FLORIDA INSTITUTE FOR CHILD WELFARE LAUNCH OF THE FLORIDA YOUTH EXPERIENCES STUDY (FL YES)

The Florida Youth Experiences Study (FL YES) is a five-year longitudinal study that is centered on evaluating supports and programs preparing Florida youth to be self-sufficient adults. As foster care youth transition to adulthood, it is important they are well prepared to face life challenges.

Department of Family Youth and Community Sciences, helps facilitate this study as a team member.

Funded by the Florida Institute for Child Welfare, the commencement of this study reinforces our goal to offer practice and policy recommendations to improve Florida’s child welfare system. The Institute’s Director, Dr. Lisa Magruder, shared, “This is one of the core reasons we exist as an Institute. We are concerned with how effective the government’s program and support is to help this target population for this study.”

Martie Gillen, Ph.D.,

MBA, Associate

Professor at University of Florida Department of Family, Youth and Community Services, serves as principal investigator for this first-of-its-kind study in Florida for this population. Dr. Gillen expresses her excitement with these words, “This is a project I’m thrilled to begin. I’m passionate about this defined population and I know this study will be impactful to help them with their struggles. The overall goal is to provide the legislature recommendations on how to help these youth and the child welfare system at large.” She rounds off her comment with “We are just getting started and we need people to join the team for this study.”

Dr. Gillen officially began the launch of the FL YES project, including collaborating with experts and youth with lived experience, earlier this year. Recruitment of youth for the study begins in July 2023. Selena Garrison, MS, University of Florida, i The Annie E. Casey Foundation (2023). 2023 Florida profile transition-age https://assets.aecf.org/m/ resourcedoc/aecf-fosteringyouth-stateprofile-FL.pdf

According to the Annie Casey Foundation 2023 report on transition-age youth in foster care, 32% of Florida’s foster care population aged 1421 received life skills training in 2021i, indicating this is a population that more attention and services are needed.

For the first year of this longitudinal study, a maximum of 325 youth will be enrolled and interviewed annually for five years with quarterly engagement surveys. Youths with lived experiences are encouraged to engage in this study and the collaboration of child welfare experts is highly welcomed.

For more information, visit the Institutes’s website at FICW.FSU.EDU and follow the Institute on all social media platforms.