Children's Appraisals of their Experiences in Out-of-Home Care

Few studies have asked children directly about their experiences in out-of-home care. This study uses data collected from 180 nine- to-11-year-old children currently in out-of-home care who were asked about their perceptions and appraisals of out-of-home care. Analysis of variance and chi-square analyses were used to examine whether children's appraisals of their lives following removal from their families of origin differ as a function of age, gender, race/ethnicity, type and severity of maltreatment, length of time in out-of-home care, placement type, attachment to current caregivers, and rating of current caregiver/home. Youth who were sexually and emotionally abused, youth who were satisfied with their current caregivers and placements, and girls were more likely to state that their lives would have been worse had they remained with their families of origin. Youth who were physically abused were more likely to report that their lives would have remained the same. Children living in group care were more likely than those living in family foster care or with kin to report that their lives would have been better had they remained with their families of origin. Differences were not found between children living in family foster care and those living with kin nor did children's appraisals differ based on age, race, ethnicity, length of time in out-of-home care, neglect, or severity of maltreatment.     

The Peer Relationships of Those Who Have Experienced Adoption or Foster Care: A Meta‐Analysis

This meta‐analytic review examines the presence and quality of close peer relationships for adoptees and individuals with foster care experience. Results indicate that adoptees show difficulty forming close peer relationships compared with biologically reared individuals, but they do not differ in the quality of these relationships. In contrast, those with foster care experience report lower quality peer relationships than biologically reared individuals. Additionally, this meta‐analysis includes prevalence rates of close peer relationships that illustrate most adoptees and foster youth report having high‐quality peer relationships. These findings have important implications for intervention and prevention efforts and offer directions for future research on peer relationships among adoptees and foster youth, but should be considered in light of the presence of some publication bias.     

Girls in Foster Care: Risk and Promotive Factors for School Adjustment Across the Transition to Middle School

Girls in foster care may face difficulties across the transition to middle school. Latent growth curve modeling was employed to examine trajectories and predictors of academic competence and aggression from and against peers for 75 girls in foster care from the end of elementary school to the 2nd year of middle school. Across the transition to middle school, academic competence increased. Poor self-regulation was associated with decreased academic competence, and higher caregiver support was associated with increased academic competence. Frequency of aggression from peers decreased across the transition, with perceived school competence predicting smaller decreases. Aggression against peers dropped initially and then increased to pretransition levels by the end of the 2nd year of middle school. Lower caregiver support was associated with higher rates of aggression against peers at the end of the 1st year of middle school. The results are discussed in terms of implications for interventions for girls in foster care.     

Boundary Ambiguity and Borderline Personality Traits: Implications for Treatment for Adolescent Girls in Foster Care

This article explores the relationship between boundary ambiguity and borderline personality traits in adolescent girls in foster care. Boundary ambiguity is a family systems concept: family members are uncertain about who is in or out of the family—in either psychological or physical presence or absence. In foster care, it can be assumed that an adolescent girl has experienced trauma significant enough to be removed from her family. The connection between early childhood trauma and attachment disruption in addition to the connection between insecure/disorganized attachment and borderline personality disorder leads to the conclusion that these same adolescents are at high risk for developing borderline personality traits. The sample consists of 40 caseworkers from New England’s child protection departments and therapists from residential programs working with adolescent girls. They completed the Shedler-Westen Assessment Procedure for Adolescents to determine the presence of personality disruption as well as a variation of Pauline Boss’s Boundary Ambiguity Scale #1, and demographic questionnaires. The results find a significant correlation between boundary ambiguity and borderline personality traits. These findings provide directions for future research in clinical treatment and child welfare policy making.     

Foster home integration as a temporal indicator of relational well-being

This study sought to identify factors that contribute to the relational well-being of youth in substitute care. Using data from the Supporting Siblings in Foster Care (SIBS-FC) study, youth responded to a 9-item measure of positive home integration, a scale designed to assess the relational experiences of youth to their caregivers and their integration into the foster home. Data were collected from youth in six month intervals, for an 18-month period of time. Latent growth curve modeling procedures were employed to determine if child, family, and case characteristics influenced youth's home integration trajectories. Results suggest stability in youth reports of home integration over time; however, children who were older at the time of study enrollment and youth who experienced placement changes during the period of observation experienced decreased home integration during the 18-month period. Results suggest youth's perspectives of home integration may in part be a function of the child's developmental stage and their experiences with foster care placement instability. Implications for practice and future research are discussed.     

