Foster Care Policy Research Articles

Extended foster care and homelessness: Assessing the impact of the Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act on rates of homelessness among youth

Youth aging out of foster care experience high rates of homelessness during young adulthood. This study assessed the impact of states’ extension of foster care through age 21 under the federal Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008 on state-level rates of homelessness among all youth ages 18–24, which we used as a proxy to assess impact on the legislation’s target population. To do so, we leveraged data from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Census Bureau and several other publicly available data sources to construct a novel state-level panel dataset that allowed us to capture changes in rates of homelessness among youth ages 18–24 and extended foster care policies in all 50 states for the eight-year period from 2013 to 2020. Employing a difference-in-difference approach, we found evidence of an anticipated lagged effect of extended foster care, wherein the implementation of extended foster care is associated with a 23 % reduction in the total rate of youth homelessness four years later. This effect persists in years five to six after states adopt this policy change. We found no evidence of a similar effect of extended foster care on rates of homelessness among persons not between the ages of 18–24. Our findings provide important evidence about the impact of the Fostering Connections Act and suggest that extending the age of foster care eligibility may create important safety nets and pathways that support a reduction in rates of homelessness among former foster youth.

Mental health and parenting demands among grandparent caregivers of young U.S. children

Substance abuse epidemics and changes in incarceration and foster care policies have recently placed more young children in grandparent custody. Grandmothers bear much of this caregiving responsibility. Our objective was to compare grandparent caregivers of preschool-aged children (grandparent(s) only or in multigenerational households) to parent caregivers, by caregiver sex, in their mental health, available emotional support, and capacity to manage parenting demands. Using U.S. National Survey of Children’s Health data (2016–2019), we used survey-weighted logistic regression models adjusted for socio-demographic confounders and conducted sub-group analyses by caregiver sex. Among 30,046 families with a child aged 1–5 years, 776 (4.1%) were grandparent-only, 817 (3.3%) multigenerational, 28,453 (92.7) parent-headed (weighted percentages). Most caregivers (78.7%) were in Excellent/Very Good mental health, but grandfathers in grandparent-only households were less so. Despite being more likely to parent alone, caregivers in grandparent-only households had about twice the odds of having a source of emotional support (adjusted prevalence odds ratio [aPOR] = 2.07; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.12, 3.83). Grandmothers, in particular, had greater odds of handling day-to-day parenting demands (aPOR = 2.40, 95% CI 1.35, 4.27) and of reporting rarely/never feeling angry with the child in their care (aPOR = 2.77, 95% CI 1.53, 5.01), compared to mothers in parent households. Caregivers in multigenerational households displayed no differences as compared to parents except for grandfathers in multigenerational households who were more likely often bothered by the child. Despite increasing demands on grandparents, they generally reported faring as well as or better than parent caregivers, especially grandmothers. Their prior experience and social support may make them resilient.

What Proportion of Foster Care Children Do Not Have Child Protective Services Reports? A Preliminary Look.

It is perhaps surprising that we lack complete national information about why children enter foster care. While the annual Adoption and Foster Care Analysis Reporting System (AFCARS) report is informative, it leaves many questions unanswered, particularly "how many children enter foster care by means other than Child Protective Services (CPS) reports?" Drawing from a unique new integrated dataset, we examined foster care data (AFCARS) and CPS report data (National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System Child File). The linked dataset included 210,062 children with foster care placements in 2017 and no placements in the prior 5years. We categorized each placed child along two dimensions of four levels each: Time since prior CPS report (if any) and stated AFCARS placement reason, ranging from clearly maltreated to clearly not maltreated. We also tracked the siblings of placed children, to see if non-maltreated children entered care because of maltreated siblings. We find that between 8-35% of children enter foster care for reasons other than maltreatment, depending how thresholds are set. These numbers decline somewhat when siblings are considered. A meaningfully large number of children are placed in foster care for reasons other than maltreatment investigated by CPS. Further research into these children is warranted to better inform foster care policy.

Sibling Separation and Placement Instability for Children in Foster Care.

