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Foster Children (foster + child)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Humanities and Social Sciences	63%
Medical Sciences	27%

Selected Abstracts

Books and Materials Reviews

FAMILY RELATIONS, Issue 4 2001
Article first published online: 19 FEB 200
Baumeister, R. F. (Ed.). (1999). The Self in Social Psychology. Carter, B., & McGoldrick, M. (1999). The Expanded Family Life Cycle: Individual, Family, and Social Perspectives. Dwyer, D. (2000). Interpersonal Relationships. Knauer, S. (2000). No Ordinary Life: Parenting the Sexually Abused Child and Adolescent. McNair-Blatt, S. (2000). A Guidebook for Raising Foster Children. Stafford-Upshaw, F., & Myers-Walls, J. A. (1999). Learning Centers in Child Care Settings. Seymour, S. C. (1999). Women, Family and Child Care in India: A World in Transition. Berger, R. (1998). Stepfamilies: A Multi-Dimensional Perspective. [source]

Foster Family Characteristics and Behavioral and Emotional Problems of Foster Children: A Narrative Review,

FAMILY RELATIONS, Issue 1 2001
John G. Orme
The purpose of this article is to review the literature on the foster family characteristics that are thought to contribute to the behavioral and emotional problems of foster children. The review is shaped by an understanding of the personal and familial factors associated with children's problem behaviors in the general population. These factors include parenting, the family home environment, family functioning, marital functioning, family demography, child temperament, parents' mental health, and social support. Limitations within the existing research on these foster family characteristics are noted, and suggestions for future research are provided. [source]

Factors Associated With the Adjustment of Foster Children in the Netherlands

AMERICAN JOURNAL OF ORTHOPSYCHIATRY, Issue 3 2009
Johan Strijker PhD
Information obtained from 419 case files was used to investigate the associations between the foster child's adjustment to the foster family and factors in the histories of the child and the parents, as well as factors in the relationship between foster children and their biological parents while they are placed in foster care. Problems in the foster child's prior history, particularly attachment disorders and the experience of replacements, affect the extent of adjustment to the foster family. In-home visits by the child and the absence of parental permission to stay with the foster family are two factors related to the parent-child relationship that impeded adjustment. In general, parental problem factors did not affect adjustment. The fact that many foster children come from problem-laden backgrounds raises the question of whether foster parents are always sufficiently equipped to cope with these problems. [source]

Morning cortisol Levels in preschool-aged foster children: Differential effects of maltreatment type,

DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOBIOLOGY, Issue 1 2009
Jacqueline Bruce
Abstract Maltreated foster children are subjected to a range of early adverse experiences, including neglect, abuse, and multiple caregiver disruptions. Research suggests that such disturbances alter the development and subsequent functioning of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical system. The current study was designed to investigate morning cortisol levels in 117 foster children and 60 low-income, nonmaltreated children. Maltreatment and foster care placement experiences were coded from official records. Analyses revealed that the foster children were significantly more likely than the nonmaltreated children to have low morning cortisol levels. Additionally, specific maltreatment experiences were significantly associated with the foster children's morning cortisol levels. Foster children with low morning cortisol levels experienced more severe physical neglect than the other foster children. In contrast, foster children with high morning cortisol levels experienced more severe emotional maltreatment. These results suggest that specific early adverse experiences have differential effects on the functioning of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical system. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Dev Psychobiol 51: 14,23, 2009 [source]