Self-esteem: A mediator between peer relationships and behaviors of adolescents in foster care

Youth in foster care have been shown to be at risk for a range of negative behaviors. Developmental research has highlighted the important role that peer relationships can play in an adolescent's development. For youth in foster care, peer relationships can also play an important role in both youths' internal perception of themselves and their enacted behaviors. This study utilized National Survey of Child and Adolescent Wellbeing, a national secondary dataset to analyze the connection between peer relationships for youths in long-term foster care and their report of internalizing, externalizing, and delinquent behaviors (n = 188). Additionally, the self-esteem of adolescents was explored as a potential mediator between peer relationships and these behaviors. Preliminary analyses indicated that peer relationships had a significant association with all three of the identified behaviors: internalizing, externalizing, and delinquent behaviors of youths in foster care. Self-esteem was found to be a significant mediator between peer relationships and adolescents' report of their internalizing, externalizing, and delinquent behaviors. Clinical implications for therapeutic services that focuses on the adolescent's self-image and potential policy implications are discussed.     

Conceptions of Family and Adoption Among Older Adoptees

ABSTRACT

Research on older child adoptions that incorporates the adoptee's perspective is noticeably absent from the literature. Drawing on the theoretical, clinical and empirical literature on children's understanding of family and adoption, this paper reports a study that examined older adoptees' conceptions of family and adoption relative to nonadopted peers. Interviews with 15 children adopted between ages 8 and 11 and a sample of 15 demographically matched nonadopted children (47% male; 84% Caucasian, 13% African American, 3% Biracial Asian/American) provided data that were analyzed for differences in children's understanding and elaboration of family and adoption concepts. Although no group differences were found in children's basic understanding of family or adoption, differences emerged in children's ratings of the acceptability and typicality of family constellations, as well as in the nature of concept elaboration. Older adoptees were more likely to accept and view as typical nontraditional family constellations. Whereas nonadopted children relied more on biological themes, older adoptees' concept elaboration was qualitatively richer, reflecting their varied birth family and foster care experiences. Within-group comparisons among older adoptees revealed differences: Children with more experience in foster care and children who lived in the adoptive home longer displayed higher levels of family understanding and a more realistic perspective of the permanence of the placement. Implications for future research and adoption service delivery are discussed.     

Understanding contextual effects on externalizing behaviors in children in out-of-home care: Influence of workers and foster families

The expression of externalizing behaviors of children in-care can be influenced by a multitude of factors. The current study examined the simultaneous levels of influence of workers and foster families on children's externalizing behaviors in those receiving out-of-home care. A cross-classified multilevel model was used to partition variance in children in-care's externalizing scores into worker, foster family and child-specific levels of influence. The extent to which processes are explained by worker and foster-family level predictors was examined. Assessment and Action Record (AAR) data from the Ontario Looking after Children (OnLAC) project were analyzed. The sample included data from 1063 children between 10 and 17 years of age (M age = 13 years, 6 months, SD = 2.08 years). While individual differences in children's externalizing behaviors were primarily attributable to child-specific effects (72%), 10% and 18% of the variance can be explained by worker and foster family influences respectively. Worker education accounted for substantial differences seen between workers where more difficult children were monitored by workers with less educational attainment. Furthermore, foster-family level predictors also explained variance in children's externalizing behaviors. Relative to children in foster care, those in kinship care displayed significantly lower levels of problem behaviors while children in group care displayed significantly higher levels. Higher levels of parental negativity within the foster family and the experience of more differential parental negativity relative to siblings were significantly associated with more externalizing behaviors. Lastly, children who were more satisfied with their placement displayed significantly lower levels of problematic behaviors. These results suggest that children in-care can be conceptualized within a multilevel framework.     

Mental health interventions for children in foster care: A systematic review

Children in foster care have high rates of adverse childhood experiences and are at risk for mental health problems. These problems can be difficult to ameliorate, creating a need for rigorous intervention research. Previous research suggests that intervening with children in foster care can be challenging for several reasons, including the severity and complexity of their mental health problems, and challenges engaging this often transitory population in mental health services. The goal of this article was to systematically review the intervention research that has been conducted with children in foster care, and to identify future research directions. This review was conducted on mental health interventions for children, ages 0 to 12, in foster care, using ERIC, CINAHL, PsycINFO, PubMed, ProQuest's Dissertation and Theses Database, Social Services Abstracts, and Social Work Abstracts. It was restricted to interventions that are at least “possibly efficacious” (i.e., supported by evidence from at least one randomized controlled trial). Studies were evaluated for risk of bias. Ten interventions were identified, with diverse outcomes, including mental health and physiological. Six interventions were developed for children in foster care. Interventions not developed for children in foster care were typically adapted to the foster context. Most interventions have yet to be rigorously evaluated in community-based settings with children in foster care. Little research has been conducted on child and family engagement within these interventions, and there is a need for more research on moderators of intervention outcomes and subgroups that benefit most from these interventions. In addition, there is no consensus regarding how to adapt interventions to this population. Future research should focus on developing and testing more interventions with this population, rigorously evaluating their effectiveness in community-based settings, determining necessary adaptations, and identifying which interventions work best for whom.     

