Emily Ianacone
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Creating a plain language guide about the foster care system for youth, with youth in foster care

This can have the experience map, the service blueprints, the survey pre and post, the guides and whatever else seems important

 

Creating a plain language guide about the foster care system for youth, with youth in foster care

 

Organization: Allegheny County Department of Human Services & Foster America

Role: User research, workshop planning and facilitation, project management, and copywriting. Graphic design by Meredith Joos, Allegheny County DHS Staff Designer.

 
 

Design Challenge

After speaking with youth in the foster care system, and those who had once been in it, it was clear that there was a lot of confusion caused by this system being so large and complex. The government acronyms and legal language made it challenging to understand what can be a very harrowing and overwhelming experience.

 
 

Design Response

To help youth understand how the foster care system works and what their rights are, and to support critical conversations between youth and social workers, I led a project to co-design a plain language guide about foster care for youth, with youth in the foster care system.

The content and look and feel were driven by youth input. It translated legal jargon to plain language and included visuals and quotes conceptualized by youth.

 
We started by hosting conversations with youth about this project and asked them what was important to let youth know about. After that, we did a card sorting exercise to help identify critical content to include. Next, we had them vote on content w…

Design Process

We started by having conversations with youth about this project and asked them, “What’s important for youth like you to know about?”

We then led a card sorting exercise to help identify key content to include.

Next, they voted on content to help prioritize what was most essential.

 
Youth were given character development worksheets to imagine a character who could serve as a "guide" to help explain the foster care system. Their ideas were turned into illustrated characters.

The youth we worked with completed character development worksheets to imagine a character who could serve as a "guide" to help explain the foster care system. Their ideas were turned into the illustrated characters shown below.

 
 
By conducting a collaging activity with youth, we were able to learn more about their aesthetic preferences. One very helpful insight this revealed was that our youth gravitate towards words, phrases, images, and colors that are positive and uplifti…

By conducting a collaging activity with youth, we were able to learn more about their “look and feel” preferences.

This exercise revealed that they gravitated towards words, phrases, images, and colors that were positive and uplifting.

The big themes were survivorship, love, and power.

 

Results

Once completed, 3,000 copies of the 30-page, spiral bound (pocket size!) guide were produced and distributed to social workers to give to the youth in their care.

 

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