In 2023, the United States child welfare system suffers from disorganization, role ambiguity, and deficient transparency. With 12 contempt of court strikes for the system’s Director in 2022, it is clear why child welfare actors are unable to successfully perform. Foster parents, a key stakeholder in the proper care of children, report being unable to successfully perform because they are raising children with significant needs and trauma while having to locate and navigate child welfare system laws, policies, and procedures on their own. The purpose of this research project was to 1 ) identify whether foster parents know who is accountable for their foster child’s mental and physical health, legal case, medical care, and finances, 2) identify if foster parents know how to directly contact this party, 3) identify additional knowledge foster parents need about the system or their foster child, 4) connect with the Illinois foster parent community encouraging participant empowerment and self-efficacy, 5) work as a community identifying oppressive constructs that hinder information-sharing between the Illinois foster care system and foster parents, and 6) construct and implement a sustainable information-sharing, crowd-sourced platform for foster parents and other child welfare professionals to access information. The data for this project was collected using a quantitative and qualitative survey and 2 focus group sessions. The findings show that foster parents need additional information about the foster care system and their foster child, specifically medical information, indicating that a platform for foster parents, case workers, and other child welfare stakeholders, is critical.
","abstract_html":"<p>In 2023, the United States child welfare system suffers from disorganization, role ambiguity, and deficient transparency. With 12 contempt of court strikes for the system’s Director in 2022, it is clear why child welfare actors are unable to successfully perform. Foster parents, a key stakeholder in the proper care of children, report being unable to successfully perform because they are raising children with significant needs and trauma while having to locate and navigate child welfare system laws, policies, and procedures on their own. The purpose of this research project was to 1 ) identify whether foster parents know who is accountable for their foster child’s mental and physical health, legal case, medical care, and finances, 2) identify if foster parents know how to directly contact this party, 3) identify additional knowledge foster parents need about the system or their foster child, 4) connect with the Illinois foster parent community encouraging participant empowerment and self-efficacy, 5) work as a community identifying oppressive constructs that hinder information-sharing between the Illinois foster care system and foster parents, and 6) construct and implement a sustainable information-sharing, crowd-sourced platform for foster parents and other child welfare professionals to access information. The data for this project was collected using a quantitative and qualitative survey and 2 focus group sessions. The findings show that foster parents need additional information about the foster care system and their foster child, specifically medical information, indicating that a platform for foster parents, case workers, and other child welfare stakeholders, is critical.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Averbuch, Amy Lynne"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Ph.D. Doctor of Philosophy","degree_level":"Dissertation - Public Access","degree_discipline":"Community Psychology","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Tiffeny Jimenez","Bradley Olsen","Judah Viola"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2023,"date_issued":"2023-07-01T07:00:00Z","date_published":"2023-07-01T07:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T03:21:12Z","subjects":["Child","Welfare","System","Care","Wiki","Community","Foster","Parent","Information-Sharing","Technology","Science and Technology Studies"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://digitalcommons.nl.edu/diss/770","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Tiffeny Jimenez","Bradley Olsen","Judah Viola"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Averbuch, Amy Lynne"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2023-10-17T07:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Community Psychology"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Dissertation - Public Access"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Ph.D. Doctor of Philosophy"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Child","Welfare","System","Care","Wiki","Community","Foster","Parent","Information-Sharing","Technology","Science and Technology Studies"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://digitalcommons.nl.edu/diss/770"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["In 2023, the United States child welfare system suffers from disorganization, role ambiguity, and deficient transparency. With 12 contempt of court strikes for the system’s Director in 2022, it is clear why child welfare actors are unable to successfully perform. Foster parents, a key stakeholder in the proper care of children, report being unable to successfully perform because they are raising children with significant needs and trauma while having to locate and navigate child welfare system laws, policies, and procedures on their own. The purpose of this research project was to 1 ) identify whether foster parents know who is accountable for their foster child’s mental and physical health, legal case, medical care, and finances, 2) identify if foster parents know how to directly contact this party, 3) identify additional knowledge foster parents need about the system or their foster child, 4) connect with the Illinois foster parent community encouraging participant empowerment and self-efficacy, 5) work as a community identifying oppressive constructs that hinder information-sharing between the Illinois foster care system and foster parents, and 6) construct and implement a sustainable information-sharing, crowd-sourced platform for foster parents and other child welfare professionals to access information. The data for this project was collected using a quantitative and qualitative survey and 2 focus group sessions. The findings show that foster parents need additional information about the foster care system and their foster child, specifically medical information, indicating that a platform for foster parents, case workers, and other child welfare stakeholders, is critical.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Foster Parent Knowledge and the Need for Information - Sharing Technology"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Tiffeny Jimenez","Bradley Olsen","Judah Viola"],"dc:creator":["Averbuch, Amy Lynne"],"dc:date.available":["2023-10-17T07:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["In 2023, the United States child welfare system suffers from disorganization, role ambiguity, and deficient transparency. With 12 contempt of court strikes for the system’s Director in 2022, it is clear why child welfare actors are unable to successfully perform. Foster parents, a key stakeholder in the proper care of children, report being unable to successfully perform because they are raising children with significant needs and trauma while having to locate and navigate child welfare system laws, policies, and procedures on their own. The purpose of this research project was to 1 ) identify whether foster parents know who is accountable for their foster child’s mental and physical health, legal case, medical care, and finances, 2) identify if foster parents know how to directly contact this party, 3) identify additional knowledge foster parents need about the system or their foster child, 4) connect with the Illinois foster parent community encouraging participant empowerment and self-efficacy, 5) work as a community identifying oppressive constructs that hinder information-sharing between the Illinois foster care system and foster parents, and 6) construct and implement a sustainable information-sharing, crowd-sourced platform for foster parents and other child welfare professionals to access information. The data for this project was collected using a quantitative and qualitative survey and 2 focus group sessions. The findings show that foster parents need additional information about the foster care system and their foster child, specifically medical information, indicating that a platform for foster parents, case workers, and other child welfare stakeholders, is critical.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://digitalcommons.nl.edu/diss/770"],"dc:subject":["Child","Welfare","System","Care","Wiki","Community","Foster","Parent","Information-Sharing","Technology","Science and Technology Studies"],"dc:title":["Foster Parent Knowledge and the Need for Information - Sharing Technology"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Community Psychology"],"thesis:degree_level":["Dissertation - Public Access"],"thesis:degree_name":["Ph.D. Doctor of Philosophy"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T03:21:12Z"}