IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/cysrev/v62y2016icp22-28.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The experiences and outcomes of children in foster care who were removed because of a parental disability

Author

Listed:
  • Lightfoot, Elizabeth
  • DeZelar, Sharyn

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine the experiences and outcomes of children in the foster care system in the United States who were removed from their homes at least partially in relation to their parent's or caretaker's disability. This study uses administrative data from the 2012 year of the Adoption and Foster Care Reporting System (AFCARS), the federal reporting system that collects case-level data on all children in foster care through state and tribal IV-E agencies. While this administrative dataset doesn't collect data on parental disability, it does collect data on parental disability as a removal reason for children in foster care. In 2012, 19.0% of children in foster care had parental disability indicated as at least one removal reason, and 5.18% had parental disability indicated as their sole removal reason. Logistic regression was used to explore how a removal reason of parental disability correlated with removal manner, type of placement, location of placement, current case plans, discharge reasons and termination of parental rights. T-tests were used to compare children with and without parental disability as a removal reason in regards to number of placements, age at removal, length of time since last removal, length of stay in current placement, and total days in foster care. As foster children could have multiple removal reasons, analyses were conducted separately for children with parental disability as at least one removal reason, and those with parental disability as their sole removal reason. Findings indicate that children who have parental disability as a removal reason have different experiences in child welfare and different child welfare outcomes than those without parental disability as a removal reason. While the AFCARS removal reason of parental disability is not a proxy for parental disability, the study points to a need for closer attention to parental disability within the child welfare system to ensure appropriate services and supports, as well as fair treatment.

Suggested Citation

  • Lightfoot, Elizabeth & DeZelar, Sharyn, 2016. "The experiences and outcomes of children in foster care who were removed because of a parental disability," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 22-28.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:cysrev:v:62:y:2016:i:c:p:22-28
    DOI: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2015.11.029
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0190740915301432
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.childyouth.2015.11.029?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Courtney, Mark E., 2000. "Research needed to improve the prospects for children in out-of-home placement," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 22(9-10), pages 743-761.
    2. Vogel, Cheri A., 1999. "Using Administrative Databases to Examine Factors Affecting Length of Stay in Substitute Care," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 21(8), pages 677-690, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Onovbiona, Harlee & Mapes, Ayla R. & Quetsch, Lauren B. & Theodorou, Laurie L. & McNeil, Cheryl B., 2023. "Parent-child interaction therapy for children in foster care and children with posttraumatic stress: Exploring behavioral outcomes and graduation rates in a large state-wide sample," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 145(C).
    2. Lightfoot, Elizabeth & Laliberte, Traci & Cho, Minhae, 2017. "A case record review of termination of parental rights cases involving parents with a disability," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 399-407.
    3. Netta Barak‐Corren & Yoav Kan‐Tor & Nelson Tebbe, 2022. "Examining the effects of antidiscrimination laws on children in the foster care and adoption systems," Journal of Empirical Legal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 19(4), pages 1003-1066, December.
    4. DeZelar, Sharyn & Lightfoot, Elizabeth, 2018. "Use of parental disability as a removal reason for children in foster care in the U.S," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 128-134.
    5. DeZelar, Sharyn & Lightfoot, Elizabeth, 2020. "Who refers parents with intellectual disabilities to the child welfare system? An analysis of referral sources and substantiation," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 119(C).
    6. Slayter, Elspeth M. & Jensen, Jordan, 2019. "Parents with intellectual disabilities in the child protection system," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 297-304.
    7. Seltzer, Rebecca R. & Johnson, Sara B. & Minkovitz, Cynthia S., 2017. "Medical complexity and placement outcomes for children in foster care," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 285-293.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Rosenberg, Steven A. & Robinson, Cordelia C., 2004. "Out-of-home placement for young children with developmental and medical conditions," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 26(8), pages 711-723, August.
    2. Courtney, Mark E. & Needell, Barbara & Wulczyn, Fred, 2004. "Unintended consequences of the push for accountability: the case of national child welfare performance standards," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 26(12), pages 1141-1154, December.
    3. Chuang, Emmeline & Wells, Rebecca, 2010. "The role of inter-agency collaboration in facilitating receipt of behavioral health services for youth involved with child welfare and juvenile justice," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 32(12), pages 1814-1822, December.
    4. Bullock, Roger & Courtney, Mark E. & Parker, Roy & Sinclair, Ian & Thoburn, June, 2006. "Can the corporate state parent?," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 28(11), pages 1344-1358, November.
    5. Akin, Becci A., 2011. "Predictors of foster care exits to permanency: A competing risks analysis of reunification, guardianship, and adoption," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 33(6), pages 999-1011, June.
    6. Quash-Mah, Susan & Stockard, Jean & Johnson-Shelton, Deborah & Crowley, Ryann, 2010. "Fulfilling the hope of ICWA: The role of community context," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 32(6), pages 896-901, June.
    7. Doyle, Joseph J., 2007. "Can't buy me love? Subsidizing the care of related children," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(1-2), pages 281-304, February.
    8. Davidson, Ryan D. & Tomlinson, Claire S. & Beck, Connie J. & Bowen, Anne M., 2019. "The revolving door of families in the child welfare system: Risk and protective factors associated with families returning," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 468-479.
    9. Gallagher, Bernard & Green, Adam, 2012. "In, out and after care: Young adults' views on their lives, as children, in a therapeutic residential establishment," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 34(2), pages 437-450.
    10. Heggeness, Misty L. & Davis, Elizabeth E., 2010. "Factors influencing length of stay in out-of-home placements: Are human services and corrections placements different?," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 32(5), pages 749-757, May.
    11. Yampolskaya, Svetlana & Sharrock, Patty & Armstrong, Mary I. & Strozier, Anne & Swanke, Jayme, 2014. "Profile of children placed in out-of-home care: Association with permanency outcomes," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 195-200.
    12. Havlicek, Judy R. & Garcia, Antonio R. & Smith, Douglas C., 2013. "Mental health and substance use disorders among foster youth transitioning to adulthood: Past research and future directions," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 35(1), pages 194-203.
    13. Doyle, Joseph J., 2013. "Causal effects of foster care: An instrumental-variables approach," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 35(7), pages 1143-1151.
    14. Kortenkamp, Katherine & Geen, Rob & Stagner, Matthew, 2004. "The role of welfare and work in predicting foster care reunification rates for children of welfare recipients," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 26(6), pages 577-590, June.
    15. Jonson-Reid, Melissa & Chung, Sulki & Way, Ineke & Jolley, Jennifer, 2010. "Understanding service use and victim patterns associated with re-reports of alleged maltreatment perpetrators," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 32(6), pages 790-797, June.
    16. Cheng, Tyrone C. & Lo, Celia C., 2016. "Linking worker-parent working alliance to parent progress in child welfare: A longitudinal analysis," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 10-16.
    17. Waldfogel, Jane, 2000. "Child welfare research for the 21st century," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 22(9-10), pages 681-683.
    18. Joseph J. Doyle Jr., 2008. "Child Protection and Adult Crime: Using Investigator Assignment to Estimate Causal Effects of Foster Care," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 116(4), pages 746-770, August.
    19. Jewell, Jeremy D. & Brown, Danice L. & Smith, Gail & Thompson, Ronald, 2010. "Examining the influence of caregiver ethnicity on youth placed in out of home care: Ethnicity matters - for some," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 32(10), pages 1278-1284, October.
    20. Wells, Rebecca, 2006. "Managing child welfare agencies: What do we know about what works?," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 28(10), pages 1181-1194, October.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:cysrev:v:62:y:2016:i:c:p:22-28. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/childyouth .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.