Autumn 2026
Human-Centered Tools for Foster Youth Support
This Directed Research Group invites students to apply human-centered design to an urgent social challenge: helping foster-involved youth communicate their needs, preserve important relationships, and participate in decisions about their future.
Placement decisions often occur quickly amid fragmented information, limited options, and complex institutional constraints. A young person’s own knowledge—such as the people they trust, routines that help them feel safe, and connections they hope to maintain—may be difficult to communicate across caseworkers, caregivers, and systems. AI-enabled tools may help support these conversations, but they also raise consequential questions about privacy, dignity, accountability, and decision-making power.
This DRG will explore small-scale tools that support the human work of listening, relationship-building, and placement planning. Students will use stakeholder mapping, participatory and contextual research, journey mapping, prototyping, and evaluation techniques to develop a focused artifact.
This DRG is appropriate for undergraduate and graduate students interested in human-centered design, responsible AI, public-interest technology, youth-centered design, and UX research. No prior experience with foster care is required; students should bring curiosity, care, and a willingness to engage ethically with complex social systems.
Participants will create a research-informed prototype and/or design kit, accompanied by a concise design rationale, evaluation findings, and a statement of its safeguards, limitations, and appropriate role in a human-led process.
This is a 1-credit DRG that meets in-person on Wednesdays, 2:30-3:30.
If you are interested in participating, please complete this form by September 25. Applicants will be notified on September 27 if they are selected to participate. Questions? Please contact Mark Zachry at zachry@uw.edu.
Dr. Zachry's research group archive