Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rcrh6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-26T09:11:23.808Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Family Foster Care: Can it Survive the Evidence?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 May 2014

Frank Ainsworth  and
Patricia Hansen
Frank Ainsworth*
Affiliation:
School of Social Work and Community Welfare, James Cook University, Townsville campus, Queensland 4811, Australia
Patricia Hansen
Affiliation:
Hansen Legal, Parramatta, NSW 2150 and Australian Catholic University, Sydney, NSW 2135, Australia
*
address for correspondence: Dr Frank Ainsworth, PhD, Senior Principal Research Fellow (Adjunct), School of Social Work and Community Welfare, James Cook University, Townsville campus, Queensland 4811. E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The media coverage of foster care in Australia is replete with adoration for foster carers who look after disadvantaged and difficult children and youth. As this article is being written, New South Wales is holding a ‘foster care week’ with enhanced media coverage and praise for foster carers, the recruitment of new foster carers and acclaim for the ‘foster carer of the year’. Yet, there is another side to foster care that offers less than ideal circumstances for children in care. There is the worrying issue of multiple placements, the problem with children and young people running away from foster care before they reach the legal age for discharge, and evidence of increased incidence of poor educational attainment and involvement in juvenile offending for young people in foster care. In addition, there are cases of foster children being abused by foster carers. As adults, former foster-care children and youth are over-represented among the homeless, in adult correction centres, the unemployed and the users of mental health services. This article documents these negative outcomes of entering the foster-care system, and asks whether family (or non-relative) foster care can survive this evidence. For too many children and young people, family foster care may not provide better outcomes than less-than-optimal parental care from which the children were removed. An alternative is to reduce the use of family foster care and increase intensive support and parenting education services for birth parents who have limited parenting capacity. The aim should be to limit the number of children being taken into care.

