Research, Practice and Policy for Families and Communities

Outreach fosters Girl Scout Success
New troops tailored for girls in foster care

Girls in Michigan's foster care system can now join scout troops that are designed to meet their unique needs. Fostering Success (FS) provides stability and a sense of belonging to foster care girls while expanding scouting’s reach to this previously unserved population. The program began in Flint in 1997 as a collaboration between L. Annette Abrams, MSU Outreach Partnerships director, and Kim St. Bernard, a consultant from Girl Scouts USA.

“From its inception, the FS program has been co-designed in response to community needs,” said Celeste Sturdevant Reed, University Outreach Partnerships evaluator.

Girl Speak, a report based on MSU-led research and interviews with girls in foster care, revealed that girls wanted to take advantage of scouting opportunities but, because of their mobility, found it difficulty to stay in traditional troops. The Fostering Success effort is trying to overcome this problem by working with universities to identify and reach out to girls in foster care. The program is helping to mitigate the risks faced by these girls by building positive relationships with caring adults and bringing a sense of continuity in their lives.

Each Council works differently to meet the needs of their region. Girls can join traditional troops, troops composed solely of girls in foster care or residential troops based in group living facilities. Over 830 girls participated in FS programs in 2001. Activities like camping and working on badges, allowed girls who normally participate in few extracurricular activities to take on leadership roles while making friends and finding mentors.

“The goal of the FS initiative was deceptively simple: through a network of statewide Girl Scout Councils, FS would provide a consistent thread for girls in foster care whose lives are otherwise disrupted,” Reed said.

A lack of funding caused FS to remain localized in the Flint area until 1999, when the Flint area Fair Winds Council took a leadership role in making FS a statewide program. FS then expanded with the help of a five-year grant from the C.S. Mott Foundation and support from Girl Scouts USA.

“It takes time to create a new youth development initiative and time can have a deleterious effect on partnerships,” Reed said.

Despite changing faces in the partnership and tight budgets, the program has been surprisingly successful, and councils which had established the program have committed to continuing it. Now, the FS program has the potential to expand beyond girls in foster care to address services for all girls at risk. If the program grows within foster care or expands into other arenas like juvenile justice, MSU is likely to remain a key fixture because of its research expertise and interest in Michigan's youth.

“Four of the Councils have used the Girl Scout Asset Survey, developed as an evaluation tool for this project, to assess the assets of all their girls. This has allowed us to make some important comparisons (girls in foster care with all girls) and is furthering MSU’s study of youth assets,” said Reed.

For more In Practice stories, see pages 7-9 in MSU Connect.

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