Cultivating a Supportive Sphere: Designing Technology to Increase Social Support for Foster-Involved Youth
Author(s)
Kumar, Ila
Ferguson, Craig
Wu, Jiayi
Picard, Rosalind
Date Issued
May 2, 2025
Journal
Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction
Publisher
ACM
Citation
Ila K. Kumar, Craig Ferguson, Jiayi Wu, and Rosalind W. Picard. 2025. Cultivating a Supportive Sphere: Designing Technology to Increase Social Support for Foster-Involved Youth. Proc. ACM Hum.-Comput. Interact. 9, 2, Article CSCW054 (May 2025), 24 pages.
Version
Final published version
Abstract
Approximately 400,000 youth in the US are living in foster care due to experiences with abuse or neglect at
home [17]. For multiple reasons, these youth often don’t receive adequate social support from those around
them. Despite technology’s potential, very little work has explored how these tools can provide more support
to foster-involved youth. To begin to fill this gap, we worked with current and former foster-involved youth
to develop the first digital tool that aims to increase social support for this population, creating a novel system
in which users complete reflective check-ins in an online community setting. We then conducted a pilot study
with 15 current and former foster-involved youth, comparing the effect of using the app for two weeks to
two weeks of no intervention. We collected qualitative and quantitative data, which demonstrated that this
type of interface can provide youth with types of social support that are often not provided by foster care
services and other digital interventions. The paper details the motivation behind the app, the trauma-informed
design process, and insights gained from this initial evaluation study. Finally, the paper concludes with
recommendations for designing digital tools that effectively provide social support to foster-involved youth.
MIT Department
Program in Media Arts and Sciences (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
Terms of Use
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Persistent DSpace Link
DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1145/3710952
