Background: In order for foster care placements to be considered good, research has identified that children need to experience love and belonging in the home. It is therefore important that foster ...carer recruitment target individuals who are able and willing to attempt to provide love and belonging to the children placed with them. Objective: To quantify the extent to which and how foster carer agencies represent love and belonging in foster carer recruitment materials. Participants and setting: Foster carer recruitment material collected in New South Wales (NSW), Australia between August 2016 and March 2017. Methods: Phrases including the word "love," "belong," or "belonging" or text that described aspects of belonging were identified in recruitment materials and coded using conventional content analysis. Results: Eleven agencies (42%) did not address the need for children to be loved in foster care, ten agencies (38%), did not address the need for children to experience belonging in foster care, and eight agencies (31%) did not address either love or belonging in recruitment materials. Where recruitment materials included the word love, it was used in a very limited way. Belonging was more explicitly and practically addressed however, some recruitment materials contained content describing policy or encouraging practice that would undermine belonging. Conclusions: In order to recruit foster carers who are willing to attempt to provide love and belonging to children, recruitment materials need to be clear that children in foster care need to be loved and to feel like they belong and that foster carers should seek to provide this.
Early childbirth is common among young women ageing out of foster care and may impede their educational progress. However, few studies have explored access to postsecondary education among young ...mothers who have been in foster care. The present study used data from a large, national sample of young people in foster care (National Youth in Transition Database, NYTD) to examine the link between early childbirth and young women's access to postsecondary education between ages 19 and 21, controlling for an array of covariates. The study sample included 2,207 young women who had completed a high school diploma or GED by age 19 and who participated in three NYTD interviews at ages 17, 19 and 21. Childbirth between ages 19 and 21 was linked to decreased access to postsecondary education. However, no relationship was found between access to postsecondary education and childbirth by age 17 or childbirth between ages 17 and 19. Implications for policy, practice and research are discussed.
Building Blocks (BB) is a psychoanalytically‐informed mentalization‐based dyadic approach addressing attachment deficits in birth parents and their children in the foster care system. Research shows ...that secure attachment depends on the caregiver's emotional availability and sensitivity to be a secure base for the child. Typically, different approaches are offered to improve parent behavior without focusing on building more securely attached relationships. In order to heal disrupted attachment between children in care and biological parents many didn't “know,” attention to unconscious processes and trauma was needed. I describe how BB came to be a preferred treatment by caseworkers and clinicians working in a foster care agency. Having articulated our relationship‐based, non‐didactic approach, and having funding for it, was not enough to bring this method into a system that focused on external behavior over internal processes. A larger systems approach was utilized including meeting with foster care personnel, providing training and supervision to clinicians, and getting parents to commit to the “new” dyadic therapy. Two cases are presented highlighting the impact that Nested Mentalization and Reflective Supervision had on the agency, the families, and its therapists and caseworkers. The BB Program has helped scores of families to better know each other, develop more secure attachments and interrupt the transmission of trauma.
Youth aging out of the foster care system are at risk for poor outcomes. Little is known about the etiology of these outcomes. However, placement instability may be one contributor. Permanency ...planning as a policy was well-intentioned. However, for adolescents likely to age out of care, the policy may actually contribute to placement instability. A review of the elements of permanency reveals a complex concept which emphasizes continuity of relationships. Federal permanency legislation and state policy may be in conflict with this goal, especially for youth who age out of care. We review the challenges faced by youth aging out of care, their placement histories, permanency planning as a policy and practice, and suggest modifications to permanency planning to facilitate the development and maintenance of the stable social networks essential for successful transitions to adulthood.
Introduction Traumatic events in childhood are associated with negative long-term health consequences, including sleep disturbances. The chronic stress of foster care involvement is associated with ...heightened physiological responses. Little research has examined associations between sleep and health in this at-risk population. The present study investigated the relationship among sleep duration, history of negative foster care experiences, and blood pressure measured 7-8 years later in young adults. Methods Participants were from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health and reported a history of foster care involvement (N=66). Regression models examined the associations between self-reported sleep duration (< 7 hours; 7-9 hours; and > 9 hours) at age 18-26 years and systolic and diastolic blood pressure measured 7-8 years later during in-person interview. All models were adjusted for age, race, sex, and self-reported history of hypertension. The presence/absence of negative foster care experiences (self-reported abuse in foster care and/or multiple foster homes) were examined as a potential moderator. In the absence of moderation, they were included as covariates. Results Compared to 7-9 hours, longer sleep duration (> 9 hours) was associated with lower systolic blood pressure (B=-5.79, SE=2.06, p=.006). Negative foster care experiences (27 participants) modified the association between sleep duration and blood pressure (p< 0.01), such that longer sleep was significantly only associated with lower diastolic blood pressure for individuals without negative foster care experiences (B=-15.06, SE=4.17, p=.001). Conclusion Longer sleep may act as a protective factor on blood pressure for individuals who were involved in foster care. Exposure to negative foster care experiences may negate any protective role of sleep duration on blood pressure during young adulthood. Further research utilizing objective sleep measures and longitudinal blood pressure measurement are needed. Sleep duration and negative experiences in foster care may be important factors affecting health in individuals with a history of foster care involvement. Support (If Any) A.P.S. receives grant support from the National Institute on Aging; he received an honorarium from Springer Nature Switzerland AG for Guest Editing a Special Issue of Current Sleep Medicine Reports.
