Implementation of Coaching Techniques to Improve Outcomes for Emancipated Foster Youth

Foster youth, upon leaving the care of state foster care systems, suffer disproportionately from poor economic, health and social outcomes than their peers. Mentoring is a method that has been brought over from the business world to help improve outcomes for these youth, but it has proven to not be enough. Outcomes for this population are still disproportionately low. Until the economic climate of our country improves to the point of being able to fund larger and more targeted programs, we must work to improve what is already available. To improve the role of a mentor, performance coaching techniques, tools again borrowed from the world of business, were introduced to foster parents who already hold a natural mentoring role. They were taught critical inquiry skills with the youth in their home in order to promote goal setting and problem solving skills. This study looked at the feasibility and value perceived in this process. While challenges presented themselves in the form of time, adequate training, and immediate vs. long term behavior modification, parents who successfully implemented coaching methods saw remarkable improvements in the behavior of their teenage foster youth.

Running Head IMPLEMENTATION OF COACHING TECHNIQUES IMPLEMENTATION OF COACHING TECHNIQUES TO IMPROVE OUTCOMES FOR EMANCIPATED FOSTER YOUTH by Lori Cox, MACL Westminster College A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment Of the requirement for the degree of Master of Community Leadership ii IMPLEMENTATION OF COACHING TECHNIQUES Dedication To Linda, Bill, Janice, Mike, Sylvia, and Jack. You have all played a significant part in the way I think, the way I feel, and in who I have become. Although I am no longer your daughter, for better or worse, you will always be my family. Most importantly to my mother Susan. Without your determination, love and support, I would be one of the statistics I advocate for. You have my eternal love and gratitude. iii IMPLEMENTATION OF COACHING TECHNIQUES Acknowledgements I would like to thank the following: My late husband Robert for believing more in my intelligence than I did, and convincing me to go to college. My Grandfather Woody, for paving the way financially for me to get my under-graduate degree. My previous boss Saray for hiring me and making me turn in my application for graduate school. My current boss Ryan Lewis for all of his patience and technical expertise. Dr. Richard Chapman for introducing me to performance coaching and being a fabulous trainer. Mick Woolsey and Liz Rivera from Utah Foster Care Foundation. You have been such a great source of support and reference for me. The security guards at my office who have helped keep me safe and awake at 3:00 am when they find me in my office writing away. My advisor Shelly, who patiently put up with my persistent 3rd person. My fellow students who cheered, supported and challenged me throughout this glorious process. My friends, Tracy, Doug, MichaelAnn, Josh and Andy. Hopefully you will forgive me for neglecting you for these past 3 years. My siblings Matt and Alan, whom I have also neglected for the past three years. And most importantly, my children, Tyler, Nathan, David, and Ashley. You have suffered the most from my absence and I apologize and thank you from the bottom of my heart. Without you my life would be dull and empty and I wouldn't be the "Old Lady" I am today. I'll love you forever, I'll like you for always, as long as I'm living, your Mama I'll be. iv IMPLEMENTATION OF COACHING TECHNIQUES APPROVAL Of a thesis submitted by Authors Name____Lori Cox_____________________________________________________ School/Department_______School of Education_/_MACL______________________________ Thesis Title: Implementation of Coaching Techniques to Improve Outcomes for Emancipated Foster Youth__________________________________________________________________ The above name master's thesis has been read by each member of the supervisory committee and has been found to be satisfactory regarding content, English usage, format, citation, bibliographic style, and consistency, and is ready for submission to the Westminster College Library. __________________ _____________________________________________________ Date Thesis Advisor Approved for the School __________________ _____________________________________________________ Date Dean, School of Education v IMPLEMENTATION OF COACHING TECHNIQUES STATEMENT OF PERMISSION TO DUPLICATE THESIS & DEPOSIT/DISPLAY IN THE INSTITUTIONAL REPOSITORY Name of Author(s)______Lori Cox_________________________________________________ School/Department______School of Education / MACL________________________________ Title of Thesis____ Implementation of Coaching Techniques to Improve Outcomes For______ Emancipated Foster Youth _______________________________________________________ With permission from the author(s), on the basis of an occasional and individual request, the staff of the Giovale Library of Westminster College has the right to make a copy of the above named thesis. The Giovale Library staff also has the right to mail or otherwise disseminate a copy to the requesting party and to be reimbursed by the requesting party for the cost of duplicating and mailing the thesis. I hereby give my permission to the staff of the Giovale Library of Westminster College to duplicate as described the above named thesis. _____________________________________________________________________________Signature of Author(s) Date With permission from the author(s), the staff of the Giovale Library of Westminster College has the right to deposit and display an electronic copy of the above named thesis in its Institutional Repository for educational purposes only. I hereby give my permission to the staff of the Giovale Library of Westminster College to deposit and display as described the above named thesis. I retain ownership rights to my work, including the right to use it in future works such as articles or a book. _____________________________________________________________________________Signature of Author(s) Date The above duplication and deposit rights may be terminated by the author(s) at any time by notifying the Director of the Giovale Library in writing that permission is withdrawn. vi IMPLEMENTATION OF COACHING TECHNIQUES Abstract Foster youth, upon leaving the care of state foster care systems, suffer disproportionately from poor economic, health and social outcomes than their peers. Mentoring is a method that has been brought over from the business world to help improve outcomes for these youth, but it has proven to not be enough. Outcomes for this population are still disproportionately low. Until the economic climate of our country improves to the point of being able to fund larger and more targeted programs, we must work to improve what is already available. To improve the role of a mentor, performance coaching techniques, tools again borrowed from the world of business, were introduced to foster parents who already hold a natural mentoring role. They were taught critical inquiry skills with the youth in their home in order to promote goal setting and problem solving skills. This study looked at the feasibility and value perceived in this process. While challenges presented themselves in the form of time, adequate training, and immediate vs. long-term behavior modification, parents who successfully implemented coaching methods saw remarkable improvements in the behavior of their teenage foster youth. Running Head IMPLEMENTATION OF COACHING TECHNIQUES Table of Contents Chapter I: Introduction ......................................................................................... 3 Root Causes ................................................................................................................................ 4 What's Available ......................................................................................................................... 5 Mentoring .................................................................................................................................... 6 Research Question ........................................................................................................................ 8 Benefits of Coaching .................................................................................................................. 10 How Do We Do This.................................................................................................................. 10 Why Use Foster Parents ............................................................................................................. 10 Utah Foster Care Foundation .................................................................................................... 11 Significance ............................................................................................................................... 11 Chapter II: Literature Review ............................................................................. 14 Outcome for Emancipated Youth............................................................................................... 16 Negative Economic Outcomes .......................................................................................... 17 Negative Social Outcomes ................................................................................................. 17 What is Currently Available....................................................................................................... 19 Adoption Asst. and Child Welfare Act 1980 ..................................................................... 19 Title IV-E Independent Living Program 1986 ................................................................... 20 The Foster Care Independence Act of 1999 ...................................................................... 20 The Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008 ............... 21 Preventing Sex Trafficking and Strengthening Families Act of 2014 ............................... 21 What is Utah Doing? .................................................................................................................. 23 Mentoring .................................................................................................................................. 25 Duration ............................................................................................................................. 27 Consistency ........................................................................................................................ 28 Emotional Connection ....................................................................................................... 29 Coaching ................................................................................................................................... 29 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................ 33 Chapter III: Methods ............................................................................................ 35 Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 35 Phase 1:Development ................................................................................................................. 36 Phase 2: Training....................................................................................................................... 40 Phase 3: Data Collection ............................................................................................................ 42 Protection of Subjects ........................................................................................................ 43 Data Storage ....................................................................................................................... 43 Data Collection Method ..................................................................................................... 43 Challenges .......................................................................................................................... 45 Ethical Awareness ............................................................................................................. 46 2 IMPLEMENTATION OF COACHING TECHNIQUES Transcription ...................................................................................................................... 47 Phase 4: Analysis ....................................................................................................................... 48 Data Validity ...................................................................................................................... 48 Researcher Subjectivity ..................................................................................................... 49 Analysis Validity ............................................................................................................... 49 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................ 50 Chapter IV: Findings............................................................................................. 51 Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 51 Challenges ................................................................................................................................. 52 Consistency ........................................................................................................................ 53 Immediate Issues vs. Long-term Solutions ........................................................................ 55 Skills Training ................................................................................................................... 63 Successes ................................................................................................................................... 68 Empowerment .................................................................................................................... 68 Perceived Value ................................................................................................................. 72 Chapter V: Discussion ........................................................................................... 77 Implications ............................................................................................................................... 77 Recommendations and Future Research .................................................................................... 78 Limitations ................................................................................................................................ 81 Objectives .................................................................................................................................. 82 References ............................................................................................................... 84 Appendix A Adult Interview Consent Form .............................................................................. 93 Appendix B Example of Coaching Log ..................................................................................... 96 Appendix C Facebook Recruitment Example ............................................................................ 97 Appendix D Training PowerPoint .............................................................................................. 98 Appendix E Strategic Coaching Questions .............................................................................. 100 Appendix F Adult Interview Questions Guideline................................................................... 101 Appendix H Utah State Department of Health and Human Services IRB Approval ............... 102 Appendix G Westminster College State IRB Approval .......................................................... 