Date of Conferral

4-10-2026

Degree

Ph.D.

School

Human Services

Advisor

Gregory Hickman

Abstract

The COVID-19 virus was a new virus that caused a worldwide pandemic. There was not much information about what the virus was, what caused it, or how to stop its spread. Vulnerable populations such as those in foster care were especially affected because the foster children had no place to go. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the lived experiences of foster parents who had older foster children in their care during the COVID-19 pandemic. There was a lack of research specifically on foster parents and their personal lived experiences with the foster care system and foster children. The theoretical framework was learned helplessness, which was used to address thoughts, feelings, and lived experiences of foster parents during the pandemic. Using Zoom, six individual interviews were done with foster parents who met criteria of fostering older foster children between the ages of 13 and 18 for at least two months during the COVID-19 pandemic. Braun and Clark’s thematic analysis was used to identify six themes: foster care needs, relationships, negative emotions, virtual services, communication, and learned helplessness. Implications for positive social change include stakeholders and human service organizations seeing benefits of listening to voices of foster parents in order to be able to support them and better offer resources and services to foster children. Also, stakeholders could learn how to better prepare in the event of future pandemics.

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