Supporting Young Adults After Foster Care: Identifying Resources that Promote Resilience using the Imaginary Genograms of the Present and the Future

Supporting young people leaving child protection services is essential to promote their autonomy and facilitate their transition to adulthood, as they are particularly vulnerable due to a range of risk factors they may face. In this context, interventions need to be based, among other things, on identifying and strengthening resource networks, so that young adults can rely on supportive people from their social environment throughout the different stages of their adult lives. Based on a single case study of a 22-year-old young woman formerly in foster care, this study proposes to identify resource networks using, on the one hand, the imaginary genogram of the present and, on the other hand, the imaginary genogram of the future, which aims to shed light on the choice and maintenance of these networks and the emergence or not of new resources. The two genograms enabled to identify resource persons from different spheres (familial, extra- familial, conjugal, friendships and family of procreation), to determine the types of support (affective, emotional, material, financial, practical) and to qualify the quality of relationships both currently and in the future. They provide an opportunity to highlight obstacles impeding access to solid resources. These results pave the way for the use of these two tools in assisted resilience programs, for clinical purposes, but also for research.


Keywords: child protection services; foster care; resilience; imaginary genogram; imaginary genogram of the future