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Understanding the Unique Online Challenges Faced by Teens in the Foster Care System

Published: 25 February 2017 Publication History

Abstract

While there has been much research studying technology in family contexts, little to no research has explored the challenges and risks faced online by teens and their parents in foster care situations. To address this gap, we have begun to conduct in-depth, semi-structured interviews with foster parents of teens. Our preliminary findings suggest that teens in foster care situations face unique offline challenges (e.g., victims of sex trafficking or rape) that make them more vulnerable to online risks. In addition, foster parents struggle with managing the high-risk online behavior of their foster teens. The purpose of this paper is to present our early findings to help unpack the challenges and the problem context for online safety for "at-risk" adolescents in the foster care system.

References

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Blackwell, L., Gardiner, E., and Schoenebeck, S. Managing Expectations: Technology Tensions among Parents and Teens. ACM (2016), 1390--1401.
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Braun, V. and Clarke, V. Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology 3, 2 (2006), 77--101.
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Byrne, S., Katz, S.J., Lee, T., Linz, D., and McIlrath, M. Peers, predators, and porn: Predicting parental underestimation of children's risky online experiences. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication 19, 2 (2014), 215--231.
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Farruggia, S.P. and Sorkin, D.H. Health risks for older US adolescents in foster care: the significance of important others' health behaviours on youths' health and health behaviours. Child: Care, Health and Development 35, 3 (2009), 340--348.
[5]
Narendorf, S.C. and McMillen, J.C. Substance Use and Substance Use Disorders as Foster Youth Transition to Adulthood. Children and youth services review 32, 1 (2010), 113--119.
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Oshima, K.M.M., Narendorf, S.C., and McMillen, J.C. Pregnancy Risk Among Older Youth Transitioning Out Of Foster Care. Children and Youth Services Review 35, 10 (2013), 1760--1765.
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Shpiegel, S. Resilience Among Older Adolescents in Foster Care: the Impact of Risk and Protective Factors. International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction 14, 1 (2015), 6--22.
[8]
Wisniewski, P., Xu, H., Rosson, M.B., Perkins, D.F., and Carroll, J.M. Dear Diary: Teens Reflect on Their Weekly Online Risk Experiences. ACM (2016), 3919--3930.
[9]
AFCARS Report #22, Children's Bureau, Administration for Children and Families. http://www.acf.hhs.gov/cb/resource/afcars-report22.

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  • (2024)Examining Mainstream News Media Narratives on Youth Online SafetyCompanion Publication of the 2024 Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing10.1145/3678884.3681874(349-354)Online publication date: 11-Nov-2024
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  1. Understanding the Unique Online Challenges Faced by Teens in the Foster Care System

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    cover image ACM Conferences
    CSCW '17 Companion: Companion of the 2017 ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing
    February 2017
    472 pages
    ISBN:9781450346887
    DOI:10.1145/3022198
    Permission to make digital or hard copies of part or all of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for third-party components of this work must be honored. For all other uses, contact the Owner/Author.

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    New York, NY, United States

    Publication History

    Published: 25 February 2017

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    Author Tags

    1. foster care
    2. foster parents
    3. foster teens
    4. online safety
    5. qualitative methods

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    CSCW '17: Computer Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing
    February 25 - March 1, 2017
    Oregon, Portland, USA

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    CSCW '17 Companion Paper Acceptance Rate 183 of 530 submissions, 35%;
    Overall Acceptance Rate 2,235 of 8,521 submissions, 26%

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    View all
    • (2024)Examining Mainstream News Media Narratives on Youth Online SafetyCompanion Publication of the 2024 Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing10.1145/3678884.3681874(349-354)Online publication date: 11-Nov-2024
    • (2024)Towards a Safer Digital Future: Exploring Stakeholder Perspectives on Creating a Sustainable Youth Online Safety CommunityExtended Abstracts of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3613905.3651019(1-10)Online publication date: 11-May-2024
    • (2024)A Stakeholders’ Analysis of the Sociotechnical Approaches for Protecting Youth OnlineAdvances in Information and Communication10.1007/978-3-031-54053-0_40(587-616)Online publication date: 17-Mar-2024
    • (2023)Towards Resilience and Autonomy-Based Approaches for Adolescents Online SafetySSRN Electronic Journal10.2139/ssrn.4608406Online publication date: 2023
    • (2023)‘They’re Not Risky’ vs ‘It Can Ruin Your Whole Life’: How Parent-Child Dyads Differ in their Understandings of Online RiskSocial Computing and Social Media10.1007/978-3-031-35927-9_36(529-547)Online publication date: 9-Jul-2023
    • (2022)Fostering CommunicationProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/34928346:GROUP(1-23)Online publication date: 14-Jan-2022
    • (2021)Digital Pathways to Wellness Among Youth in Residential Treatment: An Exploratory Qualitative StudyJournal of Adolescent Research10.1177/0743558421101488438:5(803-841)Online publication date: 28-May-2021
    • (2021)A Framework of High-Stakes Algorithmic Decision-Making for the Public Sector Developed through a Case Study of Child-WelfareProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/34760895:CSCW2(1-41)Online publication date: 18-Oct-2021
    • (2020)DreamCatcher: Exploring How Parents and School-Age Children can Track and Review Sleep Information TogetherProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/33928824:CSCW1(1-25)Online publication date: 29-May-2020
    • (2020)Towards A Design For Life: Redesigning For Reminiscence With Looked After ChildrenProceedings of the 2020 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3313831.3376824(1-14)Online publication date: 21-Apr-2020
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