U.S. foster care policy prioritizes keeping siblings together while in foster care. However, prior research on the effects of sibling placement is limited in sample, measures, and research design. In this study, we use data on 2,297 children from an urban county in years 2015-2019 and assess how sibling separation is associated with placement instability. We use multilevel parametric hazard modeling with adjustments for child, sibling, and placement characteristics. Findings indicate that children placed with at least one sibling are less likely to experience a placement move and are specifically less likely to experience a non-progress move (e.g., moves due to problems or negative experiences in their foster home). For larger sibling groups, sibling separation was not consistently associated with placement instability and there was little difference in placement instability for children placed with some versus all siblings. Results were robust to differences in measurement and model specification. Black or Hispanic race/ethnicity was also associated with increased risk of instability, and associations between sibling separation and instability were stronger for Black children, implying enhanced efforts to maintain sibling groups may be especially beneficial for Black children. Overall, findings provide support for the continuation and expansion of policies promoting sibling placement.

Security-first thinking and educational practices for young children in foster care in Sweden and England: A think piece

• Little research exists about young fostered children and their education. • Fewer fostered children attend centre based early childhood education. • Attachment theory focus may have led to ‘security first’ thinking by foster carers • Foster carers are often carrying out educational practices in their homes. • A large scale study of foster carers’ educational roles and their impacts is needed. While the education of looked after children has attracted considerable policy attention in Europe and North America, and globally the early education of preschool aged children is the subject of substantial investment, the early education of young children in foster care is neglected in both research and policy. This paper is a cross-national think piece to stimulate research and debate about young children in foster care. We present findings from two studies, one in England and one in Sweden, exploring foster carers’ views and practices with young children. We argue that there is a perceived tension, in foster care policy and practice, between education and emotional wellbeing such that young children’s attachment relationships and sense of security is privileged over their engagement in educational practices. Attachment relationships are a necessary but insufficient condition for optimal development of fostered children.

Foster Care Dynamics and System Science: Implications for Research and Policy.

Although system is a word frequently invoked in discussions of foster care policy and practice, there have been few if any attempts by child welfare researchers to understand the ways in which the foster care system is a system. As a consequence, insights from system science have yet to be applied in meaningful ways to the problem of making foster care systems more effective. In this study, we draw on population biology to organize a study of admissions and discharges to foster care over a 15-year period. We are interested specifically in whether resource constraints, which are conceptualized here as the number of beds, lead to a coupling of admissions and discharges within congregate care. The results, which are descriptive in nature, are consistent with theory that ties admissions and discharges together because of a resource constraint. From the data, it is clear that the underlying system exerts an important constraint on what are normally viewed as individual-level decisions. Our discussion calls on extending efforts to understand the role of system science in studies of child welfare systems, with a particular emphasis on the role of feedback as a causal influence.

Colorblind Individualism, Color Consciousness, and the Indian Child Welfare Act: Representations of Adoptee Best Interest in Newspaper Coverage of the Baby Veronica Case

ABSTRACTTransracial adoption debates revolve around adoptee best interest with support focusing on individual rights and opposition emphasizing identity. How the media portrayed the Baby Veronica case highlights tensions between colorblind individualism and collective color consciousness central to the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA). Content analysis of 262 mainstream and Native American newspaper articles illustrates the complex use of both frameworks with Native American sources more often noting the importance of tribal ties and drawing from a more diverse range of authorities. Findings have implications for public attitudes regarding tribal rights, adoption and foster care policies and practices, and the future of ICWA.

To the End of June: The intimate Life of American Foster Care by Cris Beam (review)