Future expectations of adolescents in residential care in Israel

The study examines the future expectations of adolescents in residential care facilities in Israel and their worries about the pending transition to independent living. The study examines the hypotheses that personal variables (e.g., gender, a personality trait of optimism) and social support variables (the support of family, peers and staff) predict their future expectations. 277 adolescents participated in the study. The self report questionnaire covered several areas including demographic background, optimism, family, peer and staff support, readiness to leave care and future expectations. Results indicate that most adolescents perceived their future positively. The most positive expectations were in the family and friends domains. About a third of the adolescents were worried or very worried about leaving care. Worries were not related to gender. Optimism, social support by mother and peers (but not staff) was positively correlated with future expectations. The findings suggest that there are areas of concern that should be addressed through programs to prepare youth for leaving care. Follow up and longitudinal studies are suggested.     

Effects of foster care placement on biological children in the home

This project used questionnaires to investigate the effects of foster care on biological children in the foster home setting. In southeast Iowa, 52 foster parents and 51 biological children voluntarily responded. Approximately 77% of the foster parents were concerned about the effects of foster care on their biological children—in particular, that biological children felt left out of the family unit. The majority of the foster parents stated that sharing of parental attention should be discussed with biological children before beginning, and both parents and children felt that pretraining sessions for biological children would help their adjustment to foster care.     

Happily Ever After? The Journey From Foster Care to Adoption

Providing the foster child with a forever family through adoption is often seen as a happy ending to the long and painful journey through foster care. This qualitative study explores this complex journey from foster care to adoption from the perspective of 30 young adults aged 18 to 25 who were adopted from the foster care system after the age of 8. The results indicate that the foster and adoption experience for these youth cannot be compartmentalized when trying to understand the impact adoption has had on their overall sense of self. Implications for future research to explore the emerging concept of foster/adoptive identity for older youth adopted through the foster care system are provided.     

Arenas of comfort and conflict: peer relationship events and young people's educational attainment

Previous research suggests that developments in young people's peer relationships may either compound or alleviate the adverse impacts of other major life changes during adolescence. We explored this proposition with respect to young people's educational attainment upon leaving high school, using longitudinal data from a large cohort of Australian secondary school students (n?=?1612) who have taken part in the Our Lives research study between the ages of 12/13 and 19/20 years. Our analysis focused on the role of peer relationship events such bullying, friendship problems, falling in love, and breaking up with someone. Bullying and romantic involvement were associated with lower odds of receiving a competitive tertiary entrance rank at the end of high school. However, close, resilient friendships – in which status and identity conflicts may be more easily tolerated and resolved – may help to offset the role of these other events. As well as reviewing the consequences of our findings for young people's educational and occupational trajectories in the longer-term, we highlight their implications for future research and policy in this area.     

Parental substance abuse and the development of children in family foster care

To determine the impact of parental substance abuse on children, the cognitive skills and behavior ratings of 268 school-age children placed in family foster care were examined. As a group, the children in family foster care presented with low average cognitive skills and made significant improvement in cognitive functioning during placement. The children with prenatal exposure to drugs scored significantly lower in cognitive skills at the beginning of placement but made significantly more progress than the other children during placement. Behavior ratings by the foster parents and teachers revealed that 29% of the children had scores in the significant range, and the children exposed prenatally to drugs had a higher incidence of behavior problems at school compared to family foster care peers. Recommendations for further study of these factors and for enhancing outcomes for children in care are provided.     

Comparing the health status of low-income children in and out of foster care

Children in foster care face poverty, family dysfunction, neglect, and abuse, with high rates of chronic health, emotional, and developmental problems. This study compared the overall health status of a group of children entering foster care with a group of Medicaid-eligible children living with their parents, matched for age and gender. It identified significantly more health and developmental problems in children in foster care than in the comparison group. Possible contributors to the higher percentage of problems among foster care children may be that the foster children have more problems related to the underlying risk factors resulting in placement, or that the foster care physicians conducted a more comprehensive assessment or had lower clinical thresholds. Further research is necessary to identify and treat the problems of this high-risk group.     