104 3 IMPLEMENTATION OF COACHING TECHNIQUES Chapter I: Introduction "Successful transition, for youth, ages 14 to 23 years, means that upon leaving the care of the public child welfare system, a young person is pre-disposed to a life of meaning and purpose." (Dudley & Harbert, 2007) Every year in the United States, approximately 24,000 youth "age out" of the foster care system (Schelbe, 2011). This means that children who are turning 18 years old and are living in foster homes, will exit the child welfare system. This is often done abruptly, and youths are left to adjust to transitioning to adult living on their own. This aging out process is also commonly referred to as emancipating or transitioning from the system. By removing youth from their structured support system of social, medical, mental, and basic living needs, the emancipated youths are then left to figure out how to build this support system for themselves. This is often done without the permanent family structure support system traditionally provided to most non-fostered youth. Currently 26 states have services that extend in-home foster placement and services until the age of 21. All other states end services sometime between ages 18-21 (Atkinson, 2008). Utah is one of the states that has little, or no support system for these youth past the age of 18. I grew up in the foster care system. I was abandoned at the age of two, had two subsequent failed adoptions and lived in numerous foster homes. At the age of 14, I found myself facing the choice of trying adoption again or finishing my time in foster care and emancipating from the system. I was incredibly lucky. I chose to try once again and found someone willing to help me through the emotional and behavioral issues associated with my 4 IMPLEMENTATION OF COACHING TECHNIQUES traumas. Because of this, I am very sensitive and concerned for the welfare of those children who never find a permanent placement. Children who emancipate from the foster care system do not fare as well as their non-fostered peers. Emancipated youth have higher levels of homelessness, unemployment, poverty, health issues, getting caught up in sex trafficking and criminal activity (Ahrens, Dubois, Garrison, Spencer, Richardson, & Lozano, 2011; Courtney, Dworsky, Brown, Cary, Love, & Vorheis, 2011; Pecora, Kessler, Williams, O'Brien, Hiripi, & Morello, 2005). They also have less access to physical and mental health care, lower educational achievement and less knowledge of basic living skills (Courtney, Dworsky, Cusick, Keller, Havlicek, Perez, 2007; Hudson, 2013; Spencer, Collins, Ward, & Amashnaya, 2010). The use of coaching techniques introduced in this study encourages youth to delineate and then work through problems, set and achieve goals, and can assist youth, once on their own, to be able to make better decisions to avoid some of these negative outcomes. Root Causes The root causes of emancipated youths poor outcomes are as numerous and complex as a real root system. Behavioral and emotional issues may be present and come from many sources. Trauma experienced in their homes before they come into the foster care system can play into the causes for poor outcomes. These traumas include poverty, substance abuse, neglect, physical and sexual abuse (Courtney, & Dworsky, 2006). Removal from their family structure and being placed in foster care, instead of finding in-home solutions, can also add into the negative equation (Atkinson, 2008; Cook-Fong, 2000). The stigma and instability of foster care itself can be traumatic as well (Spencer et al., 2010). And the invisibility in society of these youth and 5 IMPLEMENTATION OF COACHING TECHNIQUES their issues, once they are on their own, contributes to the lack of funding for programs that could help this vulnerable population. What's Available? About once a decade there seems to be a short period of peaked governmental interest in supporting foster and emancipated youth at the federal level. The Foster Care Independence Act of 1999 (Library of Congress, 2000), the Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008 (Congress.Gov, 2008) are two of the most significant attempts to help foster children in general. These will be explained more in Chapter II. Most recently, after the FBI started reporting an alarming percentage of foster youth caught up in sex trafficking stings, the Preventing Sex Trafficking and Strengthening Families Act of 2014 was enacted (Congress.Gov, 2014). Most of these acts start with good program suggestions and intentions, and some have made tremendous strides towards improving the lives of foster children, but because of the lack of funding, many programs, especially ones aimed at helping older youth in care, get whittled down or eventually eliminated. What is often left is arguably ineffectual, especially for emancipating youth. Due to lack of support from the federal system, state and local organizations are left to find ways to help emancipated youth. During the late 1990s and early 2000s, several longitudinal studies collected data on what the outcomes for emancipated foster youth were and what, if anything, affected those outcomes. The two largest of these studies were The Midwest Evaluation of the Adult Functioning of Former Foster Youth Study (Courtney et al., 2011), and The Northwest Foster Care Alumni Study (Pecora et al., 2005). One of the key findings, from these studies, to improve outcomes for emancipated youth, was the presence of an adult, "very important person" in the foster youth's life; i.e. a mentor (Farruggia, Greenberger, Chen, & 6 IMPLEMENTATION OF COACHING TECHNIQUES Heckhausen, 2006, p.351). Because of these findings and the subjectively low-cost factor associated with mentoring programs versus other support programs, mentoring programs sprang up all across the US. Mentoring Mentoring programs are increasingly used as a successful means to help boost the outcomes of children leaving foster care (Mech, Pryde & Rycraft, 1995). But foster youth often feel isolated from their communities and subsequently do not know what community resources are available (Mech et al., 1995). By connecting an emancipated youth with a caring adult, the premise is that the adult will guide the youth to programs that can assist them and with decisions that will improve their outcomes. Mentoring typically frames itself around the following structure: an older, more experienced person is paired, either formally or naturally, with the foster youth. Through this, a relationship is formed where the goal is the advancement and improvement of character and competence of the foster youth (Mech et al., 1995). A formal pairing is when the mentee is paired with someone not previously known to the youth, and chosen by the organization. A natural mentor is a meaningful relationship that is formed within the circle of relatives, friends or community members of the foster youth; i.e. teachers, clergy, social workers, or boss (Ahrens, Dubois, Richardson, Fan, & Lozano, 2008). While studying the effectiveness of over 50 different mentoring programs throughout the United States, researchers found that key best practices were found to be present in the most successful programs (Dubois, Holloway, Valentine, & Cooper, 2002). These practices include; screening prospective mentors, training mentors before a match, providing ongoing support and training, using mentors with experience, and providing activities for the mentor and mentees to 7 IMPLEMENTATION OF COACHING TECHNIQUES participate in. The use of these practices had a direct correlation on the duration, consistency, emotional connection and program support for mentoring relationships (Dubois et al., 2002). Youths in foster care need this emotional connection with caring adults to successfully transition into adults (Ahrens et al., 2011; Pew Charitable Trusts, 2007). Mentoring first started to be implemented in this fashion with this population during the late 1990's. The goals of mentoring programs are to improve general outcomes for emancipated youth, increase positive relationships with those in the youth's community, connect youth with social services, and reduce juvenile crime and substance abuse (Kaplan, Skolnik, & Turnbill, 2009). Individuals who take on the responsibility of mentoring foster youth and emancipated youth, have an influence on the young people they work with (Mech et al., 1995). Consistent contact between mentor and mentee over a long period of relationship building seems to achieve the greatest efficacy when it comes to the well-being of foster youth (Farruggia et al., 2006; Spencer et al., 2010). Sustaining the mentor relationship after leaving care may also be critical to the well-being of many emancipated youths (Mech et al., 1995). In a study by Scannapieco and Painter (2014) involving foster youth in the Big Brother, Big Sister organization, youth who had mentors show improvement in school, employment, friendships with same age peers, relationships with important adults, and in positive levels of self-confidence. Mentors also saw a small improvement in criminal justice involvement and ability to get a job (Scannapieco & Painter, 2014). Youth who actively participate in relationships with mentors also show improvements that offset poor relationships with biological parents (Farruggia et al., 2006). This means that some of the trauma inflicted on and endured by these youth, surrounding their 8 IMPLEMENTATION OF COACHING TECHNIQUES removal from their family home, may be mitigated by the involvement of a dedicated mentor. This role could be filled by the Foster parent. Research Question Despite the prevalence, and proven impact of mentoring programs, youth emancipating from foster care remain at high risk for homelessness, poverty, substance dependency, poor education and employment opportunities, early parenting, and incarceration (Kaplan, et al., 2009). This finding is significant to my study because it shows the need for mentoring programs to be expanded, and improved upon in order to have a significant impact on these youth. To study this, we must step back and examine new techniques and take a broader view at who can implement those techniques. For my study, I have chosen foster parents to take on that role of introducing coaching techniques into the home environment. More specifically: How do foster parents perceive the value of using performance coaching techniques in a mentoring role, when preparing foster youth to transition to adult living? Using the consistent, daily and emotional connection of foster parents to use coaching techniques such as critical inquiry, goal setting, and creating a personal buy-in, may be just what is needed to improve the process. There are many mentoring programs available throughout the US. However, they are not reaching many of the youth. Marianne Brough, Executive Director of the Utah Mentor Project, stated "We only have 25-50 youth participating in our program at any given time, even though there are 200 to 300 youth released from foster care (in Utah) per year. Our programs rely on the youth reaching out to us (M. Brough, personal communication, January 31, 2013). This is a problem many similar programs have. By the time a youth is released from the system, issues of being transient, lack of transportation, lack of information on programs available, interest levels and time between employment and scholastic activities get in the way of participating in many of 9 IMPLEMENTATION OF COACHING TECHNIQUES these programs. There are also limits within the programs themselves. Finding skilled mentors willing to volunteer for the entire length of a program can be challenging. Because of this, more effort in preparing foster youth for emancipation should be implemented during the years before being released from the system. Until funding becomes available in states that do not provide services to youth past the age of eighteen, ways to expand the effectiveness and use of mentoring foster youth need to be explored. Research on mentoring, which will be expounded upon in Chapter II, has taken several different approaches. It has looked at mentoring both before and after emancipation and at the effect mentoring has on outcomes and familial relationships for foster youth. What had not been explored were the tools and methods used in mentoring, the role of the foster parent(s) being used as natural mentors, and if both the techniques, and who is administering them, can be improved upon for greater positive impact. My research focused on introducing foster parents as holding the role as mentor(s), by arming them with techniques used by professional performance coaches. The research looked at whether foster parents were willing and capable of taking on this natural mentoring role and explored if they were able to learn and use critical inquiry to improve problem solving and goal setting with the youth in their care. My research took place in Utah, which has a very good training and support program in place, to educate and nurture foster parents. This support and education are provided by the non-profit organization Utah Foster Care Foundation, which is under government contract to train, and prepare foster parents to take in traumatized children, prepare them for the state certifications process, present ongoing educational training and provide support to foster families to increase the longevity of child placements. 10 IMPLEMENTATION OF COACHING TECHNIQUES Through the use of Utah Foster Care Foundations ongoing education training program, I provided performance coaching techniques training for parents of teens in care. Following the training, and a chance to implement the skills at home for one month, I interviewed foster parents to find out how well they learned and implemented the coaching techniques and if they thought the implementing of these techniques was feasible and valuable. I also inquired whether their foster youth saw differences in their approach and whether they felt the changes helped their youth in their decision-making processes. Benefits of Coaching Coaching is a method of engaging the participant in the exploration and solution process of problem solving (Hicks, 2009). The basic premise is that by deeply involving the participant in active listening, experiential learning, critical thinking and critical inquiry, the participant will come up with their own goal(s), plan of action and exploration of their problem (Hicks, 2009). Theoretically, because they were active and full participants in the process, they will be more likely to follow through and improve upon future problem-solving skills (Powers, Turner, Westwood, Matuszewski, Wilson, & Phillips, 2001) This active participation is key to solving trust and detachment issues often found in current and former foster youth (Lieberman, 2003). Foster children often have trouble with trusting adults in their lives (Rodriguez, 2003). Many decisions made by adults, for these kids, have led to abandonment, disruption, loss, pain, and grief. Furthermore, the more a foster child is placed in multiple foster homes or transitions from biological home to foster homes, the more these issues of trust and detachment manifest (Farruggia et al., 2006; Courtney, & Dworsky, 2006). 