Document Type
Article
Abstract
Youth in foster care face disproportionate challenges when it comes to education and personal well-being. Many studies use a deficit lens when evaluating these challenges. In contrast, this study is asset-based, centering first-person accounts from five former foster youth college graduates. Using a counter-narrative framework, we conducted semi-structured interviews with participants to reveal key supports in K-12 schooling participants believed helped them achieve academic and life milestones. These were relationships with teachers and coaches, access to extracurricular activities, and literacy-rich environments. We also reviewed 11 relevant federal educational policies to identify provisions and implementation needs that aligned with participant experiences. Finally, we made specific recommendations to better support educational and life outcomes for foster youth. These can generate substantial economic returns through reduced social costs and the increased productivity of this population.
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
Publication Info
Published in Education Policy, 2026.
Rights
© The Author(s) 2026. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access pages (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).
APA Citation
Moon, A., Seay, K. D., & McRell, A. S. (2026). Stories from Former Foster Youth College Graduates: The Positive Impact of K-12 Schooling and Related Educational Policy. Educational Policy.https://doi.org/10.1177/08959048251414164