Browsing by Author "Pressley, Tracy Denise"

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    A Home in the Village: a Constructivist Grounded Theory Inquiry on the Adoption of Older African American Foster Youth with Severe Emotional and Behavioral Challenges
    (University of Alabama Libraries, 2023) Pressley, Tracy Denise; Nelson-Gardell, Debra
    ABSTRACT This qualitative study used constructivist grounded theory to understand the experiences of African American adoptive parents who adopted their teenage African American foster children with severe emotional and behavioral challenges. It also theorized the successful adoption of these children, often deemed "unadoptable". According to the 2022 Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting Systems (AFCARS) from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, adoption outcomes for children over the age of 13 years, were bleak, with only 12% of them being adopted in 2021.Bhattacharyya's (2004) Community Development Theory was used as the theoretical framework for this inquiry, with five research questions guiding the study: (1) How can we theorize successful adoptions of older African American foster youth with emotional and behavioral challenges? (2) How do current and former foster parents who have adopted older African American youth with severe emotional and behavioral challenges explain their motivations for doing so? (3) How would adoptive parents describe their adoption experience(s) with the private child-placing agency? (4) How would adoptive parents describe their adoption experience(s) with the state's public child welfare department? (5) What steps have adoptive parents taken to feel prepared to parent older children with emotional and behavioral challenges? Purposive sampling was used to identify the five participants and the "best" initial interviewee, ending with the theoretical saturation of themes and the elucidation of the related categories. Data gathering strategies included semi-structured interviews, reviews of agency databases, records, and state and federal foster care and adoption data.This study resulted in the development of a new social work practice theory, the Afrocentric Village Theory for the successful adoption of older African American foster youth with severe emotional and behavioral challenges, which includes three key contributors and their corresponding sub-contributors: 1) key contributor - motivation, sub-contributors: community self-help, religion/spirituality, love, fostered their adopted child; 2) key contributor - preparedness to adopt, sub-contributors: specialized preservice training, specialized in-service training, human services work experience, belief in Strong Black Woman (SBW) ideology; and 3) key contributor – support, sub-contributors: agency support, child Protective Services (CPS) support, family support, community support.