Reviewed by: To the End of June: The intimate Life of American Foster Care by Cris Beam Debra M. J. Palmer, DNP (bio) To the End of June: The intimate Life of American Foster Care by Cris Beam. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2013. 336 pp. Available in hardcover, paperback, and e-book forms. In To the End of June; the intimate life of foster care in America Cris Beam provides hope for the dysfunctional American foster care system (FCS) but not without first bringing to light the historical, social, and economic background of the present day FCS. Reading this book is certain to ignite the flame of motivation to fix this broken system. The ideal audience for this book includes child advocates of all types, especially policymakers, physicians, nurses, psychologists, and social workers, as well as those interested in evidence-based cost-effective health care. The author is well suited to write on the topic of foster care. She is a professional writer, journalist, and creative writing instructor as well as a foster care parent and former runaway teenager. Her work is supported by 36 pages of notes documenting a wide range of sources that support an in-depth analysis consistent with those by other health policy researchers into the American foster care system.1 Beam uses first person narratives to focus an intimate look into the history of several foster youth from Brooklyn as they enter and leave the FCS. Woven into the stories are relevant historical facts provided to give social, historical and economic contest to their stories. She concludes the book on a positive note, sharing examples of innovative programs designed to make a difference for youth suffering in the system and recent foster care policy changes in several states that aim to decrease the need for foster care as well as the cost, in dollars, pain, and suffering. The author examines the foster care system from the perspective of all participants in the system: foster, adoptive and birth parents; children; and those who advocate for them. Ms. Beam recounts her own interactions with students and their families who are in the FCS, her experiences as a foster parent, and the experience of one teenager who permanently ran away from a dysfunctional home at the age of 16. The book is written in three sections entitled Catch, Hold, and Release. The first section, Catch, describes the historical and present day ways in which children enter the foster care system and how the system has evolved from being a resource for parents too impoverished to care for their children to a resource for children who are at risk of harm or neglect by their parents. There are several disturbing facts presented that suggest children are often removed from birth families unjustly, with little hope of subsequently leaving the broken system, as they are shuffled from one foster home to another. [End Page 1472] The Hold section identifies the growing number of children caught in the system with no anticipated resolution to their homelessness. They are often not returned to their family of origin or successfully placed in a foster or adoption home. There is often a tug of war between parents and the system as policies change frequently between favoring birth parents (reunification at all costs) and policies that favor early intervention and placement into adoptive homes to provide early stability. Beam provides examples of placement decisions based on numbers and formulas rather than the need to secure a caring home. As children age they become less likely to be adopted into loving homes and are often placed in residential care facilities, boarding homes, or apartments living on their own until they “age out” or can legally leave the system. Frequently, these foster care veterans age out without having secured a high school education or training in a trade. Beam laments the discordant fact that housing a youngster during this phase often costs the state more than the average annual cost of room, board, and tuition in a private school. Release, the third section of the book, outlines four outcomes for children in foster care. The first is to be released into another level of foster care...

Considerações sobre o cotidiano e o habitar de crianças e adolescentes em situação de acolhimento institucional em abrigo

The daily life and the feeling of being home for children and adolescents in residential care in a shelter may have features of an ethnic and ethical breakdown. Thus, providing living conditions in shelters in order to provide protection, care and development opportunities for its residents has been an ongoing challenge for foster care policies in Brazil. The article presents a critical reflection, historical and conceptual, in an attempt to build a look on this multiple and complex subject. Based on the principle that these lifestyles are crossed by historical processes, social and political, the article presents a historical context of the institutionalization of children in Brazil, a reflection on the implementation of the measure of protection in post-ECA era and discusses about the dilemmas and challenges for foster family and institutional care and to the listening to the needs of children and adolescents. Finally, it presents a reflection on the conceptual and methodological framework to be used in the production of knowledge and social technologies, advocating the use of concepts of daily life and inhabiting that refer to the processuality of living in the world and provoke reflection on autonomy and participation issues. From a dimension of otherness, which considers the experience and the look of another, we believe that more effective actions could appear in shelters for children and adolescents.

Privatization and the Diffusion of Innovations

The privatization of government services tends to bring about a more rapid adoption of innovative policies due to the competitive pressures of the market. In federal systems, however, the diffusion of innovations across subnational governments may offset such benefits of privatization. In this study, we test whether county governments that have privatized their provision of foster care services are more or less likely to adopt policy innovations and more or less likely to learn from the policies of other counties than are those that have resisted privatization. We explore the diffusion of four innovative foster care policies across 384 counties in five states between 1995 and 2006. We find that the initial innovativeness arising from the market competition of privatization is counterbalanced by learning across public diffusion networks.

Family Law and Foster Care

There are challenges associated with teaching family law and public policy; however, cooperative learning, a recognized teaching strategy that serves to enhance students' overall development, including academic, cognitive, and social growth, can be used successfully to teach this subject matter. In this paper, we describe how we taught students about some aspects of qualitative research methods, foster care policies, and pertinent family law concepts and practices; this was done through the initiation of a research team of undergraduate and graduate students. We explain the development of a cooperative research team, and the methods used to teach family law, using foster care as a context. The observed outcomes for students and faculty members are offered to readers.

Exploring Out-of-Home Placement as a Moderator of Help-Seeking Behavior Among Adolescents Who Are High Risk

Objective: This study investigated foster or group care placement as a predictor of help-seeking behavior among adolescents who were at high risk for physical and mental health problems. Method: Data from the 1985 to 1986 wave of the Adolescent Health Care Evaluation Study were used to compare three groups of adolescents: (a) 136 that had experienced placement, (b) 136 that were randomly selected from the larger sample, and (c) 136 matched to the placement group on key variables. Results: Adolescents who experienced placement had more physical and mental health problems compared to the random and matched groups. However, foster or group care placement was associated with help-seeking behavior only for two problems: depression and conduct disorder. Conclusion: Understanding the impact of placement on help-seeking behavior 20 years ago fills a critical gap in the current literature and provides an anchor point for examining foster care policy and programming today.

