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In this chapter, I examine stories that foster care youth tell to legislatures, courts, policymakers, and the public to influence policy decisions. The stories told by these children are analogized to victim truth testimony, analyzed as a therapeutic, procedural, and developmental process, and examined as a catalyst for systemic accountability and change. Youth stories take different forms and appear in different media: testimony in legislatures, courts, research surveys or studies; opinion editorials and interviews in newspapers or blog posts; digital stories on YouTube; and artistic expression. Lawyers often serve as conduits for youth storytelling, translating their clients’ stories to the public. Organized advocacy by youth also informs and animates policy development. One recent example fosters youth organizing to promote “normalcy” in child welfare practices in Florida, and in related federal legislation.

Purpose – Mobility of youth in multiple foster care placements contributes to diminished life chances and outcomes. Foster care youth mobility during care results in numerous school changes within one academic year which hinders educational achievement. This qualitative study examines a group of Latino alumni of foster care and their experiences related to housing and education.

Methodology – Interviews with 25 young Latino adults ranging in age from 18 to 22 examined foster care placement, transitions to independence, and experiences after foster care. Researchers used a semi-structured interview guide, and tape-recorded interviews transcribed and coded for emergent themes.

Findings – Results suggest that as youth experience school mobility, social capital aids in promoting positive educational experiences. This research emphasizes the importance of positive social capital for Latino foster care youth and their educational achievement, evidenced in both adult and peer social networks. Few studies have examined Latino foster care youth experiences, and currently there are no studies that address educational experiences of these youth.

For many foster alumni, challenges arise as they age out and transition into adulthood and higher education. One area that has been overlooked is how intersecting identity impacts transition among foster youth, especially Black women. Using Scholarly Personal Narrative (SPN) as a methodology, I used myself as the subject to share my lived experiences as a Black woman in foster care through my transition from foster care to adulthood, college, and my career as a Student Affairs professional. Utilizing transition theory and intersectionality as frameworks, I aim to highlight the complex and nuanced challenges of foster youth as they experience major transitions as well as how identity can show up in their professional lives, especially if they are in a field that is tasked with supporting individuals that have a similar lived experience.

There is little evidence regarding how to best support the emotional well-being of children in foster care. This paper aims to present the evaluation of an adaptation of the reflective fostering programme, a group-based programme to support foster carers. This study aimed to explore whether a version of the programme, co-delivered by a social work professional and an experienced foster carer, was acceptable and relevant to foster carers and to gather data on programme effectiveness.

In total, 38 foster carers attended the programme and took part in this study. Data was collected regarding carer- and child-focused outcomes at pre-intervention, post-intervention and four-month follow-up. Focus interviews were also conducted to further assess acceptability and relevance for foster carers.

Analysis of quantitative outcome showed statistically significant improvements in all outcomes considered including foster carers stress and carer-defined problems, as well as carer-reported measures of child difficulties. Focus group interviews with foster carers suggested that the programme as co-delivered by a foster carer and a social worker was felt to be relevant and helpful to foster carers.

These results provide a unique contribution to limited understandings of what works for supporting foster carers and the children in their care. Promising evidence is provided for the acceptability and relevance of the revised version of this novel support programme and its effectiveness in terms of carer- and child-related outcome measures. This work paves the way for further necessary impact evaluation.

Analyses the career of William Zebulon Foster, a leader of the American Communist Party, and a three‐time candidate for President of the United States under that party′s banner. Foster rose from the slums of Philadelphia to earn the reputation of an accomplished labour organizer and then to embrace communist ideology. The poverty of his immigrant parents, and the endless series of dreary jobs he was forced to enter, beginning at age ten, nurtured his rebellious spirit and cultivated an antagonism towards capitalism. Emphasizes the evolution of his ideology from socialism to syndicalism and finally Marxism‐Leninism. William Foster found his vocation as an organizer of trade unions on behalf of the Communist movement. He was a prolific propagandist for and historian of the Party. Never deterred by tortuous twists and turns of the party line, he followed it faithfully and inflexibly until his death in Moscow in 1961.

The purpose of this exploratory paper is to define the characteristics of foster youth, discuss the impacts of trauma on their lives, present results from a foster youth survey conducted at a university in the Midwest to assess the needs of former foster youth and discuss the ways universities can support this vulnerable population of students. Several themes emerged from the study. The financial need emerged at the top. The number of essential needs was striking. For example, more than half of the respondents did not have their basic needs met. These needs included food, medical/dental services, clothing and transportation needs.