11 IMPLEMENTATION OF COACHING TECHNIQUES How Do We Do This? In 2009, a three-year longitudinal study began to see what impact regular coaching sessions with emancipating youth would have. The My Life study, held in the Pacific Northwest, found that positive outcomes for emancipated foster youth increased with the number of coaching sessions completed (Powers, Greenen, Powers, Pommier-Satya, Turner, Dalton, & Swank, 2012). That being said, if we can incorporate these coaching techniques into the skills used daily by foster parents, foster youth will consistently be mentored, learning and using these skills to make decisions. The youth will learn how to critically question and problem solve. This will benefit them as they are out on their own by helping them to think through questions and problems, and be confident that they can find the answers and solve their problems on their own. For example: When contemplating higher education, instead of being overwhelmed with the whole idea and not knowing where to start, they will acquire the skills to sit down and think about the basic steps and the details of what they will need to get started and who they will need to talk to. Why Use Foster Parents Foster parents have the best opportunity to build in all of the best practices that Dubois, Holloway, Valentine, and Cooper (2002) said were critical to a successful mentoring partnership. Foster parents have already been screened extensively by DCFS to help assure a safe relationship. Parents go through extensive training, both before and during their foster placements. Many states also require ongoing support systems in place to support the foster parents and youth. And some offer activities for foster families and youth to participate in together. And many youths continue their relationships with their foster families even after emancipation which would provide the needed duration, consistency, and emotional connection. 12 IMPLEMENTATION OF COACHING TECHNIQUES Utah Foster Care Foundation In 1997, then Utah Governor Leavitt noticed that there was a shortage of foster homes for the rapidly growing numbers of children needing out of home care. The Governor had a lofty goal of increasing the number of foster homes from around 1200 to 3000 by the year 2000 (Office of Legislative Auditor, 2002). The Division of Child and Family Services (DCFS) did not have the manpower or resources available to recruit, train, license and retain that many families in such a short amount a time. A plan was designed that DCFS would combine forces with a non-profit agency that would operate on both state and private resources that would take over the tasks of recruiting, training and retaining qualified foster homes (Office of Legislative Auditor, 2002). The Utah Foster Care Foundation was founded and has been operating throughout Utah since. I proposed to develop and hold training sessions using a certified professional performance coach, at the Utah Foster Care Association with volunteer foster parents of foster teens who are facing emancipation. By teaching foster parents some of the coaching skills that evoke critical thought and questioning in the foster youth, I hoped to provide emancipated youth better decision-making skills to help improve their outcomes. Foster parents regularly have to take continuing training hours through Utah Foster Care Foundation to keep their foster care provider license current. The Utah Foster Care Association provides the majority of those training opportunities for foster parents. By working with them to develop a training, I provided a needed service of new and unique training opportunities, as well as provided tools that will aid in the success and retention of good and caring foster families. More information on these tools and techniques will be given in Chapters II and III. 13 IMPLEMENTATION OF COACHING TECHNIQUES Significance Many foster and emancipated youth have a great deal of trouble with authority. This can affect the mentor/mentee relationship (Lieberman, 2003; Spencer et al., 2010). The foster youth may be resistant to listening to or accepting advice from an individual, especially coming from a formal mentor match who is a stranger to the mentee (Hudson, 2013). Coaching, through the natural mentorship from the foster parent, may be a model that could successfully be used with these individuals. Since coaching is not about telling the person being coached what to do, this could potentially eliminate some of the issues with authority that foster youth often possess. Through practicing these skills, youths learn that they are capable of finding answers that best serve their needs and situations and that they can improve their decision-making and problem-solving skills before and after transitioning to adult living. This small study, and the restrictive time constraints has not provided enough data to give conclusive evidence. However, it suggests that this method is worth further examination. By training and interviewing the foster parents, I have seen the willingness and possible feasibility of using these mentoring and coaching techniques in the home. By providing this training, and exploring its value, I have started the process of answering the bigger question about whether implementing coaching techniques is an effective method of improving outcomes for emancipated youth, and if foster parents are the right natural mentors to facilitate those techniques. 14 IMPLEMENTATION OF COACHING TECHNIQUES Chapter II: Literature Review The implementation of coaching concepts, delivered by a trained and caring foster parent, addresses many of the core goals of successful mentoring programs. It addresses the important emphasis on duration and consistency through having daily contact with the youth (Grossman & Rhodes, 2002; Spencer, et al., 2010). Foster parents also have the greatest opportunity to form the emotional bond needed for a successful mentoring program (Spencer, et al. 2010). The key difference is the switch from stressing the abilities and tools of the mentor (that may or may not be helpful or applicable to the foster youths' life or situation), to the abilities and tools possessed by the youth. It is a shift in the mentor and parenting relationship that expands the exploration of the youths' capabilities to set goals, use their own tools and knowledge to attain those goals and to use critical thinking skills to solve problems that arise. It turns empowerment and self-direction over to the youth with guidance by the coach/mentor. Learning these skills can make the transition to adult living a little easier for these youth. What is a successful transition to adult living and what outcomes for emancipated youth are expected? "Successful transition, for youth, ages 14 to 23 years, means that upon leaving the care of the public child welfare system, a young person is pre-disposed to a life of meaning and purpose" (Dudley & Harbert, 2007, p.4). Meaning and purpose may be hard to define and different for each person, but for this study it means to be successfully living independently of assistance programs, have food, housing and basic medical care and good general mental health. Being released from the state sponsored support system, at the young age of 18 years old, means that emancipated foster youth must figure out how to provide these things on their own. Housing, employment, food and medical care are basic needs many youths aging out of the child welfare system either do not have access to or lack the knowledge and skills to obtain. 15 IMPLEMENTATION OF COACHING TECHNIQUES In addition to the lack of basic needs, studies have revealed that youth between the ages of 18-21 have far higher rates of homelessness, pregnancy, substance abuse, mental and physical health issues and incarceration than their peers (Courtney & Dworsky, 2006; Schelbe, 2011). While it may seem that releasing these young people out of the system at age 18 with no support would save time and money, the cost is quite substantial (Schelbe, 2011; Courtney, Dworsky, & Peters, 2009). The cost of homeless shelters, emergency rooms, substance abuse treatment centers, numerous welfare programs, courts, and incarceration facilities is staggering (Atkinson, 2008). Currently, 26 states have services that extend in home foster placement and services until the age of 21. Even though this has been proven to improve outcomes of this population, all other states end services sometime between ages 18-21 (Atkinson, 2008). Utah releases youth at the age of 18 as long as the youth have a transition plan in place, is not afflicted with a disability or has a child of their own (National Association of Public Child Welfare Administrators, n.d.). So why haven't other states caught up with what is clearly a proven need? The problem is complex and includes funding, value of individualism, perception, and framing of "problem kids" and general lack of awareness by the public and legislative bodies (Schelbe, 2011). Mentoring programs have been a successful, low-cost way of improving the outcomes for emancipated foster youth (Spencer, et al., 2010). Unfortunately, they are not the complete solution to poor outcomes for these youth. Until funding becomes available for other types of comprehensive programs, methods to improve the mentoring process need to be explored. Teaching mentors the critical inquiry skills used in professional performance coaching may be one such idea that can improve the effectiveness of mentoring youth in care to improve later outcomes. 16 IMPLEMENTATION OF COACHING TECHNIQUES Outcomes for Emancipated Foster Youth As mentioned previously, several large longitudinal studies have been conducted to look at the outcomes of children who have been in foster care. The Chapin Hall Center has led the field with a large longitudinal study of aging out youth in the Midwest called the Midwest Evaluation of the Adult Functioning of Former Foster Youth conducted by Mark Courtney (2011). The study followed 732 youth from various Midwest states. Those who lived in Illinois were provided extended care through age 21, and those who were from surrounding states ended care at the age of 18 (Courtney, Dworsky, Ruth, Keller, Havlicek, & Bost, 2005). The study conducted interviews as participants reached ages 19, 21, 23, and 26 to look at the effects on outcomes extended foster care provided (Schelbe, 2011; Courtney et al., 2011). There has also been important work done by the Casey Foundation and the Child Welfare League of America (Schelbe, 2011). The Casey Foundation is a private philanthropy group that has provided many grants to agencies and studies exploring the issues the negatively affect children in poverty and foster care (Annie E. Casey Foundation, 2015). The Child Welfare League of America is a powerful coalition of hundreds of public and private agencies that serve vulnerable populations (Child Welfare League of America, 2013). Both of these organizations have funded studies to further the understanding of poor outcomes for emancipated foster youth and what can be done about them. Many of the studies from these large organizations have found that youth who have been in foster care and, more specifically, have emancipated from foster care, do not fare as well as youth who have not been in foster care (Ahrens et al., 2011; Courtney & Dworsky, 2006; Hudson, 2013; Pecora et al., 2005; Schelbe, 2011; Spencer et al., 2010). 17 IMPLEMENTATION OF COACHING TECHNIQUES Negative Economic Outcomes. While there are many negative economic outcomes that can befall emancipated youth, there are a couple of outcomes that are more prevalent than others. National statistics state that approximately 1% of the general population experience some level of homelessness before the age of 25. Homelessness is described as not having a traditional place or location to sleep for at least one night out of a year (Pecora et al., 2005). In contrast, one major study reported that 20% of all foster youth have reported being homeless within a year of aging out of foster care (Pecora et al., 2005) and as high as 40% reported being homeless at least once by age 26 (Courtney et al., 2011). Former foster youth also struggle to obtain and keep employment and often work for lower wages than their counterparts (Courtney & Dworsky, 2006). In early findings of the Midwest Study, 55% of all participants had lost at least one job within the first year of leaving care. Only 40% of its participants reported still being employed at age 19 (Courtney & Dworsky, 2006). Based on this, it is not hard to see why many emancipated youth suffer economically. The average age of self-sufficiency (described as able to supply one's own or its own needs without external assistance) in the US is age 26 (Spencer et al., 2010). Yet many youth in foster care are systematically being released from care at the age of 18. Sometimes this release happens before they finish high school (Spencer et al., 2010). Other economic areas that foster youth also struggle include, but are not limited to, difficulties in obtaining housing, signing leases and acquiring loans because they lack cosigners or a credit history (Dworsky et al, 2013). Negative Social Outcomes. Foster youth suffer from a variety of negative social outcomes disproportionately to their peers. Because of the instability of family and living structures, foster youth often lack the experiential learning of basic life skills which can have 18 IMPLEMENTATION OF COACHING TECHNIQUES negative results in many areas of their lives. From the basics of learning to shop, cook, do laundry, manage a bank account, drive, or how to use public transit (Dworsky, Napolitano & Courtney, 2013), to knowing what to do in a legal or adverse health situations, emancipated youth lack the skills to adequately navigate through the social structures we have in place. The issues these youth face are too numerous to list but the following are some of the more significant. Before leaving foster care, foster youth suffer disproportionately from physical and mental problems (Courtney & Huering, 2005). Data shows that when children leave foster care with mental and physical ailments, problems can persist and worsen due to lack of access to care, increased behavioral risk taking and poverty (Courtney et al., 2007). For example a foster youth who leaves care who may suffer from Asperger's Syndrome or Schizophrenia, lacks the familial support to manage those conditions and may not know how to seek help or treatment which would only increase the chances of negative outcomes for that youth. Youths who have aged out of foster can have more problems with the law than their peers (Atkinson, 2008) Forty one percent of former foster youth reported spending time in jail and 26% had formal charges brought against them for illegal activity (Courtney et al., 2011). Youth who emancipate from foster care are also significantly less likely than their peers to finish high school or obtain higher education. The Midwest study found that more than a third of foster care youth lacked a high school diploma and that of those who graduate, 20% live independently (Courtney et al., 2005). Only 20% of emancipated foster youth attend postsecondary education compared to 60% of non-fostered youth. Only 5% complete postsecondary degrees, compared to 20% of non-fostered youth (Wolanin, 2005). 19 IMPLEMENTATION OF COACHING TECHNIQUES Emancipated youth disproportionately show higher incidences of early unwed parenthood, higher levels of sexually transmitted disease, increased incidence of violence and death (Courtney et al., 2011). Females, and youth identifying as LGBTQ, have higher percentages of being sex trafficked and higher instances of sexual assault as compared to their peers (Spencer et al., 2010). During operations to combat sex trafficking, the FBI has found that an overwhelming 60% of children rescued in sex trafficking stings are from foster care (Federal Bureau of Investigations, 2008). Many of these negative outcomes may be improved or avoided by arming youth with good critical thinking skills. Children who have never been taught to think for themselves, independently make and accomplish goals, or to break down problems into manageable solutions will struggle more with critical life decisions. Mentoring using coaching techniques aims to instill those skills in youth before they leave the system. By teaching youth, through their foster parents, that they have the ability to figure out the right thing to do and to set goals in relation to their own best interest, youth can overcome or avoid many of the challenges they face. What is Currently Available? Several areas play a key role in the successful transition of a teen in foster care to a functioning, self-sufficient adult. Among these are a safe and stable place to live, an opportunity for employment, and education, a connection to peers and caring adults, and access to physical and mental health care services (Avery, 2011). Because services are sorely needed for youth transitioning out of foster care, several federal laws have been enacted to provide funds and programs to assist states in offering assistance to 18-21-year-old emancipated youth. Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act of 1980. The federal system stepped into state welfare territory in 1980 with the enactment of this bill. It created a subgroup of youth 20 IMPLEMENTATION OF COACHING TECHNIQUES who, if eligible, are considered Title IV foster children and fall under the partial care of the federal government. Title IV refers to those children who fall under the Aid to Families with Dependent Children and Aid to Child Welfare Services federal income eligibility rules (Congress.gov, 1980). Title IV section E specifically refers to foster children. It reimburses states for a part of the cost of providing foster care to Title IV eligible foster children. Although this act does little for emancipated children, it does encourage adoption before reaching that point by providing funding for older youth adoption outreach and support programs. It also provides funds for children diagnosed with disabilities to remain in the child welfare system until age 21 (Congress.gov, 1980). At age 21 they are switched to the regular Social Security System. The Title IV-E Independent Living Program 1986. This program focused on areas of skills training that states must provide when developing and providing independent living services to youth. These skill areas include employment, education, daily living skills and other skills needed to maintain self-sufficiency. Before that time, there was no specific federal funding available for programs for this population. This bill aims to involve youth in their transition planning and requires states to provide transition training. The coaching skills foster parents will learn in this study will support, and more importantly, put into practice critical thinking concepts taught to youth in their transition courses. The Foster Care Independence Act of 1999. To fill gaps that already exist within the Social Security Act in regards to emancipated youth, Congress passed a bill that directs funds toward emancipated youth programs (Library of Congress, 1999). The Foster Care Independence Act of 1999 provides flexible funding for states to provide independent living services to Title IV youth with only 20% matching funds. It also introduced The Chafee Education and Training Vouchers Program (ETV) which provides discretionary funds for 21 IMPLEMENTATION OF COACHING TECHNIQUES educational and training vouchers (up to $5,000 per year) for Title IV emancipated youth (Social Security Administration, 1999). This was a good step in using available Social Security Funds and applying them to programs that benefit these youth if states choose to use them. I will provide more detail further in this paper to explain how Utah has and has not used these funds. The Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008. The Fostering Connections Act was proposed after studies done in California, and the Midwest showed that young people who remain in care until age 21 have better outcomes than those who don't (Schelbe, 2011; Courtney, Dworsky, and Peters, 2009). The studies showed increase post-secondary education outcomes, higher levels of employment and earnings, and lower levels of substance abuse and mortality (Courtney, Dworsky, & Peters, 2009). Other studies also found that permanent placement of any kind (whether through adoption, kin placement, reunification, or even just having a strong adult mentor) showed significant improvement of emancipated youth outcomes (Avery, 2011). This act allows matching funds for states who wish to participate in caring for Title IV youth until age 21 as long as they are completing high school, in a post-secondary school, vocational school, employed, or incapable of doing these things due to a disability. It also provides matching funding for finding permanent homes or connections with caring adults for emancipated youth ages 18-21 (Congress.gov, 2008). One of the problems with this particular bill is that it is optional for states. Utah currently is not using these funds. They reason that not all children in the Utah foster care system qualify for Title IV so it would be unfair to use funds for some of the children but not all. When states choose not to take advantage of these funds, emancipated youths do not benefit from this bill. Preventing Sex Trafficking and Strengthening Families Act of 2014. In 2003, the FBI started noticing an alarming number of children under the age of 18 being caught in 22 IMPLEMENTATION OF COACHING TECHNIQUES prostitution raids. In cooperation with the Department of Justice, and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, the FBI created the Innocence Lost National Initiative (Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2008). In 2007 the initiative started Operation Cross Country, a three day sting operation that brought the FBI, local law enforcement, social services and prosecutors together to rescue child sex workers. Over the years, the realization that a staggering 50-80 percent of children who were being rescued during Operation Cross Country, were found to be coming from state foster care systems became alarming to state and US representatives (Silver, 2013). In 2011, Representative Dave Reichart, chair of the congressional subcommittee overseeing our foster care system, ordered a Caucus to review and investigate the information coming from the FBI showing the connection to foster care (Reichart, 2014). In October 2013, at the end of the investigations by the Congressional Caucus on Foster Youth, legislators were asked to present their proposals for legislation to combat child sex trafficking with special attention on the connection to youth coming from foster care. One piece of legislation stood out from the rest. Senator Orrin Hatch from Utah introduced Senate Bill 1518 Improving Outcomes for Youth at Risk for Sex Trafficking Act of 2013. (Casey, 2013). This was a promising piece of legislation. It addressed many of the root causes of poor outcomes for emancipated youth including programs to decrease the number of children going into foster care with in-home services, increase older child adoptions, and encourages "normalcy"1 for youth going through the foster care system. Key provisions, specifically for emancipated youth included encouraging extended familial ties, funding mentor programs and providing housing options for 1 Foster children, because of lack of funds and safety reasons, often miss out on many activities that would otherwise be seen as "normal" for a developing child. For example: taking sports, music, or dance lessons, going away for summer camp or having sleep overs at friend's houses. 23 IMPLEMENTATION OF COACHING TECHNIQUES emancipated youth. The Act passed the Senate but was later merged with H.R. 4980- Preventing Sex Trafficking and Strengthening Families Act of 2014. Because of budget constraints and congressional maneuvering, the only provision left, once signed, was a $1,000,000 grant to start a national database to better track run-away foster youth (Congress.Gov, 2014). With nearly 400,000 children currently in foster care, Congress invested about $2.50 per child to help improve their outcomes. This shows how, once again, Congress briefly saw the importance of this population and yet failed to pass any legislation that would force states to substantially support youth in transition. All of these acts made strides to increase support for emancipated youth; however, the youth these acts serve must be eligible for Title IV funding. This means that their biological families, not the emancipated youth, must meet very strict low income limits in order for the youth to qualify (Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System Report, 2010). What happens to a youth whose biological parents do not meet these requirements once they are emancipated? This is a very large loophole in the system that leaves these youth without any support programs if the state does not elect to pick up the cost. If we are going to leave youth on their own, without support, we must provide them with the tools to find resources, solve problems and think through complex situations to find answers that will benefit the youth long term. Instilling these skills through coaching techniques could be a great benefit for these youth who have insufficient other support. What is Utah Doing? Utah has approximately 200-300 youth age out from the system each year (Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System Report, 2010). This is relatively low compared to other states given Utah's low population, prevalence of a strong family support system within the 24 IMPLEMENTATION OF COACHING TECHNIQUES dominant Mormon religion in the state, and a push for more in-home-care in 2012 (Cortez, 2012). While there are fewer youth leaving care in Utah, this low number can serve as a deterrent to legislators. It can keep them from seeing the importance of investing in programs that can benefit these youth. Because of this Utah foster youth have very few resources to turn to. Currently, Utah is not using the Fostering to Connections Act funds for emancipating youth. Their concern is that the federal funds only help Title IV kids. The state would then have to pay for all other non-qualifying Title IV youth (National Association of Public Child Welfare Administrators, 2008). Approximately 40% of Utah foster children are currently not eligible for title IV assistance (Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System Report, 2010). There are a few non-profit programs in place to help this population of youths find support in Utah, but they are largely underfunded, and there is no data to show how successful they are in achieving their goals here in Utah. Also, this seems to be a reactive approach rather than a pro-active approach. For example; The Division of Child and Family Services, "Just for Youth" website provides youth with resources and information on employment, education, housing, health transportation and finances (Just for Youth, 2010). And the Utah Department of Child and Family Services, Transition to Adult Living Program, helps youth stay connected with each other as a support system, while also helping them with housing, job training, and applying for health care. These services are available to youth ages 15 through 18 (findyouthinfo.gov, 2011). Also, Utah is using the federal Chafee program funds for educational vouchers, health care, transportation and housing for some foster youth, but not all (NAPCWA, 2008). Because of their discretionary nature, funds are limited and only available to educationally high performing youth. 25 IMPLEMENTATION OF COACHING TECHNIQUES There is also a local non-profit organization called the Christmas Box, which is involved in helping emancipated youth. Their JourneyUp Mentor Project is a program that provides education and resource information on successful independent living to youth. They also facilitate a connection between emancipated youth and an adult mentor. This program currently helps between 30-50 youth per year. Mentoring Mentor was a character in Homer's Odyssey. Telemachus, son of King Ulysses, was left in the hands of a friend, Mentor, when Ulysses went off to war. Mentor (often possessed by the Goddess Athena) was in charge of shaping both the education and character of young Telemachus (Power, 2011). Athena embodied good counsel, prudent restraint and practical insight; all qualities of a good mentor (Power, 2011). In other words, Athena, through the body of Mentor, guided and exemplified the skills, knowledge, attitudes and attributes she wanted young Telemachus to possess. Over time, mentoring has evolved from constant companions and trade apprenticeships, to a more business model of career guidance, leadership development and/or trusted advisors. But the main premise of an older, more experienced individual, teaching a younger, less experienced individual remains intact. As state and federal budgets tightened over the past 20 years, alternative, low-cost ways of assisting youth were sought in lieu of costly more structured support. Mentoring programs sprang up in abundance as volunteers, who wanted to help this population, without the commitment of full-time foster care, volunteered their time and experience to these foster youth. Mentoring program goals for youth in foster care usually consist of (a) facilitating connections to social services, (b) improving youths' life, social and academic skills, and (c) reducing negative adult outcomes (Kaplan, et al., 2009). Programs often embrace self-26 IMPLEMENTATION OF COACHING TECHNIQUES determination, youth empowerment, and experiential learning theories. Self-determination helps youth realize their power over the situations that present themselves in life as well as making them active participants in setting goals and plans (Geenan, et al., 2014). Youth empowerment gives them the opportunity to test and assert themselves beyond the systems put in place for them (Kaplan, et al., 2009). Experiential learning allows youth to learn through concrete experience and then be able to reflect and experiment with different outcomes (Turesky & Gallagher, 2011). Self-determination, empowerment, and experiential learning are all good concepts and important, but they are not the full picture. A mentor's purpose is to use their life and experiences to teach youth. A foster youth's life and experiences often do not resemble the mentors. This can make it difficult for youth to relate the mentor's example into their own lives. What is needed is for the youth to be able to use skills to recognize, identify and solve problems in their lives in the context of their own lives. Not every youth possess the skills needed to succeed, but every youth can possess the ability to figure out how to obtain those skills should they desire to. This is true self-determination and self-empowerment. Given that coaching techniques have been shown to do exactly this in the subjects that are coached, we need to look at the effects of incorporating them into their daily lives to increase the impact. Studies show that mentoring programs, prior to and following emancipation, have proven to promote positive outcomes and be cost-effective (Ahrens, et al., 2011). The mentoring that foster youths receive often exhibits different qualities and relationships than mentoring youth within the general population. For example foster, and emancipated foster youth in a successful mentoring match often report getting extra tangible assistance compared with youth in other populations (Ahrens, et al., 2011). They might receive rides to a job interview, free meals, a place to do laundry or financial assistance. This coupled to the increase in positive adult 27 IMPLEMENTATION OF COACHING TECHNIQUES outcomes reported, suggests that mentors for foster children may hold a substitute parental role (Ahrens, et al., 2011). Because of the attachment and trust issues many foster youths possess due to the traumas they have commonly experienced, this level of trust can be difficult to attain in mentoring relationships (Spencer, et al., 2010). However, when it is successful, the relationship can have a powerful positive effect on the emancipating youth. There are three key factors to a successful mentorship given the heightened vulnerabilities and complex needs of these youths. These factors include