Fostering Safer Spaces: Retaining and Empowering SGM Students with a Lived History of Foster Care

Campus-based support programs serve an important function for students who have experienced foster care at some point in their lives, often providing necessary supports to students so that they can be successful in a college setting. These programs offer supports that aid in student retention and completion of degrees, thus increasing their chances for better outcomes later in life. One area which has been less explored in the literature that focuses on campus-based support systems for students aging out of foster care is that of the experiences of sexual and gender minorities (SGM), or members of the LGBTQ + population. Currently SGM are overrepresented in foster care populations and are misunderstood and stigmatized by society in general. As a result, they often arrive on college campuses with both strengths and challenges which are not well understood. This narrative literature review aims to provide necessary information regarding the experiences of SGM/LGBTQ + young people as well as recommendations to foster more sensitive and effective responses to these students on college campuses.