Comparing the timing of exits from substitute care

doi:10.1016/0190-7409(96)00008-4

Children and Youth Services Review

Volume 18, Issues 4–5, 1996, Pages 307-334

https://doi.org/10.1016/0190-7409(96)00008-4 Get rights and content

Abstract

Longitudinal data on a cohort of 8,625 children who entered substitute care were used to compare the timing of three types of exit from substitute care: discharge to family or guardian, adoption, and running away from care. This involved examination of the “hazard functions” of each of the three exits including consideration of the associations between these hazards and child, family, and service system factors. The hazards of the three exits changed over time but in dissimilar ways. Furthermore, explanatory variables had contrasting impacts on the three exits. These findings suggest that the exit process in substitute care is best understood as a combination of a number of distinct but interrelated exit processes.

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Event history analysis on racial disparities in the path to adoption for Black and White children
2023, Child Abuse and Neglect
Black children are significantly overrepresented in many phases of the U.S. child welfare system.
The purpose of this study is to investigate racial disproportionality and disparities in the adoption process and factors that predict the length of time to adoption.
This study utilized administrative data from the 2014 year of the Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS) collected in 50 States, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.
The disproportionality metric (DM) and disparity index (DI) were constructed for Black and White children, and event history analyses were conducted to calculate the probability of adoption while considering the time to adoption finalization.
DM indicated that Black children (0.81) were underrepresented in adoption, and DI indicated that the likelihood of adoption for Black children (0.73) was one third lower than that for White children. The event history analyses revealed that White children were 1.27 times more likely to be adopted than Black children. White children had considerably fewer days from termination of parental rights to adoption finalization with a median time of 273.5 days compared to 328 days for Black children. Factors that extended adoption time included child intellectual, physical, and emotional/behavioral disabilities, visual and hearing impairments, parental alcohol abuse and disability, and child maltreatment histories, while parental drug abuse and longer stays in out-of-home care shortened the adoption process. We also found a significant interaction effect of race and neglect on adoption. Neglected Black children had a longer time to adoption than neglected White children.
More dedicated outreach programs and resources must be developed to ensure the effectiveness of adoption services and cultural continuity for Black children.
Development and validation of a predictive risk model for runaway among youth in child welfare
2022, Children and Youth Services Review
Existing predictive risk models in child welfare tend to focus on child protection and prevention of youth’s entry to the child welfare system. Less explored is the potential contribution of predictive risk models to improve the care and meet the placement needs of youth in the child welfare system. This study demonstrated how an empirical model predicted youth’s risk for running away from child welfare placement to inform preventive interventions for youth in care. We used administrative data on youth’s demographic, child welfare, and clinical characteristics to develop a Cox proportional-hazards model. The model predicted time-to-first runaway among 8,255 legal custody spells of 12- to 17-years-olds in the care of the public child welfare agency of one large Midwestern state over an eight-year period. We validated the model internally using 200 bootstrap resamples from the development sample, and externally using a more recent, but smaller sample of 1,836 legal custody spells for youth whose information was not used to develop the model. Internal validation indicated stable predictor estimates, significant predictors that corroborate with relevant empirical literature on runaway, and strong discriminative ability and prediction accuracy (bias-adjusted c-statistic = 0.78). Through external validation, we demonstrated one preventive application of the model by predicting the risk of running away within the first 90 days of a legal custody spell. The model maintained the expected relationships between model-based predicted risks of runaway and actual runaway, as evidenced by accuracy metrics of precision and recall. We conclude by describing how child welfare agencies can apply predictive risk models such as ours to identify youth’s placement needs and estimate system capacity to prevent runaway.
What is the impact of in-family placement on children's psychological status compared to placement with families selected by placement services?
2022, Neuropsychiatrie de l'Enfance et de l'Adolescence
En Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles, bien que la politique soit de favoriser le placement familial, sur les 7500 enfants placés, 3500 enfants sont placés en institution et 3500 enfants sont placés en famille d’accueil dont seulement 2000 sont suivis par un service de placement familial. Il existe 3 types de placement en famille d’accueil : les accueils intrafamiliaux (dans la famille avec un lien de parenté avec l’enfant), les familles dites « réseau élargi » (proches de l’enfant ou des parents sans lien de parenté) et les familles sélectionnées (inconnues de l’enfant). Cet article a pour objectif d’identifier si le type de placement influence l’état psychologique des enfants, la qualité de la relation enfant–accueillant ainsi que les perspectives de réintégration dans la famille d’origine. Cette recherche a été menée au sein des différents services de placement en Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles (partie francophone de la Belgique). Nous avons récolté des données pour 572 enfants (soit 30 % des enfants suivis par un service de placement familial) en questionnant les intervenants sociaux travaillant au sein des services de placement familiaux. Nos résultats montrent que les enfants de notre échantillon placés en famille sélectionnée (31 %) sont considérés par les intervenants comme se portant légèrement mieux que ceux placés dans une famille intrafamiliale ou proche du jeune. De plus, 42 % des placements intrafamiliaux font l’objet de peu de suivi formel par les services, ceux-ci interviennent principalement en situation de crise. C’est pourquoi les résultats de notre étude recommandent que les placements intrafamiliaux fassent l’objet d’une évaluation structurée et d’un suivi plus systématique et régulier par les services de placement familial dès la prise de connaissance du placement.
