Children placed in long-term family foster care: A longitudinal study into the development of problem behavior and associated factors

Due to prior experiences of trauma and abuse, many foster children have behavioral problems. The placement of the child in a family foster home is expected to reduce the behavioral problems. However, this expectation is seldom met and mostly behavioral problems increase or remain stable during placement. Research on the development of behavioral problems in foster children is scarce. Moreover, most of the research results are situated on a group level, which obscures the development of problem behavior on a case level. This study investigated the development of problem behavior of 49 foster children on a case level and the association of global, contextual, familial and child factors with the increase or decrease of problem behavior. Over a two year period 18 foster children had more, 23 just as much and 8 less problem behavior. An increase was associated with the use of more negative parenting strategies by the foster mothers. A decrease was related to the use of supportive parenting. Support of foster parents aiming at reducing the use of negative discipline practices and promoting the use of supportive parenting may have a positive effect on the development of foster children.     

A Conceptualization of Parenting:

The purpose of this paper is to provide a framework for examining the parenting process. Tasks, roles, rules, communication, resources, and relationships are described as essential components of parenting. The conceptualization of parenting is not tied to a particular family structure or type. Rather, parenting is examined as a process undertaken with the goal of ferrying children from conception and birth through developmental challenges and life events to adulthood. As a bridge between the conceptualization of parenting and its application to single parent families, questions are raised concerning what it takes to parent adequately. Notions of the successful or ‘‘good enough’’ parent are derived from facets of the conceptual framework. The challenge of providing adequate parenting for single parent families is presented. Single parent families are not described as automatic ‘‘at risk’’ situations for children. However, identification of the ingredients needed for adequate parenting provides a useful framework for evaluation of the effectiveness of single parent families in the many forms and situations con- sidered in the other papers in this special volume of Marriage & Family Review.     

Single Parent Widows:

This paper examines the stressors, appraisal of be- reavement, coping, resources, grieving responses and health of four types of single widow parents: widows raising dependent children; widows raising a handicapped child; independent older widows with children; and dependent, ill, older widows with a child. A review of literature on single parent widow families and data from the authors research on single parent widows served as a basis for this paper. Major gaps in knowledge include: limited research on single parent widow families including longitudinal and theory-based research; findings which are based on small samples of single parent widows who are often mixed with other single parent types; little research on single parent widows from Black, Hispanic and other ethnic groups; and few studies on resources used by widows. A secondary analysis of data from the authors research indicated characteristics of high- risk, vulnerable, and healthy single parent widow families. High-risk single parent widow families are characterized by: presence of mul- tiple stressors; intense grieving; appraisal of bereavement as a threat or harmful loss; use of less adaptive coping; limited use of resources;and poor health. Characteristics of vulnerable single parent widow families include: presence of stressors including an unresolved grieving process; negative appraisals of bereavement with hope for a more positive appraisal in the future; limited coping abilities; use of some resources such as helpful social supports; and less than op- timum health which can improve with intervention. Positive mean- ings of bereavement, use of adaptive ways of coping, a normal grieving process, use of many resources, and good health are charac- teristics which are prevalent in healthy single parent widow families. Themes in common to all four family types were: the grieving pro- cess; changes in roles and responsibilities; employment; loneliness; dating and remarriage; and caregiver stress. Directions for future research and implications for family professionals are discussed.     

From Stereotype to Archetype:

No abstract available for this article.     

Kinship Foster Care and Its Impact on Grandmother Caregivers

Summary

Kinship foster care programs are designed to address the needs of relatives, usually grandparents, who have taken in children who have been removed from their homes voluntarily, or following a substantiated report of neglect and/or abuse. The author reviews the history of kinship foster care nationally and examines related research. Reported are findings on a survey of kinship foster care programs nationwide and from qualitative interviews with nine grandmothers from New York City who were kinship foster care providers. Particular attention was paid in these surveys to the impact of kinship foster care on families caring for children with disabilities.     

