Foster Family Homes Research Articles

Predictors of foster father’s engagement in foster family homes

Research background: Foster fatherhood is undoubtedly a specific kind of fatherhood, since the man, often being a husband and father to his biological offspring, makes the decision to play the role of a foster father, the performance of which requires a high level of engagement in the realization of caring-rearing as well as compensatory activities, which – in turn – call for constant raising of the competences of working with an orphaned child.Research aim: To learn about the factors which condition the level of involvement of foster fathers in the realization of parenting activity in family-run children’s homes in both the global and partial dimensions.Research method: In the study, the method of diagnostic survey and that of assessment were applied.Obtained results: The analyses proved that the level of engagement of foster fathers in the realization of parenting activity in family-run children’s homes is to a large extent conditioned by foster fathers’ personality factors; to a smaller degree it is influenced by sociodemographic factors or those which are based in the system of social welfare.Conclusions: The specific nature of tasks set for a family-run children’s home demands that foster fathers should engage in the realization of parenting activity to the highest possible degree. It is thus not only important for men to be prepared to play the role of a foster father, but it is also vital to constantly support them in this role.

“One hundred and ninety-four got licensed by Monday”: Application of design thinking for foster care innovation and transformation in Rhode Island

TheAmerican child welfare system is in crisis. Given its history, the beleaguered state of the system evokes little surprise. There is anurgent need for new and creative approaches to problem-solving and transformation in child welfare. Design Thinking,a change management frameworkthat prioritizes deep empathy for end user needs is one such approach, holding promise for helping child welfare systems transform to meet the challenges of the 21stcentury.Like many states, Rhode Island has long struggled to effectively recruit, license, and retain an adequate pool of resource families.From 2012 to 2017, Rhode Island saw a 12 % drop in statewide resource home capacity, measured as the number of beds available in licensed non-relative foster family homes. Over the same five-year period, the total number of children in Rhode Island’s foster care system increased by 7 %. This growing discrepancy between placement demand versus available placement resources in the state led to a serious over-reliance on congregate care placements.We utilize a single descriptive case study framework to explore the application of Design Thinking processes to improve foster parent recruitment and licensing in Rhode Island.We interviewed three respondents who worked on the redesign of Rhode Island’s foster parent recruitment and licensing processes. Results from the effort suggest that Design Thinking can facilitate child welfare system change and effectively address the “pain points” of the people for whom solutions are designed.

Quality of life among children and adolescents in foster family homes

Although well-being has become one of the three primary outcomes in child welfare for two decades, quality of life, a vital component of subjective well-being, has been largely ignored. This study examined quality of life and associated factors in a random sample of 225 children and adolescents placed in foster family homes. Quality of life was assessed using Cantril's self-anchoring ladder and logistic regression was used to determine factors associated with quality of life. The mean Cantril ladder score was 7.52 and 80.5% were classified as having a good quality of life. Factors associated with good quality of life included better overall health status (odds ratio [OR], 1.66; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.12–2.47), close relationship with foster parent (OR, 4.51; 95% CI, 1.78–11.43), and a higher number of visitation types (OR, 1.38; 95% CI, 1.05–1.83). Other placement-related factors (e.g., number of placements and history of previous removal) were not significantly associated with quality of life. Overall, the majority of children and adolescents in foster family homes reported a good quality of life. Efforts that target better health, close relationship with their caregivers, and more visitations among children and adolescents in foster family homes may also improve their quality of life.

Decontamination of 70 foster family homes exposed to Microsporum canis infected cats: a retrospective study

Dermatophytosis is a superficial fungal skin disease of animals. A key part of treatment is cleaning and disinfection of the environment to prevent false-positive results due to fomite carriage. Furthermore, there is a perception in the lay literature that decontamination of homes is difficult or impossible. Data from a 10year period identified 70 foster family homes where Microsporum canis infected cats had lived for varying periods of time. Mechanical debris was removed from the rooms housing the cats, the areas cleaned with over-the-counter household detergents, rinsed and hard surfaces disinfected with 1:100 concentration household bleach or accelerated hydrogen peroxide. Thirty-eight homes were completely decontaminated after one cleaning post removal or cure of the cat. Of the remaining homes, decontaminated was achieved after one (n=28), two (n=2) or three (n=1) additional cleanings. Complete decontamination was not possible in one home; the foster family was admittedly noncompliant. There was no evidence of disease transmission to other animals or people. Environmental decontamination is not difficult in homes exposed to M.canis and can be accomplished with established procedures.