Mortality after care among young adult foster children in Sweden

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SOCIAL WELFARE, Issue 3 2001
Bo Vinnerljung
This exploratory study looks at mortality after care among 13,100 former Swedish foster children, placed before their teens. Sources used are two national databases, on child welfare interventions and causes of death. Risk ratios of death for foster children are compared with those of their peers in the general population and with a comparison group, consisting of 10,668 young adults from adverse home backgrounds, who never entered foster family care before their teens. Both ex-foster children and the comparison group were young adults (19,26 years old) at time of follow-up. Results show a moderately elevated risk ratio for both groups compared with peers in the general population, mainly due to more frequent unnatural deaths, especially suicides. Time at first placement was not related to mortality among men, but there was a weak tendency of a higher risk ratio for girls placed at age 7,12. Information on time spent in care is used with caution, due to possible problems with reliability. Almost all comparisons between the foster care and the comparison group fell short of statistical significance. For foster children who had spent more than five years in care, the risk ratio tended to be higher than for foster children with shorter care experience, and similar to that of the comparison group. Foster children who had been in care for less then six years thus tended to have a lower risk ratio than the comparison group. [source]

Behavioral Outcomes for Substance-Exposed Adopted Children: Fourteen Years Postadoption

AMERICAN JOURNAL OF ORTHOPSYCHIATRY, Issue 1 2008
LCSW, Thomas M. Crea Ph.D.
From a life course perspective, studies of cumulative disadvantage often identify early risk factors as predictors of poor outcomes. This study examined the influence of prenatal substance exposure on children's externalizing behaviors at 14 years postadoption. Using Wave 4 data from the California Long-Range Adoption Study, the authors employed growth curve modeling to examine behavioral trajectories of 275 children as influenced by foster care status, age at adoption, and gender. Outcomes are measured using a shortened Behavioral Problem Index. Prenatal exposure predicted elevated behavior problems that increased normatively compared with nonexposed children, and were not found to trigger the negative behavior sequelae once feared. Foster children tended to fare better over the life course than those adopted through other means, except for children adopted at older ages. Adopted children's problem behaviors may be directly associated with the success of their placements. The authors discuss implications for practice and future research. [source]

Morning cortisol Levels in preschool-aged foster children: Differential effects of maltreatment type,

THE AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION ADDRESSES THE NATIONAL PROBLEM OF YOUTH AT RISK

FAMILY COURT REVIEW, Issue 3 2007
Karen J. Mathis
During the 2006,2007 American Bar Association (ABA) year, a special ABA Presidential Youth at Risk Initiative has addressed several important topics: addressing the needs of juvenile status offenders and their families; foster children aging out of the foster care system; increases in girls, especially girls of color, in the juvenile justice system; the need to better hear the voices of youth in court proceedings affecting them; and improving how laws can better address youth crossing over between juvenile justice and child welfare systems. Lawyers are encouraged to use their skills to improve the systems addressing at-risk youth and their families and to help facilitate coordination of youth-related community efforts. Learning how to effectively communicate with youth is an important skill attorneys must learn. Through the Youth at Risk Initiative, the ABA has held continuing legal education programs, hosted community roundtables among youth-serving stakeholders, and developed projects on: juvenile status offenders; lawyer assistance to youth transitioning from foster care; educating young girls on violence prevention, conflict resolution, and careers in law and justice; and provision of useful information to youth awaiting juvenile court hearings. New ABA policy has addressed services and programs to at-risk youth, assuring licensing, regulation, and monitoring of residential facilities serving at-risk youth, enhanced support for sexual minority foster and homeless youth, juvenile status offenders, and improving laws and policies related to youth exiting the foster care system. [source]

UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES OF BARGAINING FOR ADOPTION ASSISTANCE PAYMENTS

FAMILY COURT REVIEW, Issue 3 2005
Hansen Mary Eschelbach
Families that adopt children who are in foster care may receive monthly adoption assistance payments to offset the cost of raising the adopted child. The amount of the adoption assistance payment is the subject of bargaining between the family and the child welfare authority. This article uses a bargaining model to highlight factors that, in addition to the expected costs of raising the child, might influence the outcome of bargaining over adoption assistance payments. Findings indicate that married parents who adopt children already in their care have an advantage in bargaining, and single women who adopt their kin or foster children have a disadvantage in bargaining. [source]