The benefits and pitfalls of different forms of substitute care have rarely been evaluated in comparison with each other. In this study we compared outcomes in youth and young adulthood of long-term ...foster care and adoption for children who came into the Child Welfare system at a young age. We linked ten national registers with data covering ten national birth cohorts to compare cognitive, educational and self-support outcomes for 900 adoptees with 3100 who grew up in foster care. Outcomes for 900
000 majority population peers were assessed for descriptive purposes. Comparisons adoptees/foster children were done in linear regression models and in Cox regression models with fixed person time. We adjusted the analyses for birth parental related selection/confounding factors (mental health problems, substance abuse and maternal education), and age at placement in substitute care.
Crude outcomes for both groups were substantially weaker than for majority population peers. The foster children fell clearly short of adoptees on all outcomes; school performance at 15, cognitive competence at 18, educational achievement and self-support capability in young adult years, also after adjustments for birth parent related confounders and age at placement in substitute care.
► 900 young adult national adoptees and 3.100 youth who grew up in foster care were compared in a national cohort study linking a host of national registers. All entered the child welfare system at a very young age, most in infancy. ► Adoptees had better school performance at age 15 and better cognitive competence at 18. ► Adoptees also had better educational attainments and less self-support problems at age 25/26. ► Substantial differences remained after adjusting for birth parent related selection factors (maternal education and maternal/paternal mental unhealthy and substance abuse), and for age at entry into substitute care. ► Age at entry into substitute care was - at most – marginally related to outcomes.
Sexual abuse and dating violence are chronic problems for children and young people in out‐of‐home care. This study explored the impact of a prevention and response programme Power to Kids, which ...targets harmful sexual behaviour (HSB), child sexual exploitation (CSE) and dating violence (DV) for children and young people in home‐based (foster) care. Twenty‐eight case managers, 25 foster carers and 13 children and young people participated in a mixed methods study in Victoria, Australia informed by the research question: How does the Power to Kids programme impact the sexual health and safety of children and young people in home‐based (foster) care? The data analysis revealed a SAFETY approach whereby the sexual health and safety knowledge of carers and case managers was enhanced, and carers were given permission to have Brave Conversations with children and young people, who could then apply the new knowledge to their lives. Case managers were upskilled in identifying indicators of sexual abuse and empowered to escalate stalled therapeutic and disruption practice when children and young people were identified as experiencing HSB, CSE or DV.
Objective: This study investigated social capital, risk factors, and protective factors associated with the likelihood that youth in foster care will enroll in college. We tested three hypotheses: ...(a) having a greater number of institutional agents promotes college enrollment, (b) encouragement from school personnel to pursue postsecondary education promotes college enrollment, and (c) the number of institutional agents and amount of school encouragement will interact to promote college enrollment. Method: We used a representative sample of adolescents (N = 712), ages 16.75–17.75, in California foster care in 2012 (response rate = 95%) and obtained college enrollment data from the National Student Clearinghouse. We used logistic regression to predict college enrollment. Results: The number of institutional agents who participants nominated, as well as encouragement from school personnel, significantly increased the likelihood of college enrollment. Findings were mediated by the amount of help youths received preparing for college and their participation in extended foster care. Reading ability, educational aspirations, and high school grades were positively associated with college enrollment. Grade repetition, placement in special education, and early parenthood decreased the likelihood of college enrollment. Conclusions: The likelihood of enrolling in college increases when foster youth have supportive relationships with adults who can leverage their positional power and mobilize college-relevant knowledge and resources.
This study sought to determine the prevalence and rates of physical, behavioral, and chronic health conditions among Medicaid-enrolled Colorado children by foster care eligibility codes over 9 years.
...This retrospective, population-based study used Colorado's Medicaid administrative data for all enrolled children, aged <19 years old, from July 2011 to August 2020 to determine the period prevalence and rates of physical, behavioral, and chronic health conditions. We identified children in foster care by Medicaid eligibility codes and used the Pediatric Medical Complexity Algorithm version 3.0 to describe health condition outcomes. We report frequencies and percentages by foster care eligibility status, birth year cohort, and sex.
Among 1,084,026 children, we identified 34,971 children in the foster cohort. Rates of physical (1105.0 per 100,000 person-months (PMs)) and behavioral health conditions (583.6 per 100,000 PMs) were two to threefold higher among the foster cohort than peers (physical 685.1 per 100,000 PMs; behavioral 212.2 per 100,000 PMs). By birth cohort, rates of behavioral health conditions among children in foster care were up to 8 times greater than peers. The foster cohort had greater prevalence of chronic conditions with (55.2%) and without (38.6%) behavioral health inclusion.
This study provides a broader health assessment among Medicaid-enrolled children and finds condition disparities concentrated among youth in foster care. A more complete understanding of health problems among children in foster care is critical for health, child welfare, and Medicaid systems to improve health outcomes through coordinated and evidence-based interventions, programs, and policies.
The COVID-19 pandemic and measures taken to decrease the spread impacted youth in foster care and foster parents in a myriad of ways. One critical yet unexplored area is how educational changes ...during the first 2 years of the pandemic impacted this specific group of youth in foster care and foster parents. This exploratory study used three methods: (1) A scoping review of the prior research on pandemics/climate events and school closures and the research from early 2020; (2) individual interviews and focus groups with foster parents and teachers; and (3) an online survey of 88 foster parents. We endeavored to include findings at each stage of the process. Research from prior epidemics and school closures and predictive models predicted learning losses which were verified by the findings in the survey and interviews. Foster parents reported that the youth in foster care had great difficulty concentrating with on-line delivery and the absence or greatly limited access to mental health services compounded the challenges. Even as children returned to classrooms, the behavior of children, youth resulted in suspensions and expulsions likely increasing learning losses. The discussion identifies some approaches to addressing COVID-19 learning gaps and the mental health needs of this vulnerable group of children and youth.
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