duration, consistency and the emotional connection that potentially occurs in the relationship (Grossman & Rhodes (2003). Duration. Grossman and Rhodes (2003) note that a mentoring relationship lasting at least one year experienced the greatest benefits. The longer the relationship, the more direct effect on future outcomes for the emancipated youth. In fact, anything less than one year, especially three months or less, can actually have a detrimental outcome (Grossman & Rhodes, 2003). Sadly studies also show that only about half of all mentoring relationships, established through formal pairings, last more than a few months. This rate is even lower for those youth who struggle with behavioral problems (Grossman & Rhodes, 2002). Foster children often suffer from low self-worth and attachment issues (Spencer, et al., 2010). The perceived failure of yet one more relationship in their lives often results in a lower sense of self-worth and educational competence (Grossman & Rhodes, 2002). This suggests that, at the very least, we need to find ways to strengthen and support formal mentor relationships. We also need to look at using more natural pairings. When the mentor is more naturally invested in the youths' future, duration of that relationship might naturally be lengthened. Either way, protecting foster youth from further rejection or disappointment must take precedence in the forming of a mentor relationship 28 IMPLEMENTATION OF COACHING TECHNIQUES Consistency. Maintaining consistent and frequent contact is also a key factor to a successful mentor relationship (Spencer et al., 2010). Many foster youth face constant change in their lives. Moving from home to home and losing trust in what they see, feel and hear from adults is common. Because of this inconsistency in primary relationships, many youth have issues with attachment (Mennen & O'Keefe, 2005). Attachment theory states that the important mental task of attaching to primary care givers during development can be positively or negatively affected by life experience (Mennen & O'Keefe, 2005). A child's sense of self, others, and relationships is closely tied to this process. The more this process is disrupted by family displacement (death or removal from biological family, foster home disruptions, and failed adoptions), the more distrust the child feels toward adults and caregivers (Mennen & O'Keefe, 2005; Cook-Fong, 2000). They may have little confidence that they will be responded to when in need. As one foster child put it "Making yourself vulnerable is not easy to do when trust has been betrayed time and time again, and you've never had anything positive come from opening yourself up" (Davis, 2003, p. 9). Evidence shows, however, that these negative outcomes can be overcome when emotional stability and security is consistently provided (Mennen & O'Keefe, 2005). The persistence of the mentor to maintain the relationship and consistency in actions and frequency of meetings can overcome the obstinacy and distrust demonstrated by the foster youth. This can eventually result in a strong and effectual bond between the two (Coleman, 2000). With the immense disruption in familial and peer relationships that foster youth have experienced, building strong emotional bonds with others can be difficult. However, distrust of the caring adult can be overcome by consistently following through in the mentor relationship. 29 IMPLEMENTATION OF COACHING TECHNIQUES Emotional Connection. Creating a strong emotional bond between the adult and youth is also essential in forming a successful mentorship (Spencer et al., 2010). Many youths who have moved from home to home lack a strong emotional bond to any adults. The presence of strong emotional connections with a caring adult has been shown to improve feelings of self-worth (Grossman & Rhodes, 2002). However, this particular important component for success can often be the most difficult for these youth. After so much emotional trauma and disruption, youths in care often struggle with forming emotional ties. Often the people they live with have the best chance of being able to overcome these obstacles and form the necessary bonds. This close emotional connection can lead to youth feeling comfortable enough to conduct the personal exploration that coaching techniques encourage. Coaching Research shows that there is a great need for programs that support foster youth. Support is necessary to improve positive outcomes for emancipated youth. Due to budget constraints, cost effective mentoring programs have emerged to fill that need for support programs. But the use of traditional mentor programs still falls short in bridging the gap between adult outcomes for emancipated youth and the general population (Spencer, et. al., 2010). Because mentoring is the one of the only support programs offered to emancipated youth in Utah, maximizing its potential for increasing positive outcomes is essential in improving the lives of these young people. I believe this can be done through adding coaching techniques to the mentoring process and starting that process before they leave care with the natural mentor relationship of foster parents. Therefore, I have explored how well foster parents learn, and implement these techniques, as well as their feelings on its effectiveness. 30 IMPLEMENTATION OF COACHING TECHNIQUES Performance and executive coaching first emerged in the business world after the economic downturn of the country in the 1990's. Lengthy and expensive training programs could no longer be afforded, and a more individualized approach became necessary (Performance Coaching International, 2012). In-depth open conversations and debate are needed to be facilitated by experts who can focus on underlying needs of organizations (Performance Coaching International, 2012). Collaboration and guidance needed to be fostered to draw the best leadership skills out of individual executives. As with mentoring, these general beneficial business concepts are being pulled into the child welfare system in an attempt to improve the outcomes of youth. Coaching is performance oriented with an emphasis on goal setting and sustained positive change (Spinelli, 2008). Its goal is to help the coachee set and attain goals. However, the emphasis from the coach is not so much on the goal, but instead, stresses the importance of strategies to reach goals in order to influence performance (Moen & Skaalvik, 2009). Anthony Grant (2011) further defines the coaching process as: The coaching process is a series of processes in which an individual sets a goal, develops a plan of action, begins action, monitors his or her performance, evaluates his or her performance by comparison to a standard, and based on this evaluation changes his or her actions to better reach his or her goals. The coach's role is to facilitate the coachee's movement through the self-regulatory cycle (p. 118). The coach's role is to stress and encourage the process and the experiential learning happening during those processes while facilitating the journey towards goal completion. Skilled coaches can help the people they work with recognize, and celebrate their own, unique and creative capabilities to solve problems and set goals. 31 IMPLEMENTATION OF COACHING TECHNIQUES The transition process, from foster care to independent adult living, is the time for youth to start using the tools and skills they have learned to set and attain goals. For example; currently, without the guidance of a trusted adult who has been to college to walk youth through the process, the thought of going to college can become overwhelming, and he or she will often just give up on such a large goal. This is one of the reasons first generation students are seen as a vulnerable population within colleges. They do not have the benefit of having someone around who has gone through the process. But if a young person has critical inquiry skills to break down the steps of what they must do to achieve this goal by constantly asking, "How would I do that?" "Who could answer this question?" or "Where would I go to find out that information?" they can start to break down the process into much more manageable and attainable goals. Performance coaching also focuses on the positives already present in the coachee's life and works to overcome difficulties with those same positive tools. It is not so much about fixing what is wrong with someone, but on enhancing the things they already do right (Spinelli, 2008). This is referred to as the Self-Efficacy Theory. An individual begins to see that they have skills and capabilities to problem solve and reach goals on their own (Moen & Skaalvik, 2009). The encouragement and realization of all the positive abilities and capabilities already available through themselves would go a long way at improving emancipated youths' feelings of self-worth. Coaching attempts to develop relationships based on equals as opposed to the power imbalance of a relationship between a mentor and a mentee (Spinelli, 2008). This is an important key to the coaching relationship when it comes time for the reflection and evaluation part of the coaching process (Moen & Skaalvik, 2009). In the traditional mentor/mentee relationship, there can be a perception of power balance in which the mentor holds control over 32 IMPLEMENTATION OF COACHING TECHNIQUES the mentee. Control is commonly defined as being in a state of being regulated by others or circumstance (Harper, 2007). Control yields short-term results but often decreases motivation. On the other hand, coaching presents a relationship of equality which creates an environment where the coachee has control and can self-motivate. Self-motivation and direction yield long term results (Harper, 2007). This approach would fulfill the need for foster youth, leaving the system, to be engaged in and become empowered by the coaching process (Atkinson, 2008). By recognizing the need for foster youth, with trust and attachment issues, to self- empower and by removing that power inequity, coaches provide a space for foster youth to exert safely self-regulation and determination. It is no longer about not being told what to do, but about what is best for me in my situation. There has been little study on the effects of performance coaching youth. In a 1996 study called TAKE CHARGE For the Future, researchers started a year-long coaching program to help adult transitioning youth with disabilities become an active part of their transition plan and goal setting (Powers, et al., 2001). After going through one year of coaching, the youth started to independently initiate working on goals and actively solicited information and help from those around them (Powers, et al., 2001). These are the exact behaviors that will benefit these youth once they transition to independent living. After noticing that many of the disabled youth in the TAKE CHARGE For the Future study were in foster care, Powers and her team of researchers decided to include foster youth in a similar study ten years later (Powers, et al., 2012). The My Life study followed three cohorts of foster youth, with and without disabilities, ages 16-17 who were preparing to transition to adult living. Each participating subject went through one year of weekly coaching sessions while the control group went through the regular ten-week state required independent living program. At 33 IMPLEMENTATION OF COACHING TECHNIQUES the one-year follow-up interview, youth in the coaching program had higher rates of employment, high school completion, and involvement with higher education (Powers, et al., 2012). Conclusion The need for services to assist emancipated youth in the transition to adult living is clear. Without this assistance, the outcomes for this population remain bleak. High rates of homelessness, incarceration, poverty, substance abuse and poverty, along with lower educational attainment, wages, and employment, continue to plague these youth. (Courtney& Dworsky, 2006; Schlebe, 2011). As these youth struggle, so does the cost of the adult systems set in place to pick up the pieces (Schlebe, 2011). The impact of early and unprepared youth emancipating out of foster care have significant impacts on the state and federal welfare, court, unemployment and prison systems (Atkinson, 2008). They also place a burden on systems in place to help adults struggling in society (Courtney, Dworsky, & Peters, 2009). Despite the needs of emancipated youth, and the burdens upon the systems and programs, state and federal legislators are reluctant to invest significant money into programs that will significantly help these youth. During times of declining economies and tight state and federal budgets, low-cost alternatives, such as mentoring programs, have been used in many states, including Utah. Mentoring, while being proven to have a positive effect on the outcomes of emancipated youth, is not the remedy for all emancipated youth issues. But given the tight budgeting parameters in Utah, and the lack of interest by legislators towards this population, making these mentoring programs the best they can be is desirable. I believe mentoring, specifically aimed at emancipated youth, can be improved upon by implementing many of the 34 IMPLEMENTATION OF COACHING TECHNIQUES techniques used by professional executive and performance coaches. Emancipated youth would benefit from the critical inquiry and thinking skills learned in using these techniques. By training foster parents to fill that role of Coach and Mentor we can create a consistent emphasis on the skills that youth will need to think critically through problems, attain goals and find resources needed for successful independent adult living. This study conducted training and follow-up interviews to discover whether this process is viable, effective and valued by foster parents and youth. 35 IMPLEMENTATION OF COACHING TECHNIQUES Chapter III: Methods Introduction In this chapter, I will outline the methods used in my research to explore how foster parents perceive the value of using performance coaching techniques in a mentoring role when preparing foster youth to transition to adult living? To gather information for this study I took a qualitative research approach to gathering and analyzing data. According to Morrow and Smith (2000), this method focuses on, "an emphasis on particular characteristics being studied, or more broadly by the overall themes of participants' experiences" (p.87). In other words, this study focuses on exactly how each participant assigns value to the training, its applied use, and its effectiveness. This study was conducted in four phases. Phase 1 will describe the process of development and the approval process of both the study and the trainings. This development of the training curriculum, approval the Westminster College Institutional Review Board, the Utah Foster Care Foundation, and the State Department of Health and Human Services IRB committee. Phase 2 will describe the training delivery, which includes training foster parents in critical inquiry, goal setting, and performance coaching. This phase also includes detailed observation field notes, and the recruiting of the study participants. Phase 3 examines the data collections use of qualitative individual interviews, which are "one of the most common and powerful ways in which we try to understand our fellow human beings" (Fontana & Frey, 2003, p. 61). This was accomplished through coaching logs, five interviews with seven participants who are all foster parents of teens ages 14 through 18 years old, and follow-up emails. Each of these will be explained in further detail further in this 36 IMPLEMENTATION OF COACHING TECHNIQUES chapter. This section reviews the methods used, challenges faced, and ethical concerns. These concerns include, but not limited to, security of data and personal identifying documentation, and the need for anonymity. Phase 4 reviews the methods used for analysis. It will review the process of analyzing and coding data into relevant and meaningful themes. It will also give an overview of my use of the method "member checking" to continually ensure accuracy of the data. It will show how I acknowledge the experiences and biases I possess from my background in foster care and performance coaching, and yet assure that those biases were kept in check when pulling themes from the data collected. Phase 4 also explores the validity of my data, analysis, and subsequent findings. This section will show that I used several methods outlined in Creswell and Miller's (2000) Determining Validity in Qualitative Inquiry to insure the accuracy of my data. It will show I was able to use triangulation to provide rich and varied data through multiple sources, including interviews, field note observations, and participant coaching logs in order to bolster validity of the findings. It will also demonstrate that I continually challenged my analysis and findings through the use of peer reviews. All of these methods will be explained below in further detail. Phase 1: Development Introducing a new idea, concept, or skill can be difficult when there are already well established practices. People are often resistant to new ways of thinking. Part of the purpose of this study is to examine the feasibility and willingness of foster parents to learn and apply some of these new ideas in the form of performance coaching skills in their daily interactions with foster youth. 