Family first or the kindness of strangers? Foster care placements and adult outcomes

Lovett, Nicholas; Xue, Yuhan

doi:10.1016/j.labeco.2020.101840

Cited by 8 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…Other work has supported adoption over foster care [ 67 ]. The research overall supports kinship care over other placement choices as yielding generally better outcomes [ 68 ]. The data do offer some indications that well-crafted, well supported structural relationships between foster carers and the child’s Indigenous culture can yield good outcomes.…”

Section: Are Children Better Off Growing Up In Care?mentioning

confidence: 81%

Attachment Theory: A Barrier for Indigenous Children Involved with Child Protection

Choate

Tortorelli

2022

IJERPH

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Background: Attachment theory is an established theoretical understanding of the intimate relationships between parental figures and children. The theory frames the ways in which a child can be supported to develop within a secure base that prepares them for adulthood, including entering into and sustaining intimate relationships. The theory, built on the work of John Bowlby following World War II, has extensive literature supporting its application across multiple cultures and nations, although its roots are heavily tied to Eurocentric familial understandings. However, the theory has also been heavily criticized as not being appropriate for child intervention decision-making. Further, its application to Indigenous caregiving systems is also under question. Yet courts rely heavily on applying the theory to questions of sustaining Indigenous children in non-Indigenous care when return to biological parents is deemed impossible. Methods: This article draws upon the consistent arguments used in leading Canadian child welfare legal decisions and case examples to show how Attachment Theory is applied relative to Indigenous children and families. Results: Attachment Theory drawing upon Eurocentric framing, and as applied in Canadian child protection systems, as seen in precedent court decisions, is given priority over living in culture. This occurs even though the research reviewed has shown that the traditional dyadic version of the theory is not valid for Indigenous peoples. Conclusions: While all children will attach to a caregiver or caregiving system, such as kinship or community, leading legal decisions in Canada tend to rely on Eurocentric versions of the theory, which is contrary to the best interests of Indigenous children. Child protection needs to reconsider how attachment can be used from appropriate cultural lenses that involve the communal or extended caregiving systems common to many Canadian Indigenous communities. Child protection should also recognize that there is not a pan-Indigenous definition of attachment and child-rearing, so efforts to build working relationships with various Indigenous communities will be needed to accomplish culturally informed caregiving plans. In addition, continued advocacy in Canada is needed to have child protection decision-making conducted by the Indigenous communities, as opposed to Eurocentric provincial or territorial agencies.

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Section: Are Children Better Off Growing Up In Care?mentioning

confidence: 81%

Attachment Theory: A Barrier for Indigenous Children Involved with Child Protection

Choate

Tortorelli

2022

IJERPH

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“…(2014) all examine the effects of foster care placements on children's outcomes. Grimon (2021) examines the effects of child welfare investigations on parents, and Lovett and Xue (2020) and Font and Mills (2020) examine the relative effectiveness of different placement types (kinship, unrelated caregivers, and congregate care).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Push for Racial Equity in Child Welfare: Can Blind Removals Reduce Disproportionality?

Barón¹,

Goldstein²,

Ryan³

2022

J Policy Anal Manage

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We conduct the first quantitative analysis of “blind removals,” an increasingly popular reform that seeks to reduce the over‐representation of Black children in foster care by eliminating biases in the removal decisions of investigators. We first show that over‐representation in most foster care systems is driven by Black children being substantially more likely than White children to be investigated for maltreatment to begin with. Conditional on initial rates of investigation, investigators remove White and Black children similarly. Second, we find no evidence that blind removals impacted the already small racial disparities in the removal decision, but they substantially increased time to removal.

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Protocol: Interventions aimed at preventing out‐of‐home placement of children: A systematic review

Dalgaard,

Bondebjerg,

Bengtsen

et al. 2024

Campbell Systematic Reviews

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This is the protocol for a Campbell systematic review. The objectives are as follows. The aim of the present review is to synthesize evidence on the effectiveness of interventions for at‐risk families aimed at preventing the out‐of‐home placement of children or increasing the likelihood that children are reunited with their birth families following temporary care arrangements. The review has two objectives: (1) To assess the effectiveness of interventions for at‐risk families with children aged between 0 and 17 years old on measures of out‐of‐home placement and on secondary outcomes. (2) To identify factors that modify intervention effectiveness (e.g., prior placements, parental risk factors such as substance abuse, mental health issues, age, minority status, child risk factors such as disabilities, age, and gender).

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Family first or the kindness of strangers? Foster care placements and adult outcomes

Cited by 8 publications

References 39 publications

Attachment Theory: A Barrier for Indigenous Children Involved with Child Protection

Attachment Theory: A Barrier for Indigenous Children Involved with Child Protection

The Push for Racial Equity in Child Welfare: Can Blind Removals Reduce Disproportionality?

Protocol: Interventions aimed at preventing out‐of‐home placement of children: A systematic review

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