Disruptions in foster care: A review and meta-analysis (original) (raw)
Related papers
2000
Treatment foster care (TFC) is a normalizing environment in which to treat those children whose particular needs are not addressed in traditional foster care and for whom an institutional setting is a restrictive and unnecessary alternative. However, when the foster care placements of these emotionally and behaviorally disturbed children fail, as they often do, the children are shifted from one home to another without the opportunity to experience permanence or emotional attachment, resulting in poor adjustment to foster care. Placement stability, which depends in part upon effective matching of foster children with potential foster families, is critical for achieving positive outcomes in TFC. Yet, there is a dearth of information to guide placement agencies in making decisions about matching foster children with families. Moreover, once a successful match has been made, it is equally vital that service delivery be of high quality so that permanence is maintained. We review research on the predictors of positive outcomes in foster care, focusing on studies involving emotionally or behaviorally disturbed children, and provide recommendations for selecting foster parents and for ensuring high quality foster care services and placement stability. Human Sciences Press, Inc.
2000
The files of 419 children in family foster care and kinship foster care were used in a retrospective longitudinal design study that examined their placement histories in child welfare. Significant associations were found between the number of placements on one hand, and the prevalence of attachment disorders, severity of behavioral problems, and breakdowns of new foster care placements on the other hand. It appears that a breakdown can be predicted to a certain extent, the implications of which are discussed.
Placement disruption in long-term kinship and nonkinship foster care
Children and Youth Services Review, 2013
The purpose of this study was to explore factors related to placement disruption in long-term kinship and nonkinship foster care in a Nordic country. The study included 136 children aged 4-13 years in kinship and nonkinship foster care in Norway in the year 2000, with updates for the year 2008. Placement and demographic information and the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) were collected from foster parents and youths. Generalized linear mixed model analysis was undertaken. A thorough literature review was done in order to study association between disruption and relevant variables. None of the predominant variables from previous literature were significantly associated with disruption for this sample of children in long-term foster care. Since long-term stable foster care (rather than adoption) is the preferred option in Nordic as well as some other European countries, there is a need to explore the processes of inclusion that give children a lifelong commitment to their foster families.
The Early Intervention Foster Care Program: Permanent Placement Outcomes From a Randomized Trial
Child Maltreatment, 2005
Preschool-aged foster children face multiple risks for poor long-term outcomes. These risks appear to increase with the number of placement changes experienced. The Early Intervention Foster Care Program (EIFC) targets the spectrum of challenges that preschool-aged foster children face via a team approach delivered in home and community settings. In this article, we report on permanent placement outcomes from the EIFC randomized clinical trial. Children in EIFC had significantly fewer failed permanent placements than children in the regular foster care comparison condition. The number of prior placements was positively associated with the risk of failed permanent placements for children in the comparison condition but not for children in EIFC. Type of prior maltreatment did not predict permanent placement outcomes. These results provide the foundation of an evidence base for the EIFC program as a preventive intervention to improve permanent placement outcomes for preschool-aged foster children.
Who disrupts from placement in foster and kinship care?
Child Abuse & Neglect, 2006
Objective: To identify reliable, inexpensive predictors of foster care placement disruption that could be used to assess risk of placement failure. Methods: Using the Parent Daily Report Checklist (PDR), foster or kinship parents of 246 children (5-12 years old) in California were interviewed three times about whether or not their foster child engaged in any of the 30 problem behaviors during the previous 24 h. PDR was conducted during telephone contacts (5-10 min each) that occurred from 1 to 3 days apart at baseline. Disruptions were tracked for the subsequent 12 months. Other potential predictors of disruption were examined, including the child's age, gender, and ethnicity, the foster parent's ethnicity, the number of other children in the foster home, and the type of placement (kin or non-kin). Results: Foster/kin parents reported an average of 5.77 child problems per day on the PDR checklist. The number of problem behaviors was linearly related to the child's risk of placement disruption during the subsequent year. The threshold for the number of problem behaviors per day that foster and kinship parents tolerated without increased risk of placement disruption for these latency-aged children was 6 or fewer. Children in non-kin placements were more likely to disrupt than those in kinship placements. There was a trend for increased risk of disruption as the number of children in the home increased.
