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Higher Education Outcomes for Students who Experienced Foster Care in Texas: Exploring the Impact of Liaison Legislation and Campus Support Programs.

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Title: Higher Education Outcomes for Students who Experienced Foster Care in Texas: Exploring the Impact of Liaison Legislation and Campus Support Programs.
Authors: Watt, Toni1 (AUTHOR) tw15@txstate.edu, Pierson, Colin1 (AUTHOR), Lord, Kayli2 (AUTHOR), Bustillos, Sheila3 (AUTHOR)
Source: Child & Adolescent Social Work Journal. Feb2026, Vol. 43 Issue 1, p85-96. 12p.
Subject Terms: *Student assistance programs, *Mental health services, *Universities & colleges, *Longitudinal method, *Alternative education, *Psychology of college students, Foster home care laws, T-test (Statistics), Research funding, Evaluation of human services programs, Chi-squared test, Multivariate analysis, Descriptive statistics, Government aid, Statistics, Social support, Data analysis software, Government regulation
Geographic Terms: Texas
Abstract: The majority of youth who experience foster care want to go to college. Unfortunately, few achieve their post-secondary goals. Many states have developed programs and policies to increase the level of support available to students who have experienced foster care (SEFC). However, most of these initiatives have not been evaluated. The present study examines two emergent strategies in Texas; a) an unfunded legislative mandate to appoint a liaison on every college/university campus to serve SEFC and, b) a grassroots movement to develop campus support programs for SEFC at particular institutions. We evaluate these programs and policies using a unique data set that merges historical data from the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, academic records from the Texas Higher Education Board, and primary data collected from campus websites and liaison surveys. Our data from 2012–2021 revealed that retention rates for SEFC did not increase in association with the liaison legislation. However, our analysis from the 2020–2021 academic year revealed that students who attended four-year universities with a campus support program had significantly higher retention rates than students who attended comparable schools without these programs (41% higher). However, we did not find a benefit of campus support programs for students attending community colleges. We conclude that higher education support can improve retention rates of SEFC. However, success is not guaranteed, but rather is contingent on funding, execution, and context. We call for ongoing assessment of existing strategies in order to identify best practices for improving post-secondary outcomes of SEFC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Copyright of Child & Adolescent Social Work Journal is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
Database: Education Research Complete
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  Data: Higher Education Outcomes for Students who Experienced Foster Care in Texas: Exploring the Impact of Liaison Legislation and Campus Support Programs.
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="JN" term="%22Child+%26+Adolescent+Social+Work+Journal%22">Child & Adolescent Social Work Journal</searchLink>. Feb2026, Vol. 43 Issue 1, p85-96. 12p.
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  Data: *<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Student+assistance+programs%22">Student assistance programs</searchLink><br />*<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Mental+health+services%22">Mental health services</searchLink><br />*<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Universities+%26+colleges%22">Universities & colleges</searchLink><br />*<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Longitudinal+method%22">Longitudinal method</searchLink><br />*<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Alternative+education%22">Alternative education</searchLink><br />*<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Psychology+of+college+students%22">Psychology of college students</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Foster+home+care+laws%22">Foster home care laws</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22T-test+%28Statistics%29%22">T-test (Statistics)</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Research+funding%22">Research funding</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Evaluation+of+human+services+programs%22">Evaluation of human services programs</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Chi-squared+test%22">Chi-squared test</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Multivariate+analysis%22">Multivariate analysis</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Descriptive+statistics%22">Descriptive statistics</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Government+aid%22">Government aid</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Statistics%22">Statistics</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Social+support%22">Social support</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Data+analysis+software%22">Data analysis software</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Government+regulation%22">Government regulation</searchLink>
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Texas%22">Texas</searchLink>
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  Data: The majority of youth who experience foster care want to go to college. Unfortunately, few achieve their post-secondary goals. Many states have developed programs and policies to increase the level of support available to students who have experienced foster care (SEFC). However, most of these initiatives have not been evaluated. The present study examines two emergent strategies in Texas; a) an unfunded legislative mandate to appoint a liaison on every college/university campus to serve SEFC and, b) a grassroots movement to develop campus support programs for SEFC at particular institutions. We evaluate these programs and policies using a unique data set that merges historical data from the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, academic records from the Texas Higher Education Board, and primary data collected from campus websites and liaison surveys. Our data from 2012–2021 revealed that retention rates for SEFC did not increase in association with the liaison legislation. However, our analysis from the 2020–2021 academic year revealed that students who attended four-year universities with a campus support program had significantly higher retention rates than students who attended comparable schools without these programs (41% higher). However, we did not find a benefit of campus support programs for students attending community colleges. We conclude that higher education support can improve retention rates of SEFC. However, success is not guaranteed, but rather is contingent on funding, execution, and context. We call for ongoing assessment of existing strategies in order to identify best practices for improving post-secondary outcomes of SEFC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
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  Data: <i>Copyright of Child & Adolescent Social Work Journal is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract.</i> (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
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      – Type: doi
        Value: 10.1007/s10560-024-01006-6
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      – Code: eng
        Text: English
    PhysicalDescription:
      Pagination:
        PageCount: 12
        StartPage: 85
    Subjects:
      – SubjectFull: Student assistance programs
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Mental health services
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Universities & colleges
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Longitudinal method
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Alternative education
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Psychology of college students
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Foster home care laws
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: T-test (Statistics)
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Research funding
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Evaluation of human services programs
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      – SubjectFull: Chi-squared test
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      – SubjectFull: Multivariate analysis
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      – SubjectFull: Descriptive statistics
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      – SubjectFull: Government aid
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      – SubjectFull: Social support
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      – SubjectFull: Data analysis software
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      – SubjectFull: Government regulation
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      – SubjectFull: Texas
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      – TitleFull: Higher Education Outcomes for Students who Experienced Foster Care in Texas: Exploring the Impact of Liaison Legislation and Campus Support Programs.
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              Text: Feb2026
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              Y: 2026
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