Ok I have been bogged down by schoolwork and stress, so this is a little late in coming, but I've finally read the articles I gathered at the beginning of the semester for the research proposal. And it seems that I've got more work to do. I started out with eight articles, but only three are usable towards this project. The most helpful is Vikki C. Terrile's December 2009 VOYA article entitled "Where They Live Now: What Public Libraries Can Do for Teens in Foster Care." It is also the only article that directly deals with my topic. The other two deal with foster kids and reading ("From Classroom to Courtroom: Our Role in the Community" by Kathy McClellan for Public Libraries), and books to recommend for foster kids that deal with foster care ("Home for A While: Understanding Teens in Foster Care Through Young Adult Fiction" by Andrea Rex for Feb 2008 VOYA).
Reading through these articles has made me realize that maybe I should switch my focus from foster kids ages 5-18 to teens aged 12-18 as there seems to be more focus on this group. I'll see what other articles I can find to further decide this.
Your posting suggests that you are making progress despite stress, etc. Narrowing is fine, though you could also narrow by focusing on 5-12 (or whatever) making the argument that this age group has not been studied and using what you find useful in the research for teens.
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