Department of Occupational Therapy Program Faculty Articles
Title
New roles for occupational therapy to promote independence among youth aging out of foster care
ISBN or ISSN
0272-9490
Publication Title
American Journal of Occupational Therapy
Volume
70
Issue
3
Publication Date / Copyright Date
1-2016
DOI Number
10.5014/ajot.2016.017426
Abstract
Occupational therapy practitioners are qualified to address the needs of young adults transitioning out of the foster care system; yet, to date, the degree to which practitioners have addressed these needs has been limited. The literature on foster care clearly documents the myriad of long-term challenges that this population faces as a result of their lack of preparedness in independent living, academic, and vocational skills. Moreover, it is clear that existing programs are inadequate for meeting the needs of this population because they rarely include individualized, occupation-based, client-centered approaches for skill development. In this article, we argue that by design, the foster care system marginalizes its “members.” Occupational therapy’s emphasis on occupational justice provides practitioners with an ideal opportunity to remediate the injustice that this population often experiences. To support our position, we describe exploratory work that has been conducted with stakeholders and transitioning youth in Miami, Florida.
Disciplines
Medicine and Health Sciences
NSUWorks Citation
Paul-Ward, A. and Lambdin-Pattavina, Carol A., "New roles for occupational therapy to promote independence among youth aging out of foster care" (2016). Department of Occupational Therapy Program Faculty Articles. 107.
https://nsuworks.nova.edu/hpd_ot_faculty_articles/107