Impact of early institutionalization on attention mechanisms underlying the inhibition of a planned action

Institutional rearing is associated with deficits in executive functions, such as inhibitory control, and may contribute to later externalizing behavior problems. In the current study, we explored the impact of institutional rearing on attention in the context of inhibiting a planned action. As part of the Bucharest Early Intervention Project (BEIP), children were randomized to either remain in the institutions in which they lived (Care as Usual Group) or be placed into foster family homes (Foster Care Group). We also recruited age and gender matched never-institutionalized (NIG) children from the Bucharest community. We examined differences in behavioral and Event Related Potentials (ERPs) during a go-no-go task when children were 12 years old. Results revealed that the ever-institutionalized group (CAUG and FCG combined) showed slower reaction times, worse performance accuracy, larger P2 activation, and smaller (less negative) N2 activation than the NIG group. Results of a moderation analysis revealed that children who spent more time in institutions and had small N2s showed more externalizing symptoms. These results have implications for the design of treatment approaches for previously institutionalized children with externalizing behavior problems.

Sexual behavior and pregnancy among adolescents in foster family homes.

Objective To examine the prevalence of and factors associated with sexual behavior and pregnancy involvement among adolescents in foster family homes. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted among a random sample of children living in foster family homes. Logistic regression with Firth's correction was used to determine factors associated with sexual risk behavior and pregnancy involvement (i.e. having been pregnant or gotten someone pregnant). Results About half of adolescents (aged 13-18 years) in foster family homes ever had sex, of whom, one third had first sex before the age of 14 and one sixth had two or more sexual partners in the past 3 months. Of adolescents in the study, 9% had ever been pregnant or gotten someone pregnant. Although adolescents in foster family homes had higher rates of sex initiation and pregnancy involvement than those in the general population, the two groups had comparable rates of current sexual risk behavior. Being placed in kin/fictive kin foster homes [odds ratio (OR): 3.04; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.18-7.80] and number of placement settings (OR: 1.20; 95% CI: 1.02-1.42) were associated with multiple sexual partners, while a history of running away from a foster home (OR: 7.64; 95% CI: 1.87-31.18) was associated with pregnancy involvement. Conclusions Efforts targeting placement stability including prevention of running away may reduce sexual risk behavior and pregnancy involvement among adolescents in foster family homes.

Cigarette, alcohol, and marijuana use among adolescents in foster family homes

Data from a cross-sectional study conducted in a random sample of children who were placed in foster family homes were used to examine the prevalence and associated factors of substance use (i.e., cigarette, alcohol, and marijuana), and to explore if adolescents in foster family homes had different rates of substance use than those in the general population matched on age, gender and race/ethnicity. Logistic regression models were used to determine factors associated with substance use and McNemar tests were used to compare prevalence rates of substance use. Substance use was common among adolescents in foster family homes. A higher number of placement settings were significantly associated with current cigarette use (odds ratio [OR], 1.32; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.09–1.60), and being placed in special study homes (i.e., fictive kin) was significantly associated with current marijuana use (OR, 6.43; 95% CI, 1.40–29.52). Compared to adolescents in the general population, those in foster family homes had lower rates of current alcohol (9.1% vs. 38.3%, p<0.0001) and marijuana (13.6% vs. 29.7%, p=0.005) use. No significant difference was observed for current cigarette use (18.2% vs. 11.5%, p=0.08). More research is needed to confirm the lower rate of current substance use in foster family homes than those matched in the general population, and to explore why adolescents in special study homes were more vulnerable to marijuana use.

