Assent to Participate in a Focus Group at the 2017 Older Youth Retreat
You have been asked to participate in a focus group to identify the experiences you’ve had in foster care as it relates to your involvement in social (home, school, social media), cultural (traditions, family reunions), extracurricular (dances, lessons, sports, field trips), and enrichment (driver’s license, bank accounts, jobs) activities. We are also interested in learning more about how these decisions are being made and who is making them. Our hope is that once we understand what has worked well, we can try to do more of it for youth across Pennsylvania. And if we understand what has been challenging, we can try to figure out ways to support youth to overcome those challenges.
We will summarize the information that you share today and send it to the state so they can use it as they think about how to improve practice, policies, and procedures related to older youth. The information will also be shared with the Youth Advisory Board (YAB).
There are no right or wrong answers to the focus group questions and you can skip any questions that you do not want to answer.
We want to hear many different viewpoints and would like to hear from everyone. In order to do that, we ask that just one person at a time speaks and that everyone is respectful of what others have to say, even if you have a different point of view.
The focus group is being recorded so that we make sure we hear everything you have to say. Once we make sure we have captured everything correctly, the recordings will be destroyed. Although the focus group will be recorded, no one outside of this group will know what comments you made in the group. To make sure that everyone feels like they can be honest, we ask you not to talk about what was said here outside of the group.
By signing this form, I agree to participate in this focus group.
Signed: ______Date: ______
Signature of person obtaining assent: ______