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Abstract

Foster care in the United States is viewed as a temporary service for children. However, for many children, foster care involves years of long term care. Most pro, fessionals working in the foster care system feel that the number of foster homes these children experience should be kept to a minimum. The evidence suggests that this movement from foster home to foster home has detrimental effects on the psycho-social development of the foster child. Little empirical research has been done on identifying factors associated with this movement. This research reports findings on a number of factors found to be related to this movement, thus giving new insight into the stability and continuity of the foster care system in the United States.

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References

See, for example, David Fanshel , "'Status Changes of Children in Foster Care: Final Results of the Columbia University Longitudinal Study ," Child Welfare (March 1976): pp. 143-71; Henry S. Maas , "Children in Long-Term Foster Care," Child Welfare (June 1969) pp. 213-33.

E.A. Weinstein , The Self Image of the Foster Child ( New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 1960), pp. 66-7; Elizabeth G. Meier , "Adults Who Were Foster Children," Children (January-February 1966): pp. 16-21.

Joseph Goldstein , Anna Freud , and Albert J. Solnit , Before the Best Interests of the Child (New York: MacMillan Publishers, 1979).

For a complete description of the national data used in this research, see the report by Ann W. Shyne and Anita G. Schroeder National Study of Social Services to Children and Their Families (Washington, D.C.: Children's Bureau, 1978).

See, for example, Alan R. Gruber , Foster Home Care in Massachusetts (Boston: Governor's Commission on Adoption and Foster Care, 1973); Deborah Shapiro , Agencies and Faster Children (New York: Columbia University Press, 1976); Shirley M. Vasaly , Foster Care in Five States: A Synthesis and Analysis of Studies From Arizona, California, Iowa, Massachusetts, and Vermont (Washington, D.C.: George Washington University, Social Work Research Group, 1976).

Fanshel and Shinn, pp. 112-137.

John T. Pardeck , "The Association of Demographic Variables With the Stability of Foster Family Care," Psychology (Spring, 1974): pp. 31-35.

See A Handbook for Social Workers: Permanent Planning for Children in Foster Care (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 1980).

Fred N. Kerlinger , Foundations of Behavioral Research. 2nd ed. (New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston , 1973): P. 64.

10.

Alfred Kadushin , Child Welfare Services ( New York: MacMillan Publishing Company, 1980): p. 332.

11.

John T. Pardeck . "An Empirical Analysis of Behavioral and Emotional Problems of Foster Children as Related to Replacement in Care, Child Abuse and Neglect, Volume 7, ( 1983): pp. 75-78.

An Exploration of Factors Associated With the Stability and Continuity of the Foster Care System in the United States

Abstract

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