Prevention of Instability in Foster Care: A Case File Review Study
Child & Youth Care Forum
Background Stability in foster care is paramount, since it enables children with a history of maltreatment to experience secure attachment relationships, and decreases the risk for behavioral and emotional problems when growing up. Objective We investigated whether foster care interventions play a role in enhancing foster placement stability, in addition to several characteristics of foster children and foster families. Our hypothesis was that foster children of female gender, relatively young at start of the placement, with less previous foster care placements, staying in kinship care, placed with siblings (if they had any) and in a foster family receiving a training to enhance the foster parents' knowledge on childhood trauma, an attachment-based video-interaction intervention or Treatment Foster Care, would experience significantly less breakdown in foster care. Method A multilevel analysis was conducted on data from 2000 foster care placements in a 4 year period (2015-2018), concerning 1316 foster families (35.9% kin) and 1542 foster children (49.4% boys, M age = 7.54 years). Results The frequency of previous foster care placements (OR = 3.56) increased the risk for breakdown, and receiving the Basic Trust intervention (OR = 0.26) or Treatment Foster Care (OR = 0.11) decreased that risk. Other investigated variables were unrelated to breakdown when checked for the number of foster placements and the applied interventions. Conclusions Foster care organizations should systematically monitor important risk factors for breakdown, in order to (timely) intervene if necessary to enhance the chances for continuity of foster care placements. Treatment seems to make a difference.
Effects of a Foster Parent Training Intervention on Placement Changes of Children in Foster Care
Child Maltreatment, 2008
Placement disruptions undermine efforts of child welfare agencies to promote safety, permanency, and child well-being. Child behavior problems significantly contribute to placement changes. The aims of this investigation were to examine the impact of a foster parent training and support intervention (KEEP) on placement changes and to determine whether the intervention mitigates placement disruption risks associated with children's placement histories. The sample consisted of 700 families with children between ages 5 and 12 years, from a variety of ethnic backgrounds. Families were randomly assigned to the intervention or control condition. The number of prior placements was predictive of negative exits from current foster placements. The intervention increased chances of positive exit (e.g., parent/child reunification) and mitigated the negative riskenhancing effect of a history of multiple placements. Incorporating intervention approaches based on a parent management training model into child welfare services may improve placement outcomes for child in foster care.
Foster parent parenting characteristics that lead to increased placement stability or disruption
Children and Youth Services Review, 2010
Abuse and neglect are tragic realities that society must deal with effectively. Child welfare agencies have been established and given the responsibility to maintain children's safety when a court of law finds the parents to be unfit. Although child welfare agencies attempt to provide effective care, often these agencies find themselves fighting losing battles. Either foster children are too difficult to manage, or foster families are too quick to terminate their parental responsibilities because they feel overwhelmed or believe they do not have the skill to effectively interact. Despite the reasons for placement disruption, children are the losers because they are not given the opportunity to form bonds with adults, maintain school placement, or learn healthy coping skills. Empirical evidence identifies the characteristics of foster children who are likely to experience placement disruption and the flaws of the foster care system; however, it does not identify parenting variables that might affect placement. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to identify parenting characteristics of foster parents that are likely to increase placement stability or disruption. Foster parents of public child welfare agencies were asked to complete the Parent-Child Relationship Inventory to measure parental characteristics and the Parenting Alliance Measure to determine perceived alliance between foster parents. Results of the multiple regression revealed a significant relationship between the predictor variables, parenting support and limit setting on placement stability. These two variables explained approximately 15% of the total variance in placement stability. No significant relationship was found between the predictor variables on placement disruptions.
Foster placement disruptions associated with problem behavior: Mitigating a threshold effect
Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 2011
Objective: Placement disruptions have adverse effects on foster children. Identifying reliable predictors of placement disruptions might assist in the allocation of services to prevent disruptions. There were two objectives in this study: (a) to replicate a prior finding that the number of daily child problem behaviors at entry into a new foster home predicts subsequent placement disruptions in foster preschoolers and (b) to determine whether this association is mitigated by a treatment foster care intervention. Method: Problem behavior and placement disruptions were examined in 60 children in regular foster care (age range ϭ 3.10 -5.91 years [M ϭ 4.34, SD ϭ 0.83], 58.3% male, 93.4% Caucasian) and 57 children in a treatment foster care program (age range ϭ 3.01-6.78 years [M ϭ 4.54, SD ϭ 0.86], 49.1% male, 82.5% Caucasian). Using the Parent Daily Report Checklist (Chamberlain & Reid, 1987), a brief telephone interview, foster caregivers reported problem behavior 6 times over 3 months. Placement disruptions were tracked over 12 months. Results: The regular foster care children with 5 or fewer problem behaviors were at low risk for disruption, but their risk increased 10% for each additional behavior (p ϭ .013). The intervention appeared to mitigate this "threshold effect"; number of problem behaviors did not predict risk of placement disruption in the treatment foster care group (p ϭ .63). Conclusions: These findings replicate previous evidence linking child problem behavior to placement disruptions and further highlight the need for early preventative interventions.