Little is known about the impact of child welfare system-level factors on child mortality as an outcome within foster care. Using data from the Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System, ...2009–2018, we examined the associations between county-level sociodemographic, foster care performance, and judicial reform characteristics with all-cause mortality rates. Results of random effects negative binomial regression analyses showed that higher proportions of younger children (<1 year: IRR = 1.06, 95% CI 1.02, 1.11; 5–9 years: IRR = 1.05, 95% CI 1.01, 1.09); children of color (i.e., non-Hispanic Asian: IRR = 1.07, 95% CI 1.01, 1.13; multiracial: IRR = 1.03, 95% CI 1.01, 1.04; non-Hispanic Black: IRR = 1.02, 95% CI 1.01, 1.02; Hispanic: IRR = 1.01, 95% CI 1.01, 1.02); and male children (IRR = 1.10, 95% CI 1.05, 1.15) were associated with higher mortality risks at the county level. Current class action lawsuits (IRR = 0.79, 95% CI 0.63, 0.99) and active consent decrees (IRR = 0.77, 95% CI 0.63, 0.94) were associated with lower mortality risks. None of the foster care performance characteristics (e.g., foster care entry, placement stability, permanency) were associated with mortality risks. These findings have implications for addressing health disparities and reforming foster care systems through programmatic and policy efforts.
•There has been an explosion of programs for youth who age out of foster care.•There is limited information regarding effectiveness of these programs.•We use the CEBC for Child Welfare’s Scientific ...Rating Scale to assess the evidence.•Of the 79 programs found, 10 (13%) yielded a rating on the CEBC Scale.•Sixty-four programs targeted vulnerable populations, but only 10 could be rated.
The 1999 John H. Chafee Foster Care Independence Act expanded a federal funding stream for independent living/transition services for older youth (ages 14+) in and transitioning from foster care. As a result, there has been a proliferation of programs that target youth who are likely to age out of foster care with the intention of improving their emerging adulthood outcomes. These programs aim to improve wellbeing outcomes related to education, employment, housing, health/mental health, and relationships. Using a scoping review framework, we sought to take stock of the state of the science of the programs and interventions (PIs) currently available for young people who age out of foster care. We offer research recommendations regarding how the field can move forward with promoting improved wellbeing of young people in care as they transition to adulthood. We assess to what extent both services for young people aging out of care and related research has included vulnerable populations, including pregnant/parenting youth, LGBTQ + youth, youth of color, youth with disabilities, and crossover youth.
Using the National Governors Association’s Center for Best Practices (2010) as a guide, we searched the research and gray literatures for PIs that target education, employment, housing, health/mental health, and relationships. Then, we searched the research and gray literatures for evidence of effectiveness in the form of peer-reviewed scientific articles and evaluation reports. Next, based on the California Evidence-Based Clearinghouse (CEBC) for Child Welfare’s Scientific Rating Scale, we assigned each PI a rating (1 = Well-Supported by Research Evidence, 2 = Supported by Research Evidence, 3 = Promising Research Evidence, 4 = Failure to Demonstrate Effect, and 5 = Concerning Practice).
Of the 79 PIs we found, 10 (13%) yielded a rating from 1 to 5. The best rating in any of the five practice areas was a 2 (“Supported by Research Evidence”), which applied to four programs. The area with the most rated programs was relationships, with four programs receiving a rating. The area with the least PIs was health/mental health care, with only a single program receiving a rating. Regarding vulnerable populations, 64 programs targeted at least one of the vulnerable populations of interest; 10 (16%) were rated with the CEBC Scale.
When the Foster Care Independence Act was passed, there was a dearth of PIs that targeted the wellbeing of older youth in foster care who were likely to age out. In the last 20 years, we have done an excellent job developing PIs. Given the results of this scoping review, we must now build the evidence for the PIs that already exist. This process entails ensuring agencies are equipped with the capacities to implement PIs to fidelity and that procedures are in place to examine the effectiveness for the many PIs that are already being delivered to marginalized young people who age out of care. Special attention should also be devoted to testing the efficacy and effectiveness of existing PIs for vulnerable populations, as their experiences have not been adequately illuminated by previous research.
•Kinship caregiving is beneficial for long term outcomes of children in foster care.•Finding ways to support kinship caregivers is necessary to increase such placements.•Stakeholders identified ...salient personal and systemic barriers and facilitators to care.•Operational and policy interventions are needed to address kinship families’ needs.
Kinship caregivers are often considered the preferred placement for children in foster care. Children placed with kinship caregivers tend to have better emotional and behavioral health outcomes than children placed in other settings. Despite this, kinship caregivers receive limited resources to help provide for the children in their care.
This study utilized focus groups, interviews, and an online survey to obtain a mixed methods perspective of needs and resources available to kinship caregivers from a multitude of stakeholder groups. Stakeholder groups included were kinship caregivers, healthcare providers, child welfare advocates, and child-placing agency staff. Focus group and interview transcriptions were coded using a mixed deductive-inductive approach to identify salient themes. Survey responses were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Areas of convergence and divergence between quantitative and qualitative findings were identified and discussed. Triangulation was used to integrate complementary qualitative and quantitative data.