In the Wallonia-Brussels Federation, although the policy is to favour family placement, out of the 7500 children in care, 3500 children are placed in institutions and 3500 children are placed in foster care, of which only 2000 are followed by a foster care service. There are three types of foster care: intra-family care (in the family with a family relationship with the child), families known as the “extended network” (close to the child or to unrelated parents) and selected families (unknown to the child). The purpose of this article is to identify whether the type of placement influences the psychological state of the children, the quality of the child–host relationship, and the prospects for reintegration into the family of origin. This research was conducted in different placement services in the Walloon-Brussels Federation (French-speaking part of Belgium). We collected data for 572 children (i.e. 30% of the children followed by a foster care service) by questioning the social workers working within the foster care services. Our results show that the children placed in selected families (31%) in our sample are considered by the workers to be doing slightly better than those placed in an intra-family or “extended network” families. In addition, 42% of intra-family placements receive little formal follow-up by services, which intervene mainly in crisis situations. Therefore, the results of our study recommend that intrafamily placements be subject to a structured assessment and more systematic and regular follow-up by foster care services as soon as they become aware of the placement.
Relational uncertainty: Does parental perception of adopted children's academic success change over time?
2022, Early Childhood Research Quarterly
While initial findings suggested that children who are adopted (adoptees) perform less well academically, this result is not consistent across the literature. To explain these, often conflicting, results, researchers acquired a lagging view, in which adoptees need to “catch up” to their non-adopted peers. According to the lagging view, those adopted at a younger age have less catching up to do than those adopted when they are older. However, the lagging view does not account for the period in which adoptees and their new families adjust to one another. A period that we refer to as relational uncertainty. This is particularly relevant as data on adoptees’ academic performance is largely based on parent reports. The overarching goal of this study was to determine if parental perception of adoptees’ academic achievement changed over time, after accounting for the impact of age of adoption. Using a nationally representative dataset, we found that after accounting for age of adoption the length of time that children resided in their adoptive homes predicted parental perception of academic performance. Specifically, after accounting for age of adoption, parental perception of adoptees’ academic performance demonstrated early consistency followed by a significant decline. We also investigated if the relation, of those factors previously associated with parental perception of adoptees’ academic performance, remained after variance was accounted for by both age of adoption and children's length of stay in their adoptive homes. Several previous factors (where the child lived pre-adoption and the socioeconomic status of their adoptive household) and child characteristics (sex and the first language the child learned to speak) demonstrated a continued association. Results indicate the need for a paradigm shift in how we view parent reports of adoptees’ academic achievement, as well as the frequently reported factors surrounding adoptees’ academic performance. The implications for how to support adoptees’ academic achievement are discussed.
Impacts of race on family reunification: A longitudinal study comparing exits from Quebec's child welfare system
2022, Child Abuse and Neglect
In the United States, Black children spend more time in out-of-home placement than other children and are less likely to experience family reunification following involvement with child welfare services. Within Canada, very few studies have examined Black children's exits from the child welfare system and factors influencing their service trajectory.
This study, the first of its kind in Canada, uses longitudinal clinical administrative data to examine reunification outcomes for Black children following placement in out-of-home care.
The study population includes 1395 children receiving ongoing child welfare services in Quebec between April 1, 2002 and March 31, 2011.
A longitudinal research design from anonymized clinical administrative data extracted from a single child welfare agency in Montreal. Survival analysis using a Kaplan Meier and Cox proportional hazard regression examined the trajectory and chances of family reunification from the point of each child's initial placement.
Black children spend longer lengths of time in out-of-home placement and are less likely to experience family reunification when compared to other children. Poorer reunification outcomes for Black children were associated with placement instability, the age of the child and reasons for child welfare involvement.
While we tend to prioritize prevention services for vulnerable communities, this study indicates that attention must be given to services all throughout Black children's service trajectory to ensure that these children are able to exit the child welfare system in a timely manner.
Kinship navigation: Facilitating permanency and equity for youth in child welfare
2021, Children and Youth Services Review
Kinship care has come to be seen as a way to potentially minimize some risks of traditional foster care, provide an opportunity for youth to remain connected to their extended families, and facilitate ongoing relationships and development. Previous work has suggested potential benefits of kinship placements for youth, but also challenges in identifying viable kin caregivers and providing adequate supports and guidance for these families. Kinship Navigation has been developed to formally and systematically assure placement options and supports for caregivers. At present, however, there is relatively little empirical work on the benefits and outcomes of Kinship Navigation programs.
This manuscript examines permanency outcomes for youth served by one kinship care agency: A Second Chance, Inc. (ASCI). Countywide data are used to compare episode-of-care permanency outcomes for youth served by ASCI’s Kinship Navigator program with those served by other agencies without Kinship Navigation, who were removed from their homes during the same 27-month period (January 2017 – March 2020). The sample includes 1108 youth (471 served via ASCI KN; 637 in non-KN programs). Kinship Navigation was associated with significantly higher rates of Permanent Legal Custodianship and decreased disparities in outcomes between African American and White youth. These results suggest that ASCI’s Kinship Navigator program is promising for securing family-centered permanency and increasing positive outcomes for African American children and adolescents. Additional work is needed to more fully explore the key processes, families’ experiences, and broader outcomes.

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Comparing the timing of exits from substitute care

Abstract

Event history analysis: Regression for longitudinal event data

Structural problems in institutional care of youths

Journal of Health and Social Policy

From child abuse to permanency planning: Child welfare services pathways and placements

Contributors to reunification or permanent out-of-home care for physically abused children

Journal of Social Service Research

Race and length of stay in foster care

Social Work Research and Abstracts

Factors associated with the reunification of foster children with their families

Social Service Review

Regression models and life tables

Journal of the Royal Statistical Society. Series

The impact of alcohol and other drugs on the child welfare system

Child Welfare

Children in foster care: A longitudinal investigation

Factors associated with the discharge of children from foster care

Social Work Research and Abstracts

Length of time in foster care: A measure in need of analysis

Social Work