers in the general population. In a representative

sample of 230 adolescents residing in foster care, Tarren-Sweeney (2017) reported that

about half of adolescents in foster care have mental health problems that require referral

to treatment services. Based on the level of mental health need, youth in the foster care

and juvenile justice system are commonly placed in residential care (American Academy

of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 2016; Hammond, 2007; Landsverk, et al., 2006).

In the course of mental health service delivery, these residential treatment facilities often

prioritize child safety over education well-being (U.S. Department of Education & U.S.

Department of Justice, 2014). To holistically support these adolescent girls, there needs

to be an equitable balance between the student’s safety, mental health and education

well-being, broadly conceptualized to include academic achievement but expanded to

also include reduction in suspension/expulsion, reduction in school absences, and

improved school climate.

Behavioral and emotional problems can seriously undermine an adolescent’s aca-

demic performance. Adolescents involved in foster care and juvenile justice systems face

more behavioral and academic challenges than those not involved in the court system.

Foster care and juvenile justice-involved adolescents exhibit a significant level of aca-

demic problems, such as high dropout rates, grade repetition, suspension, and lower

scores on standardized tests (e.g., see McMillen, Auslander, Elze, White, & Thompson,

2003; Zima et al., 2000). Youth in the foster care system are also more likely than non-

foster care youth to have lower IQ scores, be diagnosed with a learning disability and be

placed in a special education program in school (Crettenden, Wright, & Beilby, 2014;

Delaney-Black et al., 2002; Jones, 2012). In fact, 37% to 55% of youths in foster care

earn a high school diploma or a GED (Jones, 2012), and the rate of school dropout

among youth in the juvenile justice system is as high as 40% (Aud et al., 2011). Aca-

demic success for adolescents in the foster care and juvenile justice system is critical.

The aim of the present study was to qualitatively explore the perceptions of the

educational environment of both juvenile justice and foster care court-involved girls in

residential care using focus groups. An important characteristics of focus group is that

groups are the unit of the analyses (Stewart & Shamdasani, 1990). The main advantage of

focus group is the researchers (moderators) having the opportunity to observe interac-

tions in a naturalistic setting, which provides them an opportunity to collect data on a

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