An exploratory study of self-esteem and quality of care of 100 children in foster care

This small-scale research study examined children's perceptions of themselves, their situation, career aspirations and hopes for the future. One hundred San Francisco children in foster care were interviewed and filled out a questionnaire. 50 of the children lived in foster family care; 50 in group homes. The Department of Social Services in San Francisco cooperated in executing this study. Children ranged in ages from 8–18. Both male and female children participated. The questionnaire contained two standarized tests, Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory and Parks Career Role Inventory. A section was written by the authors to examine how children in care spend their time, and how they feel about where they live and their foster care status. The last part, an open-ended section asks them which foster care setting they liked best, why, and what they would suggest to improve the foster care system. An additional question “Why do you think you are in foster care?” was designed to elicit the children's understanding of why they lived in foster care rather than their biological home.     

The role of foster parents in helping young people develop emancipation skills

The current focus on preparing youths in foster care for emancipation has largely ignored the critical role foster parents have always played in preparing youths to leave their homes and take their place as successful adults in our society. To assure that programs to enhance youths' skills and abilities to function responsibly are fully effective, they must include foster parents. In doing so, they will exponentially increase the hours of service and training available to eligible youths and develop a resource that will be available to future youths after funds are redirected. It is unrealistic, however, to expect foster parents to provide all of the help that most youths in foster care need. Foster family support and training must be seen as one dimension of an integrated approach that provides all youths with a variety of resources but is specific to the needs of each youth. With appropriate support and training, foster parents can assume professional responsibility for assuring that such plans are implemented, and that youths leaving foster care have what they need to emancipate successfully.     

Tribulations and achievements: The lived experiences of African American college students formerly in foster care

This qualitative study explores the factors contributing to the college matriculation of African Americans formerly in foster care. One-on-one interviews were conducted with 10 participants who were enrolled in diverse colleges and universities. The findings reveal that the participants’ social circumstances and the maltreatment they endured before and while in foster care were key influences on their decisions to go to college. These resilient participants predicted better lives through educational means. The results suggest the need for cultural focused counseling services, mentor programs, and college preparatory programs for older youth interested in college. The implications of the findings for social workers, helping professionals, and higher education systems are presented.     

Part of the family: Planning for permanence in long-term family foster care

There are concerns for the stability and outcomes for children in care amongst policy makers in England and many other countries. The goal of permanence for children separated from their birth families and in the care of the state has dominated child care policy and practice in the UK, the USA and Canada since the 1980s, but the meanings of permanence in terms of stability, emotional security and family membership into adulthood are complex and the placements and legal status thought best able to achieve permanence are contested.This research was an investigation of planning for permanence in long-term foster family care in England, where it is accepted by policy makers that this is a legitimate permanence option. The aim was to consider the fit between the planning and reviewing systems designed to achieve permanence in foster care and the reality of planned permanent placements as experienced by foster children and foster carers.Results suggested that although committed relationships within the foster family were helping children to feel a sense of permanence and to become part of the family, planning and reviewing procedures required by corporate parenting were often not adapted to the special nature of these foster placements. It was concluded that although planning and reviewing systems need to be rigorous, they also need to be more child and family sensitive in permanent placements.     

Externalizing problems in young foster children: Prevalence rates,predictors and service use

Objective

Examining the prevalence of externalizing problems, their predictors and mental health service use for these problems by foster children and foster parents in a representative group of foster children aged 3 to 12 in Flanders.

Method

Survey data were collected on 212 foster children, who had been in the foster family for approximately four months. Foster parents filled out a Child Behavior Checklist to measure foster children's externalizing problems. Foster care workers reported on several potential risk variables for externalizing problems and on foster children's and foster parent's mental health service use. Predictors of externalizing problems were identified from a large number of variables using the method of purposeful selection of variables in linear regression.

Results

40.6% of the foster children had externalizing problems. Foster children who were placed because of behavioral problems had more externalizing problems. Only 20.9% of the foster children with externalizing problems and only 13.9% of their foster parents received professional help.

Conclusions

This study showed that externalizing problems are prevalent in this young foster care population, that it is hard to predict which foster children had externalizing problems, and that foster children and their foster parents rarely receive services for these problems. These findings call for a standard protocol of assessment of foster children's externalizing problems. Moreover, from a preventive viewpoint, guidelines are needed to systematically link young foster children with externalizing problems and their foster parents to appropriate services.