Considering the best interests of infants in foster care placed separately from their siblings

This article offers a perspective on the child welfare practice of placing infants and their siblings in foster care using the theoretical frameworks of attachment and infant mental health. The authors highlight issues for child welfare workers to consider when determining if moving an infant or young child from one home to another for the purpose of placing him with his siblings would cause trauma or disruption; and also issues to consider when determining the infant or young child's best interest when separated from siblings. First, the authors summarize the literature regarding attachment relationships and attachment disruptions. Then, they review outcome studies of children residing in foster care who are placed with their siblings and of those who are placed separately. Finally, the authors conclude with specific recommendations for child welfare workers to aid in making such difficult decisions about placing infants in foster care.     

Underserved parents,underserved youth: Considering foster parent willingness to foster substance-using adolescents

Adolescents involved with foster care are five times more likely to receive a drug dependence diagnosis when compared to adolescents in the general population. Prior research has shown that substance use is often hidden from providers, negating any chance for treatment and almost guaranteeing poor post-foster care outcomes. There are virtually no studies that examine the willingness (and its determinants) to foster youth with substance abuse problems. The current study conducted a nationally-distributed survey of 752 currently licensed foster care parents that assessed willingness to foster youth overall and by type of drug used, and possible correlates of this decision (e.g., home factors, system factors, and individual foster parent factors such as ratings of perceived difficulty in fostering this population). Overall, willingness to foster a youth involved with alcohol and other drugs (AOD) was contingent upon the types of drugs used. The odds that a parent would foster an AOD-involved youth were significantly increased by being licensed as a treatment foster home, having fostered an AOD-involved youth in the past, having AOD-specific training and past agency-support when needed, and self-efficacy with respect to positive impact. Surprisingly, when religion played a large part in the decision to foster any child, the odds of willingness to foster an AOD-involved youth dropped significantly. These results suggest that a large proportion of AOD-involved youth who find themselves in the foster care system will not have foster families willing to parent them, thereby forcing placement into a variety of congregate care facilities (e.g., residential treatment facilities, group homes). Specific ways in which the system can address these issues to improve placement and permanency efforts are provided.     

Training foster parents in loyalty conflict: A training evaluation

Fifty two foster parents participated in one of seven offerings of a two-and-a-half hour training on the issue of children caught in a loyalty conflict. Prior to the training foster parents completed a measure of their demographics, receptivity to learning about the issue, and their knowledge about the issue. Following the training the participants completed a measure of their perception that the training was helpful, their intent to change based on the training, and their knowledge about loyalty conflicts. They also participated in a focused discussion about loyalty conflicts. In this sample foster parents were found to have high levels of receptivity to training, high rates of perceived helpfulness of the training, and high levels of intent to change after the training as well as an increase in knowledge regarding loyalty conflict from before to after the training. Despite limitations in sampling strategy and sample size, the data support the belief that foster parents want to learn about this issue and can benefit from a single training on it.     

Introduction to the Special Issue: Mothers of children in foster care

This article introduces the special issue of Children and Youth Services Review devoted to single mothers with children in foster care. It delineates the policy context in which mothers are operating; examines reasons for mothers' temporary loss of custody of their children, a loss that occurs when their children are placed in foster care; presents expectations of mothers once they enter the public child welfare system; and summarizes empirical and theoretical papers included in the volume intended to advance policy and practice for this population. Taken together, these papers reflect one over-arching theme—the need to re-orient child welfare policy and practice so that the rehabilitation, health, and well-being of mothers is one of the central aims.     

The language and policy of care and parenting: Understanding the uncertainty about key players’ roles in foster care provision

Recent debates about the care provided to looked-after children have been characterised by uncertainty about the differing roles and responsibilities of foster carers, birth parents, and social workers. To explore the assumptions underlying these uncertainties, we drew upon Foucauldian Discourse Analysis and compared the discourses used by professionals (social workers in a group discussion about foster placement breakdown) with those used by policy-makers (in the Governmental green paper ‘Care Matters’). In both cases, a discourse based upon Attachment Theory was used to explain why placements succeed and fail, and to predict the repercussions of failure. However, there was a key difference in the way that professionals and policy-makers constructed the roles of key players in foster placements. The social workers constructed the birth parents as the parental figures for children in care, constructing themselves in a non-parental role. ‘Care Matters’ largely ignores the role of birth parents, and instead constructs social workers as parental figures. Neither source viewed foster carers as parental and ‘Care Matters’ positions this group as strictly professional. We discuss the incongruence of foster placements being understood through Attachment Theory, while foster carers are understood as non-parental figures, and also the repercussions of labelling a social worker as a parent, and the professionalization of the role of the foster carer.     