Faculty researchers who were part of a university task force developed a survey to assess the needs of former foster youth who were enrolled in classes at the time that this research was conducted. The survey was developed and disseminated through Qualtrics, a software that distributed survey links via email in a confidential manner. The survey consisted of a variety of general questions related to participants’ background and demographic information, as well as the specific needs and services that they were interested in receiving. The survey was sent out one-time peer week for three weeks in the late fall semester.

Findings indicated that 9% of respondents (n = 4) ranked the greatest areas of need as being financial assistance for school supplies, medical/dental care and financial aid advice. Similarly, 7% of respondents (n = 3) expressed the greatest needs as being affordable housing, housing during semester breaks, financial support for a laptop, financial counseling, counseling services, emergency financial assistance and internship and career counseling.

Limitations of this research include the use of a small and homogenous participant sample size, with data collected from one university campus. Therefore, results do not necessarily generalize elsewhere and replication is necessary for other geographical regions that include additional participants from varying backgrounds. Because data were not collected from a control group of nonfoster students, it is also unknown whether the identified student needs from this research substantially differ from the general population.

All students do not need the same support, so a menu of services should be provided. These services could include care packages that include basic academic necessities (e.g., laptops, school supplies, book vouchers, health and beauty supplies), financial literacy training, mentorship opportunities, a one-credit course on independent living skills, providing connections to community resources (e.g., childcare, housing, employment) and targeted advising for this specific student population, many of which who are from the first generation and low-income backgrounds. Another opportunity is to provide, possibly mandate, professional development for faculty and staff on the characteristics and needs of these vulnerable students.

Institutions have an opportunity, and arguably an obligation, to identify these students as early as possible. This can be done through collaboration with state human service departments, high school counselors and using demographic data found in the Free Application for Federal Student Aid form. Recruiting, retaining and supporting this population of students are critical because many have needs similar to other marginalized populations that the authors are so intensely focused on.

President Bill Clinton has had many opponents and enemies, most of whom come from the political right wing. Clinton supporters contend that these opponents, throughout the Clinton presidency, systematically have sought to undermine this president with the goal of bringing down his presidency and running him out of office; and that they have sought non‐electoral means to remove him from office, including Travelgate, the death of Deputy White House Counsel Vincent Foster, the Filegate controversy, and the Monica Lewinsky matter. This bibliography identifies these and other means by presenting citations about these individuals and organizations that have opposed Clinton. The bibliography is divided into five sections: General; “The conspiracy stream of conspiracy commerce”, a White House‐produced “report” presenting its view of a right‐wing conspiracy against the Clinton presidency; Funding; Conservative organizations; and Publishing/media. Many of the annotations note the links among these key players.

Higher education notices the need to support minorities and students with dis/abilities and may have additional programs to support their student populations, but students with a history of foster care are largely invisible in higher education. Using prismatic phenomenology, this study seeks to create a platform for the voices of adults in higher education who experienced the intersection of foster placement, ethnic minority, and dis/ability as children. This chapter focuses on the life story of one young woman. The goal of identifying these formative childhood experiences is to better understand how to respond to the inequities experienced as well as develop equitable practices to support students, whether in the higher educational classroom, in the preservice teacher classroom, or in K-12 educational arena.

This paper seeks to analyse Foster's Lager advertising since the early 1980s. In particular, it aims to focus on the Foster's Lager “I Believe” integrated marketing communications (IMC) campaign launched in 2000 and the use of “commercial nationalism”.

A close textual analysis consisting of semiotics, shot combination analysis, and content analysis is incorporated into the discussion of the Foster's Lager advertisements examined. These methodologies are helpful for deconstructing mediated representations of this iconic beer brand.

Nationalism and humour have both played an important part in Foster's Lager advertising campaigns. However, campaigns in more recent times have become more sophisticated and ironic. In examining a number of significant advertising campaigns for Australia's flagship beer, the transition from national to global beer brand can be documented. Since 1888 the brand name Foster's has evolved from being just one of a number of beer brands in Australia to the international flagship product of the global beverage giant, and fourth largest brewing company in the world, Foster's Group Limited.

In particular, the Foster's Lager “I Believe” campaign was an excellent example of the witty use of nationalism and patriotism to communicate a message.

Examining how the Foster's Lager brand evolved into a global brand provides lessons for marketers and educators, particularly in the effective use of commercial nationalism.

The paper brings a detailed analysis of the successful use of commercial nationalism.

The advent of the Internet and social medial presents major challenges to contemporary social work involving young people and their families particularly in the sphere of fostering.

This discussion paper begins an exploration of how risk and vulnerability, associated with the use of social networking, are usually managed using a traditional model that is rooted in psychologically informed social work.

The discussion then moves to viewing an alternative model of social work that is informed by the sociology of childhood. An argument is made that this model can be effectively used to meet the challenges of safeguarding in a technological age.