Removing Barriers to Service Delivery: An Outcome Evaluation of a ‘Remodelled’ Foster Care Programme

Yvonne Unrau, Michael Wells and Mary Ann Hartnett describe a US family-centred, needs-based foster care programme named Promise and present evaluation findings based on a comparison group design evaluation. Promise allowed for greater discretion among line-level workers to meet the unique service needs of families served, promoted greater team-oriented communication and involved more foster family involvement than the comparison group. An initial statistical comparison revealed that foster children in the Promise group (n = 380) experienced greater stability in their caseworker assignment and, to a lesser degree, greater placement stability over a 15-month period when compared to foster children served under the conventional model (n = 436). However, only the caseworker continuity effect remained when further analysis was undertaken. Similar rates of permanency achievement were reported for both models. Implications for foster care policy, practice and research are presented.

Safety and Stability for Foster Children: The Policy Context

Even though federal laws have had a major influence on foster care and child welfare policy for more than 40 years, additional reforms are needed to ensure safe and stable families for children in care. This article describes the complex array of policies that shape federal foster care and observes: A number of federal policies addressing issues such as housing, health care, welfare, social security benefits, taxes, and foster care reimbursement to the states, form the federal foster care policy framework. The Adoption and Safe Families Act significantly altered federal foster care policy by instituting key changes such as defining when it is reasonable to pursue family reunification, expediting timelines for making permanency decisions, recognizing kinship care as a permanency option, and providing incentives to the state for increasing the number of adoptions. Courts play a key and often overlooked role in achieving safety and permanency for children in foster care. Efforts to improve court performance have focused on increasing the responsiveness and capacity of courts. The article concludes with policy recommendations that are needed to improve the lives of children in foster care, such as increasing investments in children and families, redirecting funding incentives, addressing service gaps, and enhancing accountability.

The evolution of federal and state policies for assessing and supporting kinship caregivers

The use of relatives as foster parents increased substantially in the 1990s and the federal and state governments are struggling to adapt existing foster care policies and practices to reflect the unique circumstances of these placements. We examine the evolution of policies affecting kinship caregivers based on data from a 1999 national survey of state child welfare administrators, a follow-up survey to one conducted in 1997. In 1999, 10 states required kin to meet the same standards as non-kin foster parents to care for children in state custody. The other 41 offer kin at least one other assessment standard that is different than non-kin standards. Of these 41, 25 states provide foster care payments to kin meeting these different standards. We also found that 39 states help place children with kin in some instances without seeking state custody. In addition, we found that at least 16 states made changes to their kinship care policies between the 1997 and 1999, illustrating that kinship care policies are still in flux. Finally, we note that recent federal policy changes that took effect after the survey period will likely have a significant impact on states' licensing and payment of kinship foster parents.

Fostering the Next Generation of Socialists: Patronirovanie in the Fledgling Soviet State

This essay traces foster care policies in the SovietUnion, concentrating on the first half of Soviet rule when, due to chaos in the wake of wars, revolutions, and famine, Bolshevikle aders retreated from their original commitment to rearing orphans in public institutions. Although the Bolsheviks considered Russian peasants unsuited for raising socialist citizens, they wound up farming out parentless children to the countryside, if only to relieve pressure on Soviet orphanages. The government made a virtue of this retreat in the 1920s but ceased its propaganda campaign on behalf of foster carewhen reports of child abuse became impossible to ignore. Foster care as a practice persisted, at first because Soviet authorities still needed to wefind places for orphans, but ultimately because they recognized that, as a rule, families provided better homes than institutions. This concession paralleledWestern attitudes to foster care.