Why Children Still Need a Lawyer

Every day approximately 500,000 children across the United States wake up in foster care, most in foster family homes, though many others in group homes and institutions. These children entered the state foster care system as innocent victims of abuse or neglect occurring in their birth homes. As wards of the state, they depend completely on the government to provide for their essential safety and wellbeing and to reconnect them with a permanent family, hopefully their own. Though state child welfare agencies possess fundamental legal obligations under the United States Constitution and federal and state statutes to provide adequate care to all children in foster care, they are all too often failing in this vital mission. High caseloads, insufficient caseworker training and compensation, a combination of unstable and ineffective agency management, and a lack of resources plague foster care systems from coast to coast. As a result, children who were removed from their homes for basic protection actually suffer continuing harm in state care. The federal government has sought to improve the performance of state foster care systems through legislative reforms that have subjected these systems to the oversight of family court judges and federal auditors. Though well-intended, these federal reform efforts have not achieved the desired result. The same structural impediments that historically have prevented child welfare agencies from delivering quality services similarly have blunted the impact of federal reforms. Child advocates have utilized class action litigation to ignite and sustain systemic reform. These class actions suits, typically involving claims for violation of substantive due process and statutory rights, have resulted in court enforceable consent decrees that have resulted in improved care, services, and permanency outcomes for children by obligating state agencies to undertake essential structural improvements. This Essay will present the disappointing history of the federal reform efforts and the promise that structural reform class actions hold for children in foster care.

Congregate care for infants and toddlers: Shedding new light on an old question

AbstractWith the advent of the “crack” epidemic and the concurrent decrease in available foster homes for young children, the placement of infants and toddlers in residential congregate care settings has resurfaced in some of the larger urban areas of the United States. Despite the controversy surrounding this type of placement, current research on congregate care settings is almost nonexistent. The present study examines the congregate care facilities that were established in an urban area in the mid‐Atlantic region of the United States, as a response to the placement crisis for young children in foster care. In addition, the study compares the development of a group of children placed in these settings with a group who were placed in foster home settings. Findings suggest that congregate care facilities differ in their appropriateness for young children based on the number of children in the home and the practice philosophy of the group home. The study documented that children reared in foster family homes fared better than their group‐reared counterparts on a variety of variables, including mental development and adaptive skills. In contrast, children reared in congregate care facilities were similar to foster home‐reared children regarding observed and reported behavior problems. Implications of these finding for policies and practices related to congregate care placements are discussed. ©2002 Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health.

The Project for the Education of Israeli Children in the Kibbutz Movement

Summary In Israel there are various settings in which children can be raised if for various reasons they cannot live with their families. This article describes one of these programs, The Project for the Education of Israeli Children (Mif'al Lehahsharat Yaldei Israel) (Brashi, 1994), and focuses on the role of the kibbutz movement. The Project is special in that children are placed in foster families (or family homes), offering them not only warmth and love but also the opportunity for a remedial experience of family life in functioning families that provide physical and emotional support. The first part presents a general outline of the Project, and the second part describes the development of the Project in the kibbutz movement: the absorption procedures, the foster families and foster family homes, and the advantages and difficulties of absorbing children within a kibbutz framework.

Placement Restrictiveness and Educational Achievement Among Emancipated Foster Youth

Objective: To investigate the relationship between measures of placement restrictiveness and educational achievement for a sample of emancipated foster youth. Method: Information was collected on 171 foster adolescents in Illinois. The permanency plan for each ward was independent living. Three methods were used to calculate the cumulative restrictiveness levels of various living arrangements while in placement. Follow-up information on educational progress was collected at age 21. Results: Two thirds of the youths in less restrictive placements attended postsecondary education, compared to one third who were placed in highly restrictive settings. Overall, nearly 85% of the enrollees in postsecondary education or training programs came from placements rated as low in restrictiveness. Conclusions: Placements rated as low in restrictiveness such as foster family homes and transitional apartments are probably the most effective settings in which to prepare foster wards for independence. Overall, the most useful method for calculating restrictiveness was the Predominant Placement Type formula.

When Children Cannot Remain Home: Foster Family Care and Kinship Care

Despite the best efforts of child welfare agencies, community agencies, and individuals, some children are not safe in their homes and must be placed in substitute care settings by child welfare authorities. Increasingly, as this article points out, child welfare agencies are placing children in the homes of their relatives rather than in traditional foster family homes (31% of all children in out-of-home care in the early 1990s were living with kin). This article discusses how such factors as the availability of foster homes, the demand for foster care, attitudes toward the extended families of troubled parents, and policies regarding payment for the costs of care have contributed to the rapid growth in kinship foster care. It discusses differences in the personal characteristics of kin and traditional foster parents and in the supports provided to the caregivers by child welfare agencies. Research findings suggest that kinship homes can promote the child welfare goals of protecting children and supporting families, but they are less likely to facilitate the prompt achievement of legal permanence for children. To forge a coherent policy toward kinship caregivers, officials must balance the natural strengths of informal, private exchanges among family members with the power of government agencies to provide both resources and oversight.