South African social workers' knowledge of attachment theory and their perceptions of attachment relationships in foster care supervision

Despite the prominence of attachment theory in international foster care literature and the importance of attachment relationships in successful foster care, attachment theory and practices do not feature prominently in South African foster care research. Against this backdrop, we interviewed twenty South African social workers' about their knowledge of attachment theory and their perceptions of attachment relationships in their own foster care work. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the interviews. We found that the social workers had limited knowledge of attachment theory and interventions; experienced most biological parents as unmotivated to improve their circumstances and attachment relationships with children; indicated that family reunifications were rare occurrences; reported foster parents were mostly kin; and experienced constraining contextual factors that hindered optimal consideration of attachment relationships in foster care supervision.     

Placement preferences among children living in foster or kinship care: A cluster analysis

This research provides a longitudinal assessment regarding children's placement preferences, distinguishing between what children prefer to be permanent home situations and what children expect will be permanent situations. Cluster analysis was used in an effort to classify the responses of 1313 children, ages 6–14, in foster or kinship care, over a three year period, regarding placement preferences. Results of the cluster analyses indicate classification in the following four groups of permanency preferences: 1) I don't want to be here/going home; 2) I can stay here, but I don't want to/going home; 3) I can stay here and I want to, but no adoption; and 4) I can stay here and I want to, with adoption. Findings indicate that across waves of data collection, children express a sense of belonging in their foster homes. Older children were more agreeable to their current placements as long as there was no option of permanency/adoption. Also, White children were more likely to prefer and expect to go home. This research provides great utility in evaluative efforts that include listening to the voices of the children by encouraging their participation in case planning and service evaluation.     

The market for foster care: an empirical study of the impact of foster care subsidies

When parents are suspected of child abuse or neglect, their children may be placed with foster families. We estimate the relationship between the monthly subsidies paid to foster families and the quantity of foster care services provided. The empirical model uses variation in subsidies and foster care populations within 37 states and the years 1987–1995. One innovation in our approach is that we exploit the idea that states do not appear to set market clearing rates, as evidenced by a foster home shortage during this time period. In this case of excess demand, variation in the monthly subsidy traces out the supply curve. Our results show that states with high demand may be able to use economic incentives to recruit foster families.

Predictors of children in foster care being adopted: A classification tree analysis

When returning home is not a viable option, adoption is the primary means by which youth in substitute care achieve permanency. Therefore, understanding the factors that impact adoption is critical to both evaluating and improving the child welfare system. Prior research has mostly studied “main effects” in regard to adoption rates and has not explored the ways in which youth and foster family variables might interact in complex ways to predict adoption. This study uses a classification tree analysis approach known as Optimal Data Analysis (ODA) to predict probability of adoption in 2003 using Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS) data. 30,000 adopted youth and 30,000 non-adopted youth were randomly selected for participation in the study. Similar to previous studies, univariate analyses revealed that age, foster parent race/ethnicity, foster parent marital status, and number of previous placements all predicted probability of adoption. However, going further, several combinations of individual variables (multivariate ODA) improved prediction accuracy (e.g., age × structure of foster family × number of previous placements). Results also suggested that the impact of the state on adoption rates varied when essentially controlling for youth and family variables, supporting concerns regarding the crude use of AFCARS data when comparing states.     

Access visits: Perceptions of child protection workers, foster parents and children who are Crown wards

Objective

To report findings from a study of the perceptions of foster parents, child protection workers and children regarding supervised access visits for children who are permanent wards (Crown wards).

Methods

Interviews were conducted with twenty-four Crown wards having regular supervised access visits. Eight focus groups were conducted with twenty-four foster parents, and twenty-six child protection workers. Interviews and focus groups explored perspectives regarding supervised access visits. Interviews and focus groups were transcribed, coded, and thematically analyzed. Negative case analysis, prolonged engagement, and triangulation contributed to the trustworthiness of the research.