37 IMPLEMENTATION OF COACHING TECHNIQUES Foster parents were chosen because of the close, daily interactions they naturally have with foster youth. They have the greatest opportunity to embrace the mentoring role and implement coaching skills in a consistent and frequent manner. This consistency provides an optimal environment to encourage critical inquiry, problem solving, and goal setting. But in order for foster parents to accomplish this task, they must first learn the skills themselves. The best way to engage foster parents in Utah is to work with the primary organization in charge of recruiting, training, and providing on-going education and support for said parents. Because of the role they play in the Utah foster care system, I enlisted the assistance of Mick Woolsey, Director of Education at Utah Foster Care Foundation to accomplish this task. The foundation offers in-service trainings as a way for foster parents to obtain additional skills and continuing education hours that are required to maintain foster care licensure. While going through performance coaching certification training for my job, and working on my research at Westminster College, I simultaneously began developing coaching training that took concepts applicable in the business world and tailored them to resonate with parenting. Training consisted of instruction and exercises that encourage learning and practicing critical inquiry, setting specific, measureable, attainable, relevant, timely (SMART) goals (Stoltzfus, 2008) and holding coaching sessions with their youth. Training was structured so that participants are asked to start looking at ways they ask questions and how the wording of questions effect answers, and behaviors the parents receive. The training also shows parents how to remove focus from themselves, and how to focus questioning towards their youth in order to create more buy in and to empower their youth. Parents explore the meaning of SMART goals and what they may mean and look like to a teenager. It is emphasized that this process is a long term solution that takes time and practice before it can be used for working on negative 38 IMPLEMENTATION OF COACHING TECHNIQUES behaviors. The goal of training is to impress that through this process, youth begin to own their behavior. They recognized the ability they contain within themselves to solve problems and achieve goals, and if done correctly, the need to correct behavior issues could even go away on its own. Training participants then spend the end of training in simulations of mock coaching sessions. They practice critical inquiry and goal setting with a partner by setting a goal of their own that they wish to attain. At the end of training, participants are told about the study and asked if they would be willing to keep a log of their progress and experiences. If they agree they are asked to participate in sharing their experiences using, or not using, coaching skills. For the purpose of this study, this meant that parents who volunteered, agreed to make an attempt at implementing coaching skills learned during the in-service training. They agreed to attempt to hold weekly coaching sessions to promote consistent guidance in critical thinking, both for goal setting and problem solving. They agreed to set at least one small, youth centered and conceived, short term, attainable goal. Concentration would be placed on a positive outcome or reward upon completion in order to create quick wins and buy in. Parents agreed to meet four to six weeks after training to participate in a focus group or individual interview designed to review their experiences. All willing participants were presented with consent forms (Appendix A) which stress, both verbally and in writing, that there would be no connection between the credits earned towards DCFS required training hours and taking part in the study. This study also had no impact on the foster parents' involvement with DCFS, or Utah Foster Care Foundation. It was also expressed, both verbally and in written consent forms, that participation would be completely voluntary and that they could stop participation at any time they choose. I outlined how I would keep their identities and information private as described in the data collection 39 IMPLEMENTATION OF COACHING TECHNIQUES sections below. If participants volunteered, I sent them home with the consent form to read at their leisure, and a log to keep track of their weekly sessions. The logs were to record each session and any reflection on what worked, what didn't and any reactions from their youth (Appendix B). Participants agreed to return the form and the coaching logs to me at the time of the focus group or individual interviews. This training and the follow-up data collection were accepted by Utah Foster Care Foundation at the end of November 2015. Because my study could affect the lives of foster children, a protected group of children under research protocols, in addition to my college IRB review I also had to go through the Utah State Division of Health and Human Services IRB review. My study was accepted by the Westminster College IRB on Dec 7th, 2015, and by the Utah State Division of Health and Human Services IRB on December 19th, 2015. Phase 2: Training Through Mick Woolsey and the coordination of several Utah Foster Care Foundation trainers, three separate trainings were scheduled and advertised through the foundations Facebook page (Appendix C). The first training was set for February 2nd, 2016 from 7:00 pm till 9:00 pm in Salt Lake City Utah and was held at the Utah Foster Care Foundation offices in their training classroom. The second training was held on February 4th, 2016 from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm at the Orem, Utah DCFS office in a conference room. The third, and final, training was held on February 11th, 2016 from 5:30 pm till 7:30 pm at the Ogden DCFS offices in their training classroom. The first session held in Salt Lake City went great. I was familiar with the training facility, and the trainer who introduced me. This brought a level of comfort that was not as strong at the other locations. The training room was filled with two rows of tables that 40 IMPLEMENTATION OF COACHING TECHNIQUES comfortably seated two participants each. There was a projector available for the PowerPoint that I developed (Appendix D) to assist me and the participants in following along with the training curriculum. Six people attended; two couples and two foster mothers. My nervousness at teaching a subject I had never taught before quickly diminished upon engaging the parents in the first activity. The first activity had parents examining questions we ask our youth, how we speak volumes about the established relationship by the way we ask a question and the ways these often make the parent the center of conversation rather than the child. The participants really enjoyed this activity because they quickly began to realize that the way questions are asked has a huge impact on the ownership of the answer and the subsequent actions and reactions. Participants also explored what leading questions, judging questions, assuming questions and solution based questions were. They learned why they were detrimental to the coaching process, how to avoid them, and what to replace them with. The enjoyment participants had performing this exercise, quickly put me at ease. I was able to see participants begin to recognize the value of the skills I was teaching. The first training group was fully engaged throughout the training and at the end, all attending participants, but one, agreed to participate in the study. The second training in Orem did not go as well, but was still successful. First the location was not ideal. The conference room was just off of the reception area at the DCFS office which was conducting visitations with biological parents and their children both before and during training. The conference room was small and did not have a working projector. The trainer was gracious and had brought one with her, but we did not have the right cables and could not set it up. I was prepared and had paper copies that I handed out to participants. 41 IMPLEMENTATION OF COACHING TECHNIQUES There was another training by Utah Foster Care Foundation with a teen based theme going on that same evening in a nearby location, and I ended up with one of their participants, and they, one of mine. The couple who mistakenly came to my training did not have any teens placed with them, so I sent them over to attend their correct training. The couple that I was supposed to have, remained at the other training. This left me with only four participants; a couple and two separate foster mothers. The couple that was left came late, laid out their dinner on the conference table and would not initially engage in activities. They also frequently announced that they could never implement this in their house because they had seven children and did not have time to spend individual time with each child. They also frequently mentioned that they were looking to get out of foster care as soon as possible. The negative attitude affected the entire group and in the end, only one foster mom agreed to help with the study. The third, and final, training went well. I was nervous about being at a DCFS office given the environment of training two, however, by the time I arrived, the offices were all closed, and the training facility was set up very similar to the facility in Salt Lake. The instructor was positive and helpful and again, by the end of the first activity I achieved a good comfort level upon seeing that the parents saw value in the topic. There were five participants. One couple and three foster moms present. All but one agreed to participate in the study. After the training, all study volunteers were read the consent form (Appendix A) and told they could take it home to review. They were encouraged to reach out to ask any questions they had. I collected the name, telephone number and email address of each willing participant. This information was transferred to my secure laptop and the written copies were kept in a locked file in my office. 42 IMPLEMENTATION OF COACHING TECHNIQUES I also recorded extensive field notes to add to the data and findings of the study. Field notes provide an opportunity to record concrete and fair observations that can lead to recognition of emerging patterns and themes (Marshall & Rossman, 2006). Field notes offered me an opportunity to reflect on the many attributes of each of the trainings, which in turn provided a valuable foundation of emerging commonalities on which to base my data collection and findings on. Two weeks after trainings, I sent out a follow-up email to inquire what method of data collection they would prefer. I also sent a list of helpful questions to assist in their coaching sessions (Appendix E). Phase 3: Data Collection My initial intention was to hold a combination of a focus group and individual interviews. However, due to the busy schedules of the participants, and/or the travel involved, all participants opted for individual interviews out of convenience. In total I was able to interview seven of the initial ten volunteers in a series of five interviews. The interviews were conducted with three women who were all foster mothers and two married heterosexual couples. Both of the couples opted to have their interviews together and in person. Marshall (2006) states that when more than one person participates "in an interview, the process takes in a wider variety of information than if there were fewer participants" (p. 102). In the case of the two parent interviews, each parent was able to further explain an experience or offer an alternative view. That interview was held in the husband's office and the other in the couple's home. One of the individual moms also opted to be interviewed in person, at her home, and the other two individual mother interviews were held by phone. I collected coaching logs from one of the foster mothers and both couples. 43 IMPLEMENTATION OF COACHING TECHNIQUES Protection of Subjects. When researchers fail to protect their respondents, in this case through anonymity, it can be harmful because it can expose participants to unwanted consequences and can show a level of disrespect (Miles & Huberman, 1984). To protect the anonymity of both the parents, and the child they care for, all parents in the study were given a corresponding letter for identification purposes; for example Parent A, Parent B, Parent C, etc. Anonymity is especially important when working with a protected and vulnerable group of participants. While the parents do not fall under this category distinction, the children they care for do. Prior to the interviews, parents were told not to say the name of their child or give away any identifying information other than their age and gender. Data Storage. All interviews were audio recorded using both my smart phone and a digital recorder. Recordings on my smart phone were sufficient for transcription purposes, so digital recorder recordings were erased once phone recordings were copied to my secure laptop. Both phone and copies of phone interviews were deleted once transcriptions were completed and verified by the interviewee. I had left the option for video recording open and it was available on the consent form to be approved by the study volunteer, however, video was not used for any of the interviews conducted. Data Collection Method. The method of interviewing utilized for the gathering of data from study volunteer foster parents was the use of semi-structured qualitative interviews (Appendix F). Semi-structured interviews have a series of themes or basic questions that form a base or structure to the interview, but allowance for openness or change of flow in order to capture the full story or experience of the subject is also encouraged (Kvale, 1996). Qualitative interviews are much more conversational than a formal scripted interview (Marshall & Rossman, 2006). However, that conversational flow is a skill that took practice. 