Four salient overarching themes emerged from the analysis: 1) Navigating Personal and Family Challenges, 2) Personal Facilitating Supports and Resources, 3) Systemic Barriers, and 4) Systemic Facilitators, each comprising multiple sub-themes.
Kinship caregivers face numerous barriers to providing care for children placed with them and limited facilitators to help ensure successful placements. Although the needs of kinship caregivers are being examined and prioritized in the legislature, operational and policy-level interventions are needed. Results from this study allow for interventions tailored to the needs of kinship caregivers in the State of Texas as identified by a multitude of stakeholder groups.
The child welfare system disproportionately harms Black children and families through systemic over-surveillance, over-involvement, and the resulting adverse outcomes associated with foster care. ...Ending this harm will only be achieved when the forcible surveillance and separation of children from their parents is no longer viewed as an acceptable form of intervention. This paper describes the upEND movement, a collaborative movement aimed at abolishing the child welfare system as we know it and reimagining how we as a society support child, family, and community safety and well-being.
•Supporting foster carers is important given the role demands and expectations inherent in their daily work, however many may experience burnout and secondary traumatic stress leading to carer ...attrition and children’s placement instability.•The Mockingbird FamilyTM is a promising model involving collective foster caring. It shows potential to support foster carers, thereby strengthening and stabilizing the environment of children and young people in care.•We measured the Professional Quality of Life (ProQOL) of foster carers in the Mockingbird FamilyTM in Australia and compared their ProQOL with foster carers caring as usual. We showed that Mockingbird FamilyTM model may have positive associations with improvements in compassion satisfaction and reductions in compassion fatigue among carers.
Children’s behaviours and support system typology are potential predictors of foster carer compassion satisfaction, burnout, and secondary traumatic stress (i.e., Professional Quality of Life, ProQOL). Little is known about the ProQOL of Mockingbird FamilyTM foster carers compared to foster carers caregiving as usual.
This study aimed to: Examine ProQOL of Mockingbird FamilyTM carers compared to other carers; Explain associations between ProQOL, demographic characteristics, and determinants of ProQOL.
Participants and setting: Two groups were studied: Mockingbird FamilyTM carers (n = 27) and other carers (n = 89) of children < 18yrs. The sample was drawn from a single registered foster care agency following implementation of the Mockingbird FamilyTM in Australia.
Cross-sectional, comparative mixed method design. Participants completed self-report questionnaires incorporating demographic questions, ProQOL instrument developed by Stamm (2010), and qualitative questions, analysed using SPSS 28.01 and thematically.
Pearson correlation, t-test and ANOVA showed Mockingbird FamilyTM carers had a better ProQOL compared to carers caregiving as usual, with associations identified between ProQOL and socio-demographic aspects including gender, ProQOL and foster caring experience, and ProQOL and carers’ engagement of the children in community activities. Qualitative data showed that communication, relevance of training, and the quality of statutory and agency supports to members of the Mockingbird FamilyTM were key determinants of ProQOL.
Our findings showed that the Mockingbird FamilyTM model of foster care may improve the ProQOL of carers, compared to carers undertaking caregiving as usual. We recommend further research to examine associations with placement breakdown and carer attrition rates.
Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui manajemen talenta berbasis religius melalui kepiawaian Wali Asuh Pondok Pesantren Nurul Jadid dalam meningkatkan kualitas intelektual dan religius ...santri-santri untuk mewujudkan pesantren yang mempunyai keunggulan dibidang akademik maupun dibidang keagamaan dan sosial kemasyarakatan. Penelitian ini menggunakan pendekatan kualitatif jenis studi kasus. Pengumpulan data penelitian dilakukan dengan observasi, wawancara dan dokumentasi. Penelitian ini dilakukan pada santri yang bertalenta religius melalui kepiawaian Wali Asuh Pondok Pesantren Nurul Jadid. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa dalam upaya meningkatkan talenta santri berbasis religius melalui kepiawaian Wali Asuh Pondok Pesantren Nurul Jadid ialah dengan melalui pendekatan secara personal approach, sharing, pembiasaan dengan melembagakan program tersebut dijadikan program rutinitas. Sehingga hal tersebut pesantren dapat berkembang melalui santri yang bertalenta religius melalui kepiawaian Wali Asuh.
This article compares the foster care systems in Poland and Germany, particularly focusing on the moment when young people are prepared to leave the support system and live an independent adult life. ...The data was collected as part of the work of an international project team in Poland and Germany in the framework of a joint research project, and included an analysis of foundational data (systematic textual analysis and secondary data analysis). An important part of the article is an analysis of the reforms of the foster care system in both countries. In Germany the reform was implemented in 2021 and in Poland the relevant law was changed in September 2022. The result is a comparison of the support systems Poland and Germany offer care leavers and a preliminary assessment of the reforms recently introduced in both countries.
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.
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.