Results

While this study is explorative, findings suggest considerable dissatisfaction regarding access visits among foster parents and workers, inadequate training for workers and foster parents, poor communication and consultation regarding access visits, and confusion regarding the roles of supervisors.

Conclusions

The data suggest several possible explanations for children's distress associated with access visits including lack of communication among access supervisors, workers and foster parents; insufficient training for workers who supervise visits; and a lack of validation of the children's contradictory feelings towards their mothers.

Practice implications

Findings suggest the need for more consultation with and inclusion of foster parents in access visits. More training is required for workers supervising access visits including whether and how it is beneficial for children to express their feelings and address potentially difficult topics regarding their biological family members.     

The relationship between extracurricular activities and delinquency of adolescents in foster care

This study examined the relationships between involvement in extracurricular activities and delinquency for adolescents in foster care. Using data from the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being, a subsample of adolescents (n = 117) in long-term foster care was the focus of this study. Contrary to the hypotheses, results indicated that greater involvement in extracurricular activities was associated with higher levels of delinquency. Further analyses revealed that the type of placement and closeness with caregiver predicted delinquency above and beyond the frequency of participation in extracurricular activities. Implications are discussed.     

The Brief Assessment Checklists (BAC-C,BAC-A): Mental health screening measures for school-aged children and adolescents in foster,kinship, residential and adoptive care

More than half of children and young people in foster, kinship, and residential care, as well as those subsequently adopted from care, have mental health difficulties that require clinical formulation and intervention. While an increasing number of alternate care jurisdictions are instituting universal mental health screening, existing measures may not adequately screen for a range of attachment- and trauma-related mental health difficulties observed among these populations. The Brief Assessment Checklist for Children (BAC-C), and the Brief Assessment Checklist for Adolescents (BAC-A) are 20-item caregiver-report psychiatric rating scales designed to: 1. screen for and monitor clinically-meaningful mental health difficulties experienced by children and adolescents in various types of care; and 2. be safely administered and interpreted by health and social care professionals other than child and adolescent mental health clinicians. The BAC-C/A were also designed to be used as brief casework monitoring tools by foster care and adoption agencies, and for treatment monitoring in CAMHS. The BAC-C and BAC-A were derived from the Assessment Checklist for Children (ACC, 120 items) and Assessment Checklist for Adolescents (ACA, 105 items) respectively. Internal consistency of BAC-C (N = 347) and BAC-A (N = 230) scores were 0.89 and 0.87 respectively. The BAC-C/A were highly accurate in screening for clinical range ACC and ACA scores (area under the curve (AUC) ranging from 0.96 to 0.99), as well as for CBCL clinical range scores (AUCs: BAC-C = 0.89 to 0.92; BAC-A = 0.93 to 0.94). They were moderately accurate in screening for children that caregivers reported had been referred to mental health services (AUCs: BAC-C = 0.74; BAC-A = 0.79). Initial BAC-C/A psychometric properties compare favourably with that of existing screening instruments, including the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire and the Brief Problem Monitor (CBCL short form).     

Measuring the willingness to foster children with emotional and behavioral problems

Many children in foster care have emotional or behavioral problems or are at risk for these problems. It is important to identify parents willing to foster children with these problems in order to ensure placement, care, stability and well-being of such children. This study presents a new 40-item self-report measure of the willingness of parents to foster children with emotional and behavioral problems, and two 20-item parallel forms of this measure. In addition, this study presents evidence of reliability and validity of scores derived from these measures with a national sample of 297 foster mothers. Coefficient alpha for these measures was .92 or greater, indicating excellent internal consistency reliability. Scores from these measures were unrelated to demographic characteristics, providing evidence of discriminant validity. In addition, scores from these measures were higher for foster mothers licensed to provide treatment foster care than for mothers only licensed to provide regular foster care, providing support for known groups validity. Finally, support for construct validity is provided by the fact that foster mothers with higher scores on these measures had fostered longer, were fostering more children at the time of this study, and had fewer children removed from their home at their request.     

