Trial home visits and foster care reentry

Abstract

ABSTRACT Foster care placements are a temporary solution for children who are unable to live safely with their families primarily due to reasons of child abuse or neglect. The preferred permanency option for children in care is a return to their parent(s) or primary caregiver(s). Trial home visits (the placement of a child in the home from where they were removed while the state maintains custody) could assist in ensuring that reunifications are successful and reducing reentries. An entry cohort of 4,101 children who entered care between July 1, 2011 and June 30, 2016 and left care to reunification within 2 years of entry were administratively followed for 18 months post-reunification to examine whether they would experience another entry into the foster care system (n = 806; 19.7%). Trial home visits were found to be protective, but there was a moderating effect of family size (siblings in care); for children without siblings in care, a trial home visit reduced the odds of reentries (OR = 0.43). Trial home visits need to be examined more completely to understand their protective role in maintaining children and families in their homes post-permanency.