A Phenomenological Case Study of Foster Home-Based Parental Involvement with the Education of High School Youth in Foster Care

The purpose of this phenomenological case study was to explore the lived experiences concerning the home-based parental involvement of foster parents who are raising or have raised high school aged children. The experiences were obtained through semi-structured interviews and analyzed to reveal themes. This study focused on foster parents’ educational practices in their home. Additionally, explored the perceptions foster parents have regarding parental involvement and their responsibility to educationally training children in high school. Epstein’s (1987) Framework of Six Types of Parental Involvement and Hoover-Dempsey and Sandler’s (2005) Model on Parent Involvement were the conceptual and theoretical frameworks used to understand the various types of parental involvement from home and school based perspectives. As a result of data analysis and an extensive review of the literature, the following themes emerged: (a)communication practices (b) frustration (c) foster parent as a nurturer and (d)foster parent as a disciplinarian. Findings revealed Epstein’s Framework (1987) and Hoover-Dempsey and Sandler’s Framework (2005) on parental involvement were appropriate in identifying the perspectives that existed in each participant. Also, being a foster parent played an insignificant role in how home-based parental involvement activities were carried out. Consequently, it is recommended that foster parents are provided more resources from the school and the community. Lastly, a dedicated individual should be available at the school to aid the foster parent. This study provided insight on foster parents of high school aged youth and how they help their children succeed academically by being involved and extended the literature on the academic parenting role of foster parents to adolescent youth