Group Care and Young Children

The average age of children residing in foster care has declined considerably in recent years because of the large influx of infants and very young children into care. The large majority of these young children are placed in foster family homes or with kin, but a not insubstantial number are placed in group care settings. We review group care for young children in California against the standards of child welfare philosophy: to protect children and promote permanence. Compared with a primary placement in foster homes, group care for young children results in less stability, lower rates of adoption, and a greater likelihood of remaining in care.

Shared Family Care: Child Protection and Family Preservation

Shared family care involves planned provision of out-of-home care to parents and children so that the parent and host caregivers simultaneously care for the child and work toward independent in-home care by the parents. Characteristics of five types of shared family care arrangements are described: (1) residential programs for children that also offer residence and treatment for their parents, (2) drug and alcohol treatment programs for adults that also offer treatment for children, (3) drug treatment programs for mothers and children, (4) residential programs for pregnant and parenting mothers, and (5) foster family homes that offer care of parent and child. Opportunities for development of more shared family care arrangements are presented.

A comparison of kinship foster homes and foster family homes: Implications for kinship foster care as family preservation

In recent years, child welfare caseloads have expanded rapidly, and increasing numbers of children have been placed with kin. Much of the current discussion surrounding kinship foster care stems from its rapid growth and the paucity of information about the placement type compared to our knowledge of other forms of foster care. The study reported here provides information about kinship foster care and foster family care focusing on the demographic characteristics of providers; the services providers receive; the children served in care; and issues of visitation with birth parents. The study highlights marked differences in providers and in the services they receive. Policy and practice considerations in the development of this field are also offered.

Life-skills knowledge: A survey of foster adolescents in three placement settings

A survey of life-skills knowledge among foster adolescents was conducted in three placement settings; foster family homes, group homes/institutions, and apartments. Within the apartment sub-group, two types of apartments were compared; cluster-site and scattered-site. The study group consisted of 534 older adolescents in state care. A 50-item multiple-choice inventory was used to gauge life-skills knowledge. Adolescents in scattered-site apartment placements scored highest, followed by youths in foster family placements. Youths in group home/institutional placements scored lowest. The results suggest a need to improve life-skills preparation in group home/ institutional settings, to target minority males for life-skills enhancement in all placement settings, and whenever possible to utilize apartment placements to supplement foster home, group home, and institutional placements.

Separation and loss: Assessing the impacts on foster parent retention

Foster family homes are utilized as the primary substitute care arrangement for over one-quarter million dependent children annually in the United States. An unsuccessful retention of foster family homes permeates the country's foster care system, thus requiring a determination of the major factors which contribute to foster parent retention or loss. To this end, a comparative census survey of a statewide foster parent population was conducted. When respondents from currently licensed homes were compared with those previously licensed on factors pertaining to the separation and loss experience, significant differences were found in two major dimensions: (1) training and (2) agency services and supports. Both dimensions were indicated to be viable factors of foster parent retention.

Community oriented residential care: The state of the art

Over the last several years there has been an interesting and significant debate over the relative merits of foster home care as opposed to institutional care for children. Recently several writers have argued that institutional group care, when properly facilitated, should be regarded with less negativism than in the past (Wolins & Piliavin, 1964; Ferguson, 1966; Wolins, 1965). Indeed, the rate of breakdown in foster care as well as the difficulties of finding foster family homes for children provide new impetus for the reconsideration of the residential care as a placement alternative (Dinnage & Keller-Pringle, 1967, p. 5). It is important, then, to consider ways in which the programs of institutions can be improved. One of the major trends has been toward community oriented care. As the one group whose work touches every aspect of youngsters' lives in an institution, child care workers are particularly well situated to stimulate, encourage, and monitor movement in this direction.