44 IMPLEMENTATION OF COACHING TECHNIQUES My first Interview with Parent A was by telephone. It felt rushed, and more scripted than I would have liked. However I started to become more comfortable with the process about halfway through my interview with Parent B in her home, I was able to relax and let the interview flow more smoothly. It helped to be able to read body language, see her thinking through answers in moments of silence, and base follow-up questions based on those reactions. My phone interview with Parent E again felt strained and rushed, but all other in-home interviews were conversational and went well. Even to the point that I had to take notes on some things off topic (specific coaching technique questions) and promise to get back to those items after the interview portion was completed. Marshal and Rossman (2006) states that the "participant's perspective on the phenomenon of interest should unfold as the participant views it (the emic perspective), not as the researcher views it (the etic perspective)" (p. 101). This means that it was critical to get the perspective of how my study volunteers viewed the process of learning and implementing these techniques because each one held a unique view as to how it had an effect on their understanding of the process. This is something I could never determine or predict on my own. Again, at the end of each interview, field notes were captured on my observations of the experience so that questions, responses, surroundings, body language, perceived attitudes, reactions and interactions of the participants could be reflected upon for analysis. In addition to aiding in providing information for the findings of this study, field notes will also be useful for on-going development of these trainings for future use. All field notes were kept in a locked filing cabinet or within my encrypted laptop to secure privacy. 45 IMPLEMENTATION OF COACHING TECHNIQUES Challenges. Significant challenges that arose during the data collection process were mainly around personal identifiers, timing of study, subject participation and methods of interview (phone or in-person). In the cases of participants having more than one youth that they implemented coaching techniques with, it was sometimes difficult for them to not mention a name. When I caught them saying a name I would stop the interview, erase the name from the audio devices and start again. The ones I did not catch during the interview process were not included in transcription and all audio recordings were deleted once accurate transcription was confirmed by parent. Because of the structure of providing training, and then having to wait four to six weeks after the training to start collecting data I was set back much further than my classmates who dove right into data collection. This made the process stressful as I was not able to make deadlines for various checkpoints in the process. I was able to catch up in the end but only from taking significant leave from work, which also created added stress. Challenges arose from being able to contact volunteers to confirm study participation. The first challenge was that all of the contact information collected at the trainings for the volunteer study participants was hand written, therefore legibility of email addresses was a challenge. At least three participants claim they did not receive follow-up emails and had to be telephoned directly. After the first email sent two weeks after training, only one volunteer responded. I became very concerned that participants had lost interest, I had wrong contact information, or volunteers were too busy to check emails. Eventually, I was able to contact most parents by phone and set up interviews. Three of the initial volunteers never responded to email or phone calls. 46 IMPLEMENTATION OF COACHING TECHNIQUES The last significant challenge was the use of phone interviews. This proved challenging because much of what makes a successful semi-structured interview is the reading of the subjects body language, facial, expressions and our own response to pauses. Pauses often give the participant to opportunity to develop richer, deeper meaning or expression to their thoughts and reflection. The need to pause or not to pause is often read by the researcher by observing the actions of the subject. This is more difficult to do on the phone. Marshal (2006) states that "the meaning of pauses in conversation is not transparent; the researcher should use caution…in drawing inferences and offering interpretations of these linguistic patterns" (p. 111). This reading of the pause, over the phone, was nearly impossible without being able to see facial expressions or body language with Parent E. I found it difficult to determine when she was done with a thought or pausing to reflect on further explanation. Ethical Awareness. Since my study involves human subjects, I took great care to avoid harm or undue influence on them (Fontana & Fey, 2003). There were minimal risks and small benefits from the implementation of this study and collecting the data it produces. Risks include possible breach of data, discussion of sensitive topics, and personal identification. In order for my study to be evaluated to assure minimal negative impact upon the study participants, the study went through several reviews. First it went through peer and instructor reviews within the capstone project curriculum and setting. It also went through the review of Mick Woolsey at the Utah Foster Care Foundation and finally through the Internal Review Boards at Westminster College, and the Utah State Health and Human Services. Confidentiality and anonymity were assured through all audio and electronic data being stored on a secure encrypted laptop. All field notes and consent forms were kept in a locked file 47 IMPLEMENTATION OF COACHING TECHNIQUES cabinet and all personal identifiers were eliminated from final data. No later than September 1st, all audio and personal identifying data will be destroyed. Because we were talking about possibly sensitive issues such as emancipation, and foster care, there is the possibility that these topics could cause emotional distress for the foster parents. I was fully aware of this possibility and because of the vulnerable nature of foster families in general, all efforts to maintain a positive emotional environment were used. I did my best to provide a safe, non-judgmental atmosphere in which participants could share, or not share, their experiences. Because of the early interactions in training sessions, building trusting relationships that are recommended by Cahill (2007) were utilized. Because I had previously engaged in two hour training sessions with all of the study volunteers, I had already established a friendly and comfortable rapport. This provided an important level of comfort and trust with the study volunteers that encouraged a free flow of information (Spradley, 1979). This free flow of ideas and shared experiences was crucial to the findings and suggestions given in chapters four and five. The only benefit to the volunteer study participants was a chance to increase influential parenting and coaching skills to use with their youth at home. No other incentives were offered. All interviews were carried out on a strictly volunteer basis with no incentive offered or given. The benefit to the Utah Foster Care Foundation was that the coaching skills training added new topics and volunteered services to the foundations continuing education program. Transcription. After each interview was completed, I transcribed the interview myself. I agreed with the Utah Division of Health and Human Services to not use any transcription service to lessen the chance of identifying information of foster youth being released. During transcription I took out small phrases like "um", repeated words or phrases like, " We set, we set 48 IMPLEMENTATION OF COACHING TECHNIQUES goals" and incomplete thoughts like " we went to see, I mean he got his chores done." All transcriptions were stored on my secured encrypted laptop and in the Westminster College shared drive that only I can access. Phase 4: Analysis After transcription of all focus groups was completed, coding and analysis methods were utilized to pull themes from the transcribed data, and to assure the validity of the data collected and its findings, or in other words, to "identify an emergent theme, configuration, or explanation" as to the implementation of coaching techniques with youth (Miles & Huberman, 1994, p. 68). As per agreement with the Division of Health and Human Services Department, all analysis and coding was done by hand to diminish the chance of confidential identifying information, of the foster parents or the youth they care for, being leaked. I began the analysis process by reading through all transcripts and field notes and making note of themes and/or repeating information or ideas. After narrowing down this process into four major emerging themes, data was re-read and color coded to highlight data that supported the themes from the interviews, field notes, coaching logs and the literature. Color coding is just one of many methods available to use in analysis, and I chose it for its ability to categorize themes or groups of similar information in an easily retrievable fashion (Saldana, 2004). Through color coding, I was able to discern common threads and emergent themes that were then easily retrieved when needed to present findings (Miles & Huberman, 1994). Data Validity. In order to assure the accuracy of the data collected, I employed member checking. Member checking is done by connecting the interview subjects to the research by involving them in reviewing the interviews and findings to ensure accuracy and interpretation (Cresswell & Miller, 2000). After transcription I sent each parent a copy of the transcription to 49 IMPLEMENTATION OF COACHING TECHNIQUES check for accuracy and asked to be notified of any discrepancies or feelings of misrepresentation. I heard back from five out of the seven parents and all verified that the transcriptions were accurate. Researcher Subjectivity. Subjectivity ultimately "guides everything from the choice of topic that one studies, to formulating hypotheses, to selecting methodologies, and interpreting data" (Ratner, 1991, p. 1). Because of my background in foster care and coaching, I needed to be very careful of how I read the analysis of the data and came up with findings. Lather (1986) asserts that there is no such thing as neutral research. Often, it is our own thoughts and experiences that influence the results and validity of our research. This rings true for this study. On the one hand, my experiences and connections as both a former foster child and foster parent, gives me deep insight to the needs and structure of both persons and systems. Furthermore my knowledge of the usefulness of performance coaching led me to connect those uses and benefits to the needs of foster youth getting ready to be out on their own. However, during analysis and my findings I needed to stay aware at all times that just because I saw these methods as beneficial and doable, did not mean that others would. My own experiences do not equate into others experiences. In order to do this I had to employ methods to keep biases in check. Analysis Validity. To assure validity of the data analysis and my findings, I employed several methods: peer review, triangulation, and construct validity. Because a peer reviewer "provides support, plays devil's advocate, challenges the researchers' assumptions, pushes the researchers to the next step methodologically, and asks hard questions about methods and interpretations" (Creswell & Miller, 2000, p. 129), the use of my peer review group, became crucial to keeping my biases in check. My peer group was the most familiar with my project, and research, and was be able to provide valuable feedback in which to draw from. I also used 50 IMPLEMENTATION OF COACHING TECHNIQUES triangulation method, which Creswell and Miller (2000) state that "evidence collected through multiple methods, such as observations, interviews, and documents to locate major and minor themes is valid because researchers rely on multiple forms of evidence rather than a single incident or data point in the study" (p. 127). I collected and analyzed data from multiple sources including; observation field notes, interviews with parents, and from the coaching logs that some of the foster parents kept while going through the process. By being able to retrieve information from these three different sources and tie that data into the literature, I was able to ensure that my findings are credible. This method of tying the data to the literature is also referred to as construct validity. This proposes that validity must also come through relating research to already existing social theory (Lather 1986). By being able to connect themes and collected data to literature by experts in the fields of foster youth, coaching and mentoring, I was further able to bolster the validity of my findings. Conclusion This chapter has clearly laid out qualitative research data collection methods that were used throughout the exploration of how feasible and useful implementing performance coaching techniques within the natural mentoring relationship of foster parents with their foster youth were. It clearly portrayed the steps, considerations and methods used to ensure the validity of the four major findings presented in the next chapter. The following chapter will lay out those findings, tie them to the existing literature, and explore the impact they may have on improving outcomes for emancipated youth. 51 IMPLEMENTATION OF COACHING TECHNIQUES Chapter IV: Findings Introduction The following chapter reviews the commonalities and main themes found during the analysis of the data I collected. While trying to answer how foster parents perceive the value of using performance coaching techniques in a mentoring role, when preparing foster youth to transition to adult living, I needed to explore the challenges and successes foster parents experienced while attempting to implement them. In this chapter, connections will be made between the narratives of the seven parents interviewed and the literature available on mentoring, coaching, attachment theory and youth emancipating from the foster care system. Themes that emerged from the challenges such as consistency, issue vs. behavioral based solutions, and sufficient parent training will be addressed. Commonalities reported in successes such as youth empowerment, emotional connections, and perceived value will be presented. And in addition to connections made to already accepted thought and practice, new ideas and assumptions on how coaching can be successfully implemented into this social construct will be explored. Data for this section was gathered by interviewing seven parents in five separate interviews. To protect the parent and foster child anonymity, I have assigned each parent a letter in the alphabet. The general makeup of these individuals is as follows: Parent A is a female who worked with a teen daughter (exact age not disclosed). She has been a foster parent for two and a half years and has never received training in mentoring or coaching. She did not keep or turn in a coaching log. Parent B is a female who worked with a 12-year-old girl who struggles with diabetes. Her foster daughter was transferred to another home two weeks after starting coaching sessions. Parent B has done foster care for four years and has had no similar coaching or 52 IMPLEMENTATION OF COACHING TECHNIQUES mentoring training and she did turn in a coaching log. Parent C is female and is married to Parent D, who is male. They are working with a 14-year-old boy who has autism, and a 17-year-old boy away for his first semester in college. They have done foster care on and off for a total of five years, and they have had no previous coaching or mentoring training. Parent C kept and turn in a coaching Log and parent D did not. Parent E is female and worked with a 16-year-old boy who is currently not attending school. She did not respond to email for further information and did not keep or turn in a