Keywords

foster carejuvenile offendingeducational achievementmental healthearly parenting
Type
Special Section: Moving beyond protection: Inclusiveness and families
Information
Children Australia , Volume 39 , Issue 2 , June 2014 , pp. 87 - 92
Copyright
Copyright © The Authors 2014 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ainsworth, F., & Hansen, P. (2013). From the front line: The state as a failed parent. Children Australia, 38 (2), 70–75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW). (2013). Child protection Australia 2011–12. Canberra: AIHW.Google Scholar
Barber, J. G., & Delfabbro, P. H. (2004). Children in foster care. London: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barth, R., & Lloyd, C. (2010). Five-year developmental outcomes for young children in foster care returned home or adopted. In Fernandez, E. & Barth, R. (Eds.), How does foster care work? (pp. 47–62). London: Jessica Kingsley.Google Scholar
Biehal, N., Dixon, J., Parry, E., & Sinclair, I., Green, J., Roberts, C., Kay, C., Rothwell, J., Kapadia, D., & Roby, A. (2012). The care placement evaluation: Evaluation of multidimensional treatment foster care for adolescents. London: Department of Education, University of York. Research report DFE-RR194. Retrieved from www.gov.uk/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/183934/DFE-RR194.pdf (accessed 5 June 2013).Google Scholar
Biehal, N., & Parry, E. (2010). Maltreatment and allegations of maltreatment in foster care. A review of the evidence. York: Social Policy Research Unit, York University.Google Scholar
Cashmore, J., & Paxman, M. (1996). Wards leaving care: Longitudinal study. Sydney: Department of Community Services.Google Scholar
Cashmore, J., & Paxman, M. (2006). Wards leaving care. Follow up five years on. Children Australia, 31 (3), 18–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chalmers, D., & Schwartz, R. (1993). Rogers and Whittaker and informed consent in Australia: A fare dictum approach. Medical Law Review, 1 (2), 138–159.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chamberlain, P. (2003). Treating chronic juvenile offenders. Washington: American Psychological Association.Google Scholar
Courtney, M. E., Dworsky, A., Brown, A., Cary, C., Love, K., & Vorhies, V. (2011). Midwest evaluation of adult functioning of former foster youth: Outcomes at age 26. Chicago, IL: Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago.Google Scholar
Create Foundation. (2003). Australian children and young people in care. Report card on education. Sydney: Create Foundation.Google Scholar
Cusick, C. R., Courtney, M.E., Havlicek, J., & Hess, N. (2011). Crime during the transition to adulthood. Chicago: Chapin Hall.Google Scholar
Department of Education. (2012). Children looked after in England (including adoption and care leavers) year ending 31 March 2012. Statistical first release. SFR 20/2012. London: Department of Education.Google Scholar
Doyle, J. J. (2007). Child protection and child outcomes. Measuring the effects of foster care. The American Economic Review, 97 (3), 1583–1610.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Doyle, J. J. (2008). Child protection and adult crime. Using investigator assignment to estimate causal effects of foster care. Journal of Political Economy, 116 (4), 746–770.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fernandez, E., & Barth, R. P. (2010). How does foster care work? International evidence on outcomes. London: Jessica Kingsley.Google Scholar
Fitzpatrick, C., & Simmons, P. (2013). The impact and experience of moving while in care. Government of South Australia, Office of the Guardian for Children and Young People. Adelaide.Google Scholar
Fostering Network. (2013). Statistics on children in care. Retrieved from http://www.fostering.net (accessed 29 May 2013).Google Scholar
Ghate, D., & Hazel, N. (2002). Parenting in poor environments: Stress, support and coping. London: Jessica Kingsley.Google Scholar
Hansen, P., & Ainsworth, F. (2011). In ‘the best interests of the child’: Critical reflections on an overused construct. Children Australia, 36 (1), 12–17.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Indig, D., Vecchiato, C., Haysom, L., Beilby, R., Cater, J., & Champion, U. (2011). 2009 Young people in custody health survey. Full report. Sydney: Justice Health and Juvenile Health.Google Scholar
Johnson-Reid, M., & Barth, R. P. (2000). From placement to prison: The path to adolescent incarceration from child welfare supervised foster or group care. Children and Youth Services Review, 22 (7), 483–516.Google Scholar
Kessler, R. C., Percora, P. J., Willaims, J., Hiripi, E., O'Brien, K., English, D., White, J., Zerbe, R., Downs, A. C., Plotnick, R., Hwang, I., & Sampson, N. A. (2008). Effects of enhanced foster care on the long-term physical and mental health of foster care alumni. Archive of General Psychiatry, 65 (6), 625–633.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lawrence, C. R., Carlson, E. A., & Egeland, B. (2006). The impact of foster care on development. Development and Psychopathology, 18 (1), 57–76.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mastin, D., Metzger, S., & Golden, J. (2013). Foster care and disconnected youth. New York: Community Services Society.Google Scholar
McFarlane, K. (2010). From care to custody: Young women in out-of-home care in the criminal justice system. Current Issues in Criminal Justice, 22 (2), 345–353.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mendes, P., & Forbes, C. (2006). Towards better outcomes for young people leaving care. Special Edition. Children Australia, 31 (3), 1–60.Google Scholar
Miller, W. R., & Rollnick, S. (2012). Motivational interviewing; Helping people change. New York: Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Pecora, P. J., Kessler, R. C., Williams, J., Downs, A. C., English, D. J., White, J., & O'Brien, K. (2010). What works in foster care? New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Pollack, D., Eisenberg, K., & Sundarsingh, A. (2012). Foster care as a mitigating circumstance in criminal proceedings. Temple Political and Civil Rights Law Review, 22(Fall), 45–67.Google Scholar
Robinson, N. (2013). Child removal rate rise slammed. The Australian, 3 June, p. 6.Google Scholar
Strijker, J. (2010). Foster care in the Netherlands: Correlates of placement breakdown and successful placement. In E. Fernandez & R. Barth (Eds.), How does foster care work? (pp. 82–94). London: Jessica Kingsley.Google Scholar
Svoba, D. V., Shaw, T. V., Barth, R. P., & Bright, C. L. (2012). Pregnancy and parenting among youth in foster care: A review. Children and Youth Services Review, 34, 867–875.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tarren-Sweeney, M. (2008). Retrospective and concurrent predictors of the mental health of children in care. Children and Youth Services Review, 30, 1–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tregeagle, S., & Hamill, R. (2011). Can stability in out-of-home care be improved? An analysis of unplanned and planned placement changes in foster care. Children Australia, 36 (2), 74–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
US Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families. (2013). The AFCARS report 19. Retrieved from http://acf.hhs.gov/programs/cb (accessed 29 May 2013).Google Scholar
Weatherburn, D., & Lind, B. (2001). Delinquent-prone communities. Cambrige: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Winokur, M. A., Crawford, G. A., Longobardi, R. C., & Valentine, D. P. (2008). Matched comparison of children in kinship care and foster carer on child welfare outcomes. Families in Society, 89 (3), 338–346.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wise, S., Pollock, P., Mitchell, G., Argus, C., & Farquhar, P. (2010). Ciao. Care system impacts on academic outcome. Melbourne: Anglicare/Wesley Mission.Google Scholar
Wood, J. (2008). Report of the Special Commission of Inquiry into Child Protection Services in New South Wales. Sydney: Department of Premier and Cabinet.Google Scholar
Wulcyzn, F., & Chen, C. (2010). Placement stability and movement trajectories. In Fernandez, E. & Barth, R. (Eds.), How does foster care work? (pp. 65–80). London: Jessica Kingsley.Google Scholar
Yardley, A., Mason, J., & Watson, E. (2009). Kinship care in NSW: Finding a way forward. Sydney: Social Justice Social Change Research Centre, University of Western Sydney.Google Scholar