An Advocate for Young Adults Transitioning Out of Foster Care

Wendy Smith, a clinical psychotherapist, associate professor and dean at USC, has been a long-time advocate for young adults transitioning out of the foster care system.

For National Foster Care Month, the USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work recognizes Wendy Smith, clinical associate professor and associate dean of curriculum planning and assessment, for her dedication to easing the often difficult transition that young adults face when leaving the foster care system.

One of many professionals who are devoted to issues of foster care, Smith is also a clinical practitioner of psychotherapy and co-founder of programs like Trojan Guardian Scholars, and brings a wealth of experience to this subject. She was kind enough to share her experience with us:

USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work: Could you speak a bit about your professional background? What attracted you to researching the needs of foster care youth?

Wendy Smith: A good chunk of my professional life was spent in the practice of psychotherapy. Many of the people I treated were survivors of child abuse, child sexual abuse, or the foster care system. So part of my interest developed from that work. In addition, when I went back to school for my PhD (which I only did after beginning my career in psychotherapy), the subject of my dissertation was the Children's Planning Council in Los Angeles.

At its inception, the Council was an attempt to reform the way child welfare services in the county were being conceived of and delivered. That group ultimately ended up designing and launching the Service Planning Areas (SPAs) system that organizes neighborhoods and communities for the delivery of services. In the course of that work, which involved interviewing many stakeholders in the child welfare system locally, I became even more interested in the subject.

Later, when I was teaching child and adolescent treatment, California passed Proposition 63 — the Mental Health Services Act — designed to expand and transform mental health services. One of the intended uses of that funding stream was to prepare social workers to work with transition-age youth. At that time, our school did not have a social work practice course that focused on transition-age youth, and our then vice-dean asked me to develop such a course, which I did. In designing it I found there was no textbook I could use — just articles and chapters of other books here and there. Because of that, I wrote a book on the subject, which is now used as a text in that course.

Since then, I’ve moved into more administrative work, so I haven’t been actively engaged in research in the last few years. However, I have continued to be very engaged in both community organizations and county bodies that address the needs of children and youth in the foster care system.

USC: Let’s discuss your book and your focus on the transition out of foster care. Could you speak a little about the specific needs of children at that age as opposed to younger foster children?

WS: When foster children turns 18 — unless they’re in school or working and elect to remain in care until 21 — they are often out on their own. They have the challenges that resulted from their earlier lives, alongside the challenges that every adolescent grapples with; what they don’t have is family support, or even, in many cases, a place to live. Having a caring adult in their lives is very important. These young people need help learning how to navigate independence, which may be thrust upon them very suddenly. Often they are struggling financially as well, and they need the guidance that any young person needs at the beginning of adulthood.

We all know that adolescence and the beginning of young adulthood is a complicated and important period for youth generally. Foster youth, however, almost without exception, have experienced some kind of trauma in early life — either through maltreatment, loss or incarceration of a parent, or some other kind of family disruption. These are kids who have struggled with and may or may not have overcome challenges associated with traumatizing experiences. In most cases, these youth don’t have the benefit of a solid foundation as they’re making the important changes and developments of young adulthood.

USC: Have you noticed major differences across socioeconomic or racial demographic divides for foster children?

WS: Children of color are disproportionately represented in foster care and the juvenile justice systems — often foster children are involved in both. For example, let’s talk about children who are in foster placement in a group home or some kind of non-family setting. In this setting, behavioral problems that a parent might handle by seeking out mental health services or allowing for some kind of cooling-off period are dealt with differently: frequently law enforcement is called in and that child may end up with juvenile justice exposure. African-American and Latino kids in foster care are also more likely to be exposed to the juvenile justice system.

USC: Are there students in the Master of Social Work (MSW) program with personal experience in the foster care system? If so, have you worked with them?

WS: We do have students who fit that description every year. For any child coming out of the foster care system, one of the important people in their lives is always a social worker. Therefore, it is often a career path they consider for themselves. Within the school, my husband and I have endowed scholarships both for MSW students who’ve been in the foster care system and for MSW students who have demonstrated a commitment to working with the foster care population.

USC: You mentioned you were also involved with local and county level programs. Could you speak about the programs currently in place to address the needs of foster children, like Trojan Guardian Scholars, for instance?

WS: Trojan Guardian Scholars is a program that exists in many colleges and universities for undergraduates who have been in the foster care system, providing them with a variety of resources and peer support. Professor Jacquelyn McCroskey and I tried to get the program going for a number of years as we felt strongly that USC should have such a program. But we needed an advocate in the undergraduate community. Through various community meetings and other efforts, we were able to find a home for Trojan Guardian Scholars in the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences. It’s now up and running and we’ve even placed a second-year MSW student there as an intern.

I’ve also worked with several other organizations that focus on transition-age foster youth: United Friends of the Children, National Foster Youth Institute, and the Alliance for Children’s Rights. Additionally, I serve on the L.A. County Commission For Children And Families, the mission of which is to oversee and strengthen services that touch children and families throughout the county, and on the First 5 LA Commission, focusing on promoting healthy development of families and their children aged 0-5.