Causal effects of foster care: An instrumental-variables approach

This paper describes the use of instrumental-variables (IV) to estimate causal effects of foster care on long- and short-term outcomes. This estimation strategy provides a tool to evaluate what are known as “natural experiments”: settings that mimic randomization usually associated with a controlled trial. The proposed natural experiment involves the effective randomization of investigators to child-protection cases. The results suggest that foster care placement increases like likelihood of delinquency and emergency healthcare episodes. Care must be taken when interpreting IV estimates. The results apply to cases that are part of the natural experiment—“marginal cases” where the investigators may disagree about the placement recommendation.     

Lights,camera, action: The images of foster care in the movies

Movies often reflect public perceptions. The portrayal of foster care in movies provides insight regarding beliefs and attitudes children, parents, and others bring with them as they interact with the foster care system. The study focus was to identify images of foster care portrayed in 37 nondocumentary movies produced in the United States and Canada between 1921 and 2012. Using Framing Theory, an iterative review process was used to derive three dominant images presented to audiences: child entrance into foster care, a broken foster care system, and life in foster care. Movie images generally misrepresented the realities of foster care in the United States, highlighting the importance of those involved in child custody and providing a more realistic image of foster care.     

Explorative study into support needs of caregivers in short-term foster care regarding problem behaviour and dealing with biological parents

Family supporting foster care (FSFC) is a directly accessible, short-term and preventive form of foster care for children under the age of 12. Caregivers in this type of foster care need comprehensive support to deal with their complex tasks. In this contribution, the support needs arising from the behaviour of the foster child as well as concerning dealing with the biological parents of 85 Flemish FSFC-parents are examined, as these are areas FSFC-parents specifically ask support for. These support needs are evaluated for possible links with child and foster parent characteristics. More experienced foster parents and foster parents with a foster child showing more externalising problem behaviour ask for more support in managing the child's behaviour.     

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.     

Post-adoption service need and access: Differences between international,kinship and non-kinship foster care

Post-adoption services are important to bolster a family's commitment to their adopted children, thus avoiding potential problems following adoption finalization. It is vitally important to assess post-adoption services in an effort to ensure families are provided with effective supports for successful family functioning. Few investigators have assessed service needs and access according to adoptive family type. This study focuses on international, foster care kin and foster care non-kin adoption types. Utilizing the National Survey of Adoptive Parents, this research investigated twelve post-adoption services. Two comparisons were made with respect to whether, according to the adoptive parents, post-adoption services were received or not received: 1) international and foster care non-kin adoptive families; and 2) foster care kin and foster non-kin adoptive families. International non-kin families were more likely to indicate they discussed post-adoption services than foster care non-kin families, particularly among those who were white, had adopted boys, had no other children in the home, and whose socio-economic background was lower. When comparing foster care non-kin families with kinship families, non-kin families tended to receive more desired services than kinship families, with kinship families indicating less need for services. Policy efforts and program design need to focus on reaching out to families and developing effective post-adoption services based on the expressed needs of families.     

Disproportionality in education and employment outcomes of adult foster care alumni

Racial similarities and disparities in the education and employment of 134 African American and 574 White adults placed in foster care as children were examined. Logistic regression was used to compare differences among these young adult alumni who were served by a voluntary foster care agency in 23 U.S. communities. When controlling for demographic background, risk factors, and foster care experiences, race/ethnicity was a significant factor only in the increased odds of White alumni having income at or above poverty level, three times poverty level, and home/apartment ownership compared to African Americans.     

Abused children and foster care—the need for specialist resources

Estimates vary on how many abused and neglected children are admitted to care and how many children in care are there because of abuse and neglect. Nevertheless, it is important to examine their special needs and the problems they present to carers. Although research findings are difficult to interpret, there is enough evidence to show that abused and neglected children in care have special needs in three particular areas: education, health and social behaviour. The evidence is available from research into children in care and research into child maltreatment. Children in care run the risk of disrupted educational careers; abused and neglected children have additional problems in school. Many children in care have a patchy and neglected medical history; abused and neglected children are seriously at risk of further ill-health. Abused and neglected children have been shown to have behaviour problems that jeopardize their relationships with peers and adults; they run the risk of placement breakdown. Foster care of abused and neglected children is a specialist and demanding task, requiring knowledge of, and sensitivity to special needs. Because many abused and neglected children return to their parents, foster carers also need to include the natural family in their task. High expectations of these foster carers, however, should not lead to exploitation but rather an enhancing of fostering assessment, preparation, support and training.