Dr. Nathaniel Brown’s scholarly interest in how foster care students access higher education goes beyond intellectual curiosity – he was a foster child and knows first-hand the barriers between that population and attainment of a college degree.
Brown was in and out of multiple foster homes in South Carolina most of his childhood, often running away to escape verbal, physical and sexual abuse. Now an assistant professor of professional mental health counseling in the Department of Counseling Psychology at Lewis & Clark, he researches subjects such as the transition of foster care young adults into postsecondary education and campus support programs that promote their retention and graduation.
The numbers in this under-studied and largely invisible group are expected to rise significantly in coming years, and Brown is among voices calling for more intentionality on the part of colleges and universities to better serve them.
“The issue now is, how do we retain and graduate students who have experienced foster care, especially when there are resources that will pay for the education,” said Brown.
Foster care students face circumstances long before college that hinder their access and persistence. And since youth of color, particularly Black and Latinx, are overrepresented in foster care and are less likely to be placed in a foster home or adopted, the impact on those communities is greater.
According to the Legal Center for Foster Care & Education and other sources:
· Students in foster care are diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder at twice the rate of U.S. war veterans.
