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November 2015Vol. 16, No. 8Youth in Care and the Use of Technology

This past July, the Lincy Institute, in partnership with the Determined, Responsible, and Empowered Adolescents Mentoring Relationships (DREAMER) Project, released the third issue brief in a social work series, Becoming "Smart" About Relationship Building: Foster Care Youth and the Use of Technology, which provides an overview of research conducted on how smartphones impact relationship building with older youth in foster care. This brief identifies the challenges older youth face when it comes to relationship building and, ultimately, how the use of smartphones increases communication between youth and their mentors. The brief also shares the program methodology, data collections, qualitative and quantitative results, lessons learned, and implications of the results.

Becoming "Smart" About Relationship Building: Foster Care Youth and the Use of Technology, by Ramona Denby-Brinson, Efren Gomez, and Keith A. Alford, is available at https://www.unlv.edu/sites/default/files/story_attachments/175/SmartphoneBrief.pdf (2 MB).

Related Item

While social media has changed the way the world communicates, it also creates privacy and safety concerns. Child Welfare Information Gateway's series on social media tips for youth in care, foster parents, and foster care workers offers some considerations and ideas each of these groups as they use social media.

Social Media: Tips for Youth in Foster Care (https://www.childwelfare.gov/pubs/smtips-youth/)

Social Media: Tips for Foster Parents (https://www.childwelfare.gov/pubs/smtips-parent/

Social Media: Tips for Foster Care Workers (https://www.childwelfare.gov/pubs/smtips-worker/)