BUFFALO, N.Y. - Kids who faced daunting barriers to success in the classroom had a clear message for University at Buffalo researchers who asked them as young adults to look back on their experiences with maltreatment, homelessness and their time in school: Adults can do better.
"It's as though they're asking us as adults not to give up on them, to stick with them," says Annette Semanchin Jones, an assistant professor in UB's School of Social Work (SSW) and lead author of the paper with colleagues Elizabeth Bowen and Annahita Ball, who are also assistant professors in UB's SSW.
"Whatever our roles might be - teacher, social worker or child welfare worker - we have to take that role seriously and understand its importance."
Semanchin Jones says the study's participants spoke often about professional service providers, family members and other adults who fulfilled those important roles and had a positive impact on youth.
"There is room for these systems to identify and mobilize that support in a structured way so adult providers can be there for youth," says Semanchin Jones.
"It wasn't stated explicitly but in the analysis it was obvious that we also need to work better not only within these systems, but across these systems," she says. "We need to find better ways to ensure youth don't fall through the cracks. Improving communication would allow different systems to share goals and data and create teams that include the youths among their members."
"We realized that in many cases we were talking about the same group of youth," says Semanchin Jones.
"Interviewing the participants as young adults provided a unique perspective," explained Bowen. "They were not very far removed from childhood, but they were also able to reflect on their education and earlier experiences in insightful ways as emerging adults."
Semanchin Jones says the research team is building knowledge with this initial work. Different areas contributed to the problem's complexity. By combining their different areas of research, the researchers can search for effective ways to address that complexity and work to improve educational outcomes.
"We need to hear from youth who tell us, 'We've been through this and here's how you could have been more helpful,'" Semanchin Jones says.