Voices From the System: A Qualitative Study of Foster Children's Stories

FAMILY RELATIONS, Issue 3 2003
Jason B. Whiting
This project qualitatively analyzed the stories that 23 preadolescent foster children told about their lives. An ecological framework in conjunction with the social constructionist understanding of stories guided the ethnographic semistructured interviews. These stories contained both common and unique features and provided insight into the lives of foster children whose environments involved poverty, drugs, crime, violence, and racism. Research domains included confusion, social ambivalence, anger, loss, and aids to resiliency. This study highlights the importance of these stories for the children who create them and those who will work with them. [source]

Foster Family Characteristics and Behavioral and Emotional Problems of Foster Children: A Narrative Review,

Mortality after care among young adult foster children in Sweden

Predicting Family Reunification, Adoption, and Subsidized Guardianship Among Adolescents in Foster Care

AMERICAN JOURNAL OF ORTHOPSYCHIATRY, Issue 3 2010
Sonya J. Leathers
Although national legislation has attempted to decrease the length of time that children spend in foster care, these policies have been less effective with adolescents than with children, raising questions about how best to promote permanency for adolescents. This study examined factors that predict adolescent adoption, subsidized guardianship, and reunification. The caseworkers and foster parents of 203 randomly selected 12- to 13-year-olds placed in traditional or specialized foster care were interviewed. Permanency outcomes were prospectively tracked for 8 years. By the end of the study, over 40% of the adolescents were placed in permanent homes. As hypothesized, a strong relationship with a biological mother predicted successful reunification, and a high degree of integration into a foster home predicted adoption. Additionally, when compared with adoption, subsidized guardianship with foster parents occurred more frequently for youth with strong relationships with their biological mothers and weaker relationships with their foster families. Unexpectedly, behavior problems were not related to any permanency outcomes. Results suggest that promotion of strong relationships with adults is the key in efforts to find permanent families for foster children. Furthermore, efforts to attain permanency should not cease during adolescence. [source]

Factors Associated With the Adjustment of Foster Children in the Netherlands

Health Problems and Health Behaviors of Korean Preschoolers Living With Parents and Under Guardianship

PUBLIC HEALTH NURSING, Issue 3 2009
Hee-Soon Kim
ABSTRACT Purpose: A comparative analysis was conducted to identify and compare the health status and behaviors of preschoolers attending daycare centers in South Korea between children living with parents and those under guardianship. Design: The study design was descriptive and correlational. Sample: Data were collected from 152 parents and 85 guardians of preschool children using a structured questionnaire. Results: Of 237 children, 23.9,32.5% were overweight or obese, while 13.8,30.0% were underweight. Boys under guardianship were more likely to be obese. Hand-foot-mouth disease and atopic dermatitis were more prevalent among children living with parents, while those under guardianship were less likely to have dentistry visits, more likely to be absent from childcare due to pneumonia, and had significantly fewer health-related conversations with their guardians. In relation to health behaviors, the frequency of tooth-brushing and high-calcium food consumption was significantly lower among children under guardianship than among those living with parents. Conclusion: Compared with children living with parents, those under guardianship were exposed to unfavorable circumstances in terms of health management practices and health behaviors, which implies that the guardians were less interested in health care and dealt inappropriately with the health problems of their foster children. [source]

Family budgets and public money: spending fostering payments

CHILD & FAMILY SOCIAL WORK, Issue 4 2001
Derek Kirton
ABSTRACT In this second of two papers based on a study of payment issues within foster care, the focus is on expenditure. It is argued that the hybrid public/private nature of fostering gives rise to contradictory pressures for carers, including the status of maintenance payments as both part of family budgets and a form of delegated public expenditure. For example, carers are required in principle both to spend fixed amounts upon foster children and to treat them in like fashion to their own children. In this paper, the issue of ,like treatment' is explored, along with the significance of payment for ,children who foster' and for relationships between carers and foster children. Also examined are the challenges presented by differences between carers' material circumstances and those of birth families, especially when reunification is planned. Overall, the paper seeks to show how the handling of expenditure becomes closely entwined with inter-personal dynamics within foster care. [source]