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- Creators: Arizona State University
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ABSTRACT Many foster children experience numerous placements while in out-of-home care; some up to fifteen in an 18 month period (Newton, Litrownik, & Landsverk, 2000). Placement stability is important for children to find permanent families, and for social, emotional and educational development of children. This study used the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-being (NSCAW) data set to examine foster child and caregiver characteristics, and the caregiver-child relationship as a predictor of placement stability in the long term foster care general sample. Logistic regression was performed with the Complex Samples add-on to appropriately weight the NSCAW sampling. Children who were placed in foster homes or kinship homes and who had not been returned home at the Wave 3 interview were included in the study. The sample consisting of 562 children was divided into three groups based on age: Early Group 1, childhood ages 1to 5, group 1;Group 2, Middle childhood ages 6 to 10, group 2; Group 3, Adolescence ages 11 to 18, group 3. Results are consistent with previous studies in that children in early childhood and middle childhood who were placed in foster homes were 83% and 87% less likely to achieve placement stability than children in kinship homes, respectively. In early childhood, each additional household member reduced the odds of achieving placement stability by 35%.The caregiver-child relationship did not predict placement stability.
ContributorsO'Neill, Marissa (Author) / Risley-Curtiss, Christina (Thesis advisor) / Ayün, Cecilia (Committee member) / Williams, Lela (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
Description
Although child welfare services are anticipated, in part, to lessen the negative
influence of maltreatment on childhood and adolescent development, there is evidence
that involvement in the foster care system negatively affects adolescent substance
use. Within the literature, limited empirical research has emerged in regard to this issue.
The present study aims to fill this critical gap in the literature by examining the
association between baseline biological, psychological, and social risk and protective
factors on adolescent involvement in substance use, and frequency of substance use, over
a period of 24 months for foster care involved youth. Furthermore, the present study
compares substance use behaviors between youth with differing experiences of
maltreatment subtypes and severity levels. Data come from VOYAGES, a longitudinal
study of older adolescents in the custody of the Missouri Children’s Division for foster
care services. The current analysis reports on those youth who completed both the
baseline and the final interview (N=323). Key findings include significant associations
between baseline peer substance use, lowered levels of school commitment, mentorship,
and familial support with later adolescent substance use. Overall, the existence of
numerous individual risk factors far outweighs the potential of protective factors
buffering against subsequent substance use in the current study. The foster care system,
although well-intentioned, potentially barricades individuals from successfully navigating
through adolescence and early adulthood without engaging in risky behaviors such as
substance use. Given the high prevalence of substance use among those placed in the
care of the foster care system, prevention efforts for this population requires an improved
understanding of psychosocial risk and protective factors.
influence of maltreatment on childhood and adolescent development, there is evidence
that involvement in the foster care system negatively affects adolescent substance
use. Within the literature, limited empirical research has emerged in regard to this issue.
The present study aims to fill this critical gap in the literature by examining the
association between baseline biological, psychological, and social risk and protective
factors on adolescent involvement in substance use, and frequency of substance use, over
a period of 24 months for foster care involved youth. Furthermore, the present study
compares substance use behaviors between youth with differing experiences of
maltreatment subtypes and severity levels. Data come from VOYAGES, a longitudinal
study of older adolescents in the custody of the Missouri Children’s Division for foster
care services. The current analysis reports on those youth who completed both the
baseline and the final interview (N=323). Key findings include significant associations
between baseline peer substance use, lowered levels of school commitment, mentorship,
and familial support with later adolescent substance use. Overall, the existence of
numerous individual risk factors far outweighs the potential of protective factors
buffering against subsequent substance use in the current study. The foster care system,
although well-intentioned, potentially barricades individuals from successfully navigating
through adolescence and early adulthood without engaging in risky behaviors such as
substance use. Given the high prevalence of substance use among those placed in the
care of the foster care system, prevention efforts for this population requires an improved
understanding of psychosocial risk and protective factors.
ContributorsCraig, Tyleia O (Author) / Roosevelt, Stacia S (Thesis advisor) / Chamberlain, Alyssa W (Committee member) / Fine, Adam (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2019
Description
In the first chapter, I study the two-sided, dynamic matching problem that occurs in the United States (US) foster care system. In this market, foster parents and foster children can form reversible foster matches, which may disrupt, continue in a reversible state, or transition into permanency via adoption. I first present an empirical analysis that yields four new stylized facts related to match transitions of children in foster care and their exit through adoption. Thereafter, I develop a two-sided dynamic matching model with five key features: (a) children are heterogeneous (with and without a disability), (b) children must be foster matched before being adopted, (c) children search for parents while foster matched to another parent, (d) parents receive a smaller per-period payoff when adopting than fostering (capturing the presence of a financial penalty on adoption), and (e) matches differ in their quality. I use the model to derive conditions for the stylized facts to arise in equilibrium and carry out predictions regarding match quality. The main insight is that the intrinsic disadvantage (being less preferred by foster parents) faced by children with a disability exacerbates due to the penalty. Moreover, I show that foster parents in high-quality matches (relative to foster parents in low-quality matches) might have fewer incentives to adopt.
In the second chapter, I study the Minnesota's 2015 Northstar Care Program which eliminated the adoption penalty (i.e., the decrease in fostering-based financial transfers associated with adoption) for children aged six and older, while maintaining it for children under age six. Using a differences-in-differences estimation strategy that controls for a rich set of covariates, I find that parents were responsive to the change in direct financial payments; the annual adoption rate of older foster children (aged six to eleven) increased by approximately 8 percentage points (24% at the mean) as a result of the program. I additionally find evidence of strategic adoption behavior as the adoption rate of younger children temporarily increased by 9 percentage points (23% at the mean) while the adoption rate of the oldest children (aged fifteen) temporarily decreased by 9 percentage points (65% at the mean) in the year prior to the program's implementation.
In the second chapter, I study the Minnesota's 2015 Northstar Care Program which eliminated the adoption penalty (i.e., the decrease in fostering-based financial transfers associated with adoption) for children aged six and older, while maintaining it for children under age six. Using a differences-in-differences estimation strategy that controls for a rich set of covariates, I find that parents were responsive to the change in direct financial payments; the annual adoption rate of older foster children (aged six to eleven) increased by approximately 8 percentage points (24% at the mean) as a result of the program. I additionally find evidence of strategic adoption behavior as the adoption rate of younger children temporarily increased by 9 percentage points (23% at the mean) while the adoption rate of the oldest children (aged fifteen) temporarily decreased by 9 percentage points (65% at the mean) in the year prior to the program's implementation.
ContributorsMacDonald, Diana Elizabeth (Author) / Chade, Hector (Thesis advisor) / Bishop, Kelly (Committee member) / Friedenberg, Amanda (Committee member) / Manelli, Alejandro (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2019