Conditions of risk for substitute care

Abstract

The nationwide rise in the substitute care rate appears related, in part, to changes in children's family life which have increased the risk of out-of-home care. These changes include rising levels of teenage motherhood and never-married parenthood, high child poverty rates, and problems of child abuse and neglect, drug dependence and AIDS. The rise in substitute care is also correlated with an increased public reliance on kinship foster care. Placement with relatives was the largest component of growth in publicly supported foster care in Illinois during the 1980s. California and New York experienced similar increases. Current Population Survey data on children's living arrangements provide inclusive evidence on whether the growth in kinship foster care constitutes an expansion of the substitute care of children or reflects merely the incorporation of pre-existing informal arrangements into the formal system. The potential blurring of the boundaries between the two systems of kinship care raises budgetary concerns and adds to the need for better information about the circumstances of non-custodial parents in general. Data show that non-custodial mothers in inner-city Chicago share a similar profile with mothers of children in formal care: They are more likely to be single, economically vulnerable, in poor health, and socially isolated than custodial mothers. In addition, they are more likely to have experienced foster care themselves as children.