试析高校新生学校归属感的建立

从中学进入大学,当代大学生面临着环境适应、角色转换和应对多元文化挑战的难题,尽快融入一个全新的学习和生活环境,对学生的心理健康和成长至关重要。本文通过对学校归属感的概念定义以及高校新生学校归属感较易缺失的原因分析,论述了学校归属感与学生全面发展的关系,提出了建立高校新生学校归属感的途径和办法,以期使每一位大学生都能够在和谐的校园环境和健康高雅、积极向上的校园文化氛围中健康成长。     

Children in Foster Care and the Development of Favorable Outcomes

Young foster children have invariably faced a variety of risks that are strongly linked to long-term deficits in functioning across multiple developmental domains. Despite these risks, however, some children demonstrate more favorable outcomes and exhibit adaptation and the development of assets. In the present study, the relationship of early childhood factors (e.g., maltreatment history, placement history, parenting practices, environmental stress, developmental status, and attachment behavior) to the development of favorable outcomes in middle childhood was examined in a sample of foster children who had been in foster care in preschool (N = 35). Favorable outcomes were defined as demonstrations of emotion regulation and school adjustment during middle childhood. Developmental status (particularly attention and executive functioning) and a lack of environmental stress during early childhood foster care experiences had a significant positive relationship with the development of emotion regulation and school adjustment in middle childhood.     

Intensive fostering: An independent evaluation of MTFC in an English setting

This paper presents the results of an independent evaluation of the Multi-dimensional Treatment Foster Care (MTFC) programme for young offenders in England, where it is known as Intensive Fostering (IF).

Methods

A quasi-experimental, mixed methods study was carried out at the three pilot sites, with a total sample of 47 at follow up. Young people sentenced to IF were compared to a similar group, matched on the eligibility criteria for IF, the majority of whom were sentenced to custody. The groups were well-matched in terms of their characteristics and criminal histories. Official data on reconviction were collected at baseline and one year after entry to the IF placement or release from custody (Stage 1), and further data on programme completion and secondary outcomes were collected via interviews with young people and parents and questionnaires to professionals at baseline and follow up. Official data on reconviction were also collected one year after exit from the IF placements (Stage 2).

Results

At Stage 1 the IF group were less likely to be reconvicted, had committed fewer and less serious recorded offences, on average, and took longer to commit their first recorded offence. At this point the IF group were more likely to be living with their families and less likely to be in custody than the comparison group. However by Stage 2 no significant differences in patterns of reconviction remained.

Conclusions

IF successfully contained a high-risk group in the community, but the effects of the intervention washed out once they left their foster placements. Environmental effects on entry to and exit from the IF placements may help to explain the results at both stages.     

Mothers, Fathers, Peers, and Mexican-Origin Adolescents' Sexual Intentions

Drawing on a symbolic-interaction perspective and a compensation model, the processes linking mother-and father-adolescent relationship qualities, deviant peer affiliations, and adolescents' sexual intentions were investigated for 246 Mexican-origin youths born in the United States and in Mexico using multiple-group structural equation models. Deviant peer affiliations significantly mediated the relations between paternal acceptance and sexual intentions and between disclosure to mothers and sexual intentions for U.S.-born youths but not for Mexico-born youths. Findings highlight the importance of examining variability as a function of youth nativity.     

A Sociodemographic Risk Index

In this paper, we conceptualize and develop an index of sociodemographic risk that we hypothesize will be an improvement over the standard poverty measure as a measure of risk for children’s development. The poverty line is widely used in government statistics and in research but is also widely acknowledged to have multiple shortcomings. Using recent data from the National Survey of America’s Families, we develop and examine a Sociodemographic Risk Index for two potential purposes: (a) to serve as a summary indicator of children’s environments that affect their well-being, and (b) to serve as a variable that can be used to identify at-risk subgroups of children whose well-being should be examined separately in indicator reports. Based on substantial research on children’s development, we chose five variables for the index: family income, family structure, parent education, family size, and home ownership. An additive sociodemographic risk index using these variables is strongly associated with multiple measures of child well-being in both bivariate and multivariate analyses. Hence, it serves as a good marker of risk for children and therefore as an indicator that could be monitored over time, across groups, and across places, as well as a variable that could be used to identify subgroups of at-risk children whose well-being should be monitored. However, analyses do not indicate that it performs better at identifying at-risk children than the current poverty measure. Therefore, we recommend the Sociodemographic Risk Index primarily as an additional summary indicator to be monitored, rather than as a replacement for the poverty measure.