coaching log. Parent F is female and is married to parent G, who is male. They are working with six teens between the ages of 13 and 18 years of age. They have been doing foster care for 18 months and have both had moderate training in coaching and mentoring to be used within a work place setting. They both kept a coaching log but only Parent G turned it in. Challenges One of the key questions to be answered when studying the perceived value of this coaching method is whether or not parents of foster children can, and are willing to, implement coaching techniques into their regular parenting structure using their role as a natural mentor. As mentioned in Chapter II, coaching techniques add skills to the mentoring process such as critical inquiry, problem-solving, goal setting and accomplishment. However, these skills are only valuable if the youth is fully engaged in the process. Garret O'Moore (2012) defines engagement as "how invested the coachee is in realizing their goal" (p. 41). With the limited training presented to foster parents, a few struggled with engaging their youth in the process. As mentioned in Chapter III, parents were taught in one, two-hour training session, the power of critical inquiry, the influence of the way they ask questions, the empowering process of setting SMART goals, and the importance of starting with small, youth conceived, short term, 53 IMPLEMENTATION OF COACHING TECHNIQUES attainable, goals in order to create quick wins and youth buy in. Parents were also asked to hold weekly sessions with their youth until data could be collected. The data shows that engaging youth in this process reflected challenges of consistency, issue based parenting, and lack of enough training. Consistency. Regular coaching sessions can be very difficult to accomplish in foster families. Only one family, out of the five included in the study, held regular coaching sessions with their child each week. Parent A and B reported they held two sessions in five weeks, Parent C, D, and E held three within the same general time frame and Parents F and G, held all six coaching sessions within a six week period. As previously mentioned in Chapter two, consistency is a critical component in the success of mentoring programs (Spencer et al., 2010). This can hold especially true for youth in foster care whose lives may be anything but consistent. Some parents had valid reasons for the lack of consistency of coaching sessions. When Parent B was asked if she was able to implement any of the coaching sessions during the month, she stated "Yes, we did one session, and then learned she would be being moved to another foster home so I kind of did another, but she wasn't very into it at that point." She also mentioned further in the interview that "We did talk later and tried to do the second one, but she wasn't into it because by that point she knew she was leaving." Unfortunately, this could be a problem that could arise with foster parents adopting the role of mentor. If a child is being moved from home to home, the consistency needed to form a close emotional bond with their mentor is broken (Mennen & O'Keefe, 2005). Nearly 40% of all foster children age 5-18, will live in three or more placements within a year (Fostering Success in Education, 2014). However, one of the main goals of successful 54 IMPLEMENTATION OF COACHING TECHNIQUES coaching is to decrease negative behaviors and increase positive ones, which in turn could lower the need and frequency of having to place youth in multiple placements. Another reason for inconsistency in implementation was the lack of time. This complication was picked up on as early as the second training. The disruptive couple who attended, but did not participate in the continuing study, claimed several times throughout the night that they had seven kids in their home and could never implement something like this. Given that Parent F and G have six teenagers in their home and were able to do coaching sessions with all of them every week, this indicates that circumstances, perceived value, and personalities play into this reaction. It is still a concern as to whether foster parents are the ideal person to be holding this role. Parents A and C both mentioned that the reason they had not performed all of the coaching sessions was because other obligations kept getting in the way. Parent A stated "We had a wedding in the family. My daughter got married so it and basketball practices, every day, and games, got in the way" and Parent C, while scheduling her and her husband's interview, and as written in her coaching log stated that they had not completed very many sessions because she is a Girl Scout den leader and it was cookie season, on top of all their other obligations. Parent D also mentioned, "Well it has just been very crazy for us with the adoption and everything." Each of these families felt that adding anything extra to, or changing the routine of their day only added to the stresses already present. Time can be constrained more, for foster parents and their families, than in an average family. This constraint can also be variable depending on how many biological and foster youth a family has and what their kid's special needs may be. Given the vast variables that exist within each family, available time is something to consider looking at feasibility and value to the parent. Parent C mentioned in her interview that: 55 IMPLEMENTATION OF COACHING TECHNIQUES They don't really prepare you for the level of commitment in fostering between court dates, family visitations, and therapy. And at school they have Individual Evaluation Plans (IEP's) and meetings with specialists and with their teachers and doctor's appointments and, and, and… In other words, many foster parents, especially as they are initially becoming acquainted with all that is involved in being a foster parent, could become overwhelmed when time is extremely limited just performing day to day obligations. Immediate Issues vs. Long-term Solutions. Because foster parents are taking in traumatized children, immediate issue based behaviors often are prioritized over long-term solutions. It is hard not to want to tackle those behaviors head on when given new parenting tools to work with. However, Charles Duhigg (2012) in his book, The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do In Life And Business, talks about the critical importance of small wins when trying to make long-lasting behavior changes: Small wins are exactly what they sound like, and are part of how keystone habits create widespread changes. A huge body of research has shown that small wins have enormous power, an influence disproportionate to the accomplishments of the victories themselves. "Small wins are a steady application of a small advantage," one Cornell professor wrote in 1984. "Once a small win has been accomplished, forces are set in motion that favor another small win."4.14 Small wins fuel transformative changes by leveraging tiny advantages into patterns that convince people that bigger achievements are within reach (p. 47). Parents may be looking for the big behavioral change wins, but Duhigg is saying that if you don't prepare the brain first with a series of small consistent wins, you may never be able to 56 IMPLEMENTATION OF COACHING TECHNIQUES prepare the brain to handle big change. For foster youth, their brains are prepared and may have already formed the habit of failing or feeling helpless. Parents have to change that reaction by slowly building a new habit of success. In training it was emphasized that first goals should be light, something the child would have fun with, and which would be important to them. For example, one parent from the first training asked what to do if their child picked something very stupid. I asked what that meant to her as the parent. She asked what to do if they wanted to set a goal to watch more TV, or in the case of her daughter, going to the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah to attempt to see a movie star. I pointed out that while she might see that as a stupid goal, to her daughter, and many others, it was not. I then went through all of the teachable moments in the processes her daughter could go through in working towards that goal. I explained how the process could instill her critical thinking and problem-solving skills. She would have to research more about the Sundance Film Festival in order to learn where and when the best places and times were to spot movie stars. She would need to calculate the cost of gas and food and figure out how to finance the trip. She could learn negotiation skills as she enlisted help to get to Park City. I further explained that it is the process that is the real value in this approach. Despite being instructed to start with the one, non-issue, child-centered, short term, fun goal, to provide that quick win, nearly every parent/child set an immediate behavioral issue type goal. To illustrate this last example, when describing why she went directly into an issue driven goal, Parent E replied: So he hasn't been in school since December and he wants to get back to school. He was supposed to but he didn't come home for 4 days so he wants to go back to high school and if we get upset with him then he thinks we don't want him to. So this was a 57 IMPLEMENTATION OF COACHING TECHNIQUES recommendation from his therapist that we help him get back in school by him telling us what he is willing to do to get back to school. In this case the therapist and the parents chose a large, difficult goal around the immediate issue of getting the child back into school after a very long absence. This is a goal that has a large a chance for failure, is emotionally charged, and is an issue of contention. Sheldon and Elliott (1999) attribute this failure to connect with the goal as not being connected with one's own "Phenomenal Self" (p.483). They go on to describe phenomenal self as: An emergent and more-or-less-stable mental construction, has the potential to take control of the bio-cognitive machinery in such a way as to maximize organismic need satisfaction. This potential may not be realized, however, if individuals select goals that are not representative of the actual interests and values of their evolving self-system (p. 483) In other words, by not connecting to the parts and the systems of the brain that tell us, "this is important. Important enough that we need to act," we lose motivation to follow through. Parent C also chose an immediate behavioral issue to set her child's first goal around. Her child has hygiene issues that she felt needed to be addressed. The decision to go instantly to an immediate issue driven goal was described as follows: It seems like there is constantly problem, after problem, after problem. So we are always addressing the problem without ever getting to the point where we can set a goal and work for it. Does that make sense? I think that parents are a huge influence, but I think they are stuck dealing with the day-to-day. I think that it is hard for them to step back and say, ok we are going to set aside all these problems and we are going to try to work this in. 58 IMPLEMENTATION OF COACHING TECHNIQUES Parent C explains that so many of these children come in with emotional and behavioral issues, and that taking a break from addressing those, in order to take a slower, albeit possibly more successful approach, can be difficult in the execution. The problems that arise with this approach is first, it emphasizes the authority figure, their knowledge, opinions, perception and judgement of the issue, not the youths. This is going against the coaching concept of creating an environment of equality and self-determination over an environment of superiority and authority (Stoltzfus, 2008). By failing to create buy-in and engagement from the youth, the goal has a greater chance for failure. Secondly, by taking the position of expert or as their superior the coach can take away the power of the youth to create their own level of self-determination. With empowerment being one of the most critical goals of coaching, this is not the direction parents want to go. Parent E, whose child was not attending school, backed up these assertions when describing her youth's perception of not following through on being home on time after school. She reflected that: I believe his intentions are good. He is unable to process in the moment to make a right decision of what he should do. So when he misses the first goal, like be home by 7:00, he isn't home by 7:00, so then why should I, (her foster son) bother with anything else. Here we see a good example of her son not being able to engage in the process because there was no self-determination involved in the process. He had no ownership of the process and thus when the actions toward the goal were missed, it meant little to him. According to self-determination theory, humans have three strong basic psychological needs; competence, autonomy, and relatedness (Sheldon & Elliot, 1999). Competence refers to feeling effectual in your own and others' lives, autonomy refers to self-determination and feeling like your behavior is self-chosen, and relatedness refers to feeling connected with important people in your life 59 IMPLEMENTATION OF COACHING TECHNIQUES (Sheldon & Elliot, 1999). By making decisions for another human being who is capable of making their own decisions, whether those be good or bad decisions, you are depriving that person of basic psychological needs. This is significant because one of the jobs of foster parents is to prepare youth to think and make decisions on their own at a time when many major decisions are being made for them. By using the coaching techniques to fulfill those three basic needs of competence, autonomy, and relatedness, parents are putting out a better adjusted young adult fully practiced and comfortable with making well thought out decisions for themselves. Parent C further illustrates this dis-empowerment when talking about the goal she and her husband set for their child of working on hygiene; specifically on not wearing the same clothes day after day: He is always telling me he only has one pair of pants…it is hard to get to that point without suggesting it, but he did finally come up with the idea that he was going to go through all of his pants, and try them on, and get rid of anything that was actually too small, or had holes, or whatever he thinks is wrong with his clothing that he should wear the same clothes every day. I don't know if that is actually the problem (inaudible) but maybe that is part of the problem, but I don't know… But then we did take a trip to Disneyland and even though he did pack a bag he drove home in the same clothes he drove there in, and never changed in between. And he smelled like a homeless person. Simply stated, the failure to have patience and faith in the process of coaching, and/or lacking the skills to follow the process correctly, led to the loss of feelings of competence as he failed in his goal, autonomy in having no power or control of making a goal important to him, and by causing more conflict, the boy had even further loss of relatedness. 60 IMPLEMENTATION OF COACHING TECHNIQUES In contrast, parent F and G, who worked consistently with all six of the teenagers in their home to set their own goals, let their 16-year-old daughter pick her own goal of reaching a certain level of recognition and privileges at her residential school. Parent F then guided her, using deeper and deeper probing questions, through her development of a detailed plan of action and the process of how to accomplish that goal. The following is her perception of what that accomplished: My 16-year-old has been struggling for quite a while. There are a few things in her life, for example attending school, and she was mixing with the wrong crowd. Before we were yelling at each other, but wit