The Impact of Suter v. Artist M. on Foster Care Policy

Child advocacy groups severely criticized pre-1980 foster care policy because it did not prevent separation from, or promote reunification with, family (Carrieri, 1990; Lewis, 1991; Lindsey, 1992a, 1992b; MacDonald, 1992; Simms & Bolden, 1991). Congress therefore enacted major legislation in 1980 that emphasized preservation and unification: Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act of 1980 (P.L. 96-272) (hereinafter referred to as Child Welfare Act of 1980, or the act). Critical to changed policy was that to be reimbursed by federal government, states must make to both prevent separation of children from their families and promote reunification with families if separated. Furthermore, act provided for speedy adoption of children who would not return home (Atwell, 1992). The legal issues presented by Child Welfare Act of 1980 that were not clarified were definition of reasonable efforts (Atwell, 1992; Ratterman, Dodson, & Hardin, 1987; Shotton, 1990) and whether private parties could enforce act's provisions (English, 1983). A private right of individuals to enforce a statute means that those who are allegedly affected adversely by a state's noncompliance with a statute may pursue compliance or damages through court action. A key legal axiom is that to sue in courts, one must have legal standing to sue, and legal standing or a private right to sue were not clarified by Child Welfare Act of 1980. To clarify this area, as well as to seek compliance, a class action lawsuit evolved to challenge Illinois Department of Social Services in Chicago for failing to make reasonable efforts (Artist M. v. Johnson, 1989, 1990). Thus, this case presented two key legal issues - definition of reasonable efforts and whether individuals have a private right to force reasonable efforts. After plaintiffs had prevailed in lower federal courts, U.S. Supreme Court ruled that private parties had no legal rights to enforce provisions of act through statute itself or a civil rights lawsuit (Suter v. Artist M., 1992). This article examines Suter and its impact for foster care and adoption policy. Key Provisions of Child Welfare Act of 1980 The passage of Child Welfare Act of 1980 represented first step in permanency planning for foster children (Allen, Golubock, & Olson, 1983). First, it mandated that each state, by submitting a specific plan, commit to making reasonable efforts to prevent removal of children from their families and to return them as soon as reasonably possible. The rationale for this policy initiative was to entice states, with promise of federal monies, to focus on prevention and reunification. Second, beginning October 1, 1983, a judicial determination had to be made that reasonable efforts were used to prevent removal of each child from his or her family before foster placement was made. The rationale for judicial determination was that it would ensure scrutiny of social services provided to each child and would ensure that rights of child and family were respected (Ratterman et al., 1987). To effect judicial determination, states would be forced to amend their statutes (Allen et al., 1983), but many advocates were skeptical whether states would fully implement act (Ratterman et al., 1987). The act mandated that states enact policies in which caseworkers develop case plans for each child that must (1) Be a written document, which is a discrete part of care record, in a format determined by State, which is available to parent(s) or guardian of foster child; and (2) Be developed within a reasonable period, to be established by State, but in no event later than 60 days starting at time State agency assumes responsibility for providing services including placing child; and (3) Include a discussion of how plan is designed to achieve a placement in least restrictive (most family-like) setting available and in close proximity to home of parent(s), consistent with best interest and special needs of child; and (4) After October 1, 1983, include a description of services offered and services provided to prevent removal of child from home and to reunify family. …

Foster Care and Permanency an Analysis of the Context for Practice

This paper is an historical analysis of foster care, exploring its linkage with the concept of permanency in the United States (a major force in defining the direction of foster care policy) and in Australia. Use of the political economy and feminist approaches highlights the extent to which the child welfare system is based on policies which enhance social inequality, while promoting a particular ideal of the nuclear family which dichotomises mothers as good or bad.

The End of Liberalism in the Administration of Social Casework

Problems of administering human service organizations derive from institutional as well as technical aspects of their environments. In contrast to the recent emphasis on the technical problems of "implementation " and "street-level bureaucracy, " this case study of special education and foster care policy emphasizes instead the institutional problems of interest group liberalism. Besides applying the "end of liberalism "thesis to new policy areas, it attempts to extend that thesis by describing behavioral implications for public bureaucrats. P.L. 93-647, the Title XX Amendment to the Social Security Act, and P.L. 94-142, the Education for All Handicapped Act, mandate perhaps the most significant expansions of rights and entitlements of the 1970s. Yet these laws are vague in their definitions, contradictory in their related provisions, and inadequate in their funding. They base eligibility for service on categorical rather than universal criteria of need, reflecting the play of organized special interests. Inimical to the rule of law, they honor process over substance, establishing only frameworks for ad hoc bargaining instead of authoritative guides to conduct. This process magnifies political conflict by displacing it away from the center of government to caseworkers down the line.

Fostercare Policy & Practice in Sweden: What lessons are there for Australia?

This paper is a study of foster care in Sweden, and considers foster care practice in the light of research findings. The paper raises useful questions for child welfare practitioners in Australia. The author herself identifies some of the current issues in Australian Child Welfare practice. As the author notes, the difficulty of obtaining Australia wide statistics of child care leaves us with the potential of many gaps in our knowledge.