Mental health and associated risk factors of Dutch school aged foster children placed in long-term foster care

Maaskant, Anne; Rooij, Floor B. van; Hermanns, J.M.A.

doi:10.1016/j.childyouth.2014.06.011

Cited by 24 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 46 publications

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“…Older children showed more internalizing behaviors and fewer externalizing problems compared to younger children. Although this result is in line with the broader child mental health prevalence literature (e.g., Bongers et al 2003), the latter effect is still surprising because most studies on foster children suggest that older foster children show more internalizing as well as externalizing problems (Armsden et al 2000;Dubowitz et al 1993;Heflinger et al 2000;Maaskant et al 2014). However, not all studies found the same effect of age on externalizing behaviors.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 69%

“…To examine what accounts for different developmental outcomes of foster children, it is important to study predictors related to the foster child (e.g., age, gender), the child's care experiences (e.g., placement history, duration), the foster parents (e.g., parenting stress, thinking of quitting, parenting, SES), and the foster placement (e.g., kinship or non-kinship placements, planning for reunification) (Maaskant et al 2014;Newton et al 2000;Vanderfaeillie et al 2013). These predictors are considered of interest in relation to foster children's mental health based on what is known from both developmental theories that are specific for vulnerable children, such as the ecological-transactional model of child maltreatment (Cicchetti et al 2000), as well as from broader child developmental theories such as attachment theory (Bowlby 1969) and social learning theory (Bandura and Walters 1977).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Selected characteristics related to the child's experiences with care are placement history and duration of the placement. Selected foster family and foster placements characteristics are type of foster family, foster parents' thinking about quitting foster care, SES, foster parent stress, parenting practices and strategies, and planning for reunification (Chamberlain et al 2008;Maaskant et al 2014;Winokur et al 2018). It is hypothesized that both foster child, the child's care experiences, foster family, and foster placement characteristics will be predictive of foster children's mental health outcomes, with the latter two being more strongly related to the outcomes because this has been shown in previous research (Goemans et al 2016b).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Foster Parent Stress as Key Factor Relating to Foster Children’s Mental Health: A 1-Year Prospective Longitudinal Study

Goemans

Buisman

Geel

et al. 2020

Child Youth Care Forum

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Background Foster children are reported to often have mental health difficulties. To optimize foster children's development chances, we need to know more about the characteristics that are predictive of foster children's mental health. Objective In the current study, we aimed to establish what accounts for the differences in foster children's mental health, by examining the change and predictors of change in foster children's mental health. Insight into foster children's mental health outcomes and their predictors could inform the design of targeted interventions and support for foster children and foster families. Method In a sample of 432 foster children between 4 and 17 years old (M = 10.90) we examined a multivariate model in which characteristics of the foster child, the child's care experiences, foster family, and foster placement were included as predictors of foster children's mental health (internalizing, externalizing, and prosocial behaviors) using a threewave longitudinal design Results Results showed that levels of mental health were generally stable over time. Differences between foster children's developmental outcomes were mainly predicted by foster parent stress. Conclusions Foster parent stress levels were high and consistently found to be the strongest predictor of foster children's mental health outcomes. Given this finding it is important for researchers and practitioners to consider foster parent stress in screening as a point of attention in creating conditions conducive to foster children's mental health.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 69%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Foster Parent Stress as Key Factor Relating to Foster Children’s Mental Health: A 1-Year Prospective Longitudinal Study

Goemans

Buisman

Geel

et al. 2020

Child Youth Care Forum

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“…The aim of foster care is to offer a safe and stimulating home environment which helps foster children to recover from adversities. However, notwithstanding this aim, many foster children continue to experience developmental difficulties during the foster placement; they experience internalizing and externalizing problem behaviours (Maaskant, Van Rooij, & Hermanns, 2014), adaptation problems (Berkoff, Leslie, & Stahmer, 2006), and poor academic achievements (Berger, Cancian, Han, Noyes, & Rios-Salas, 2015;Jackson, 1994;Sebba et al, 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Variability in Developmental Outcomes of Foster Children: Implications for Research and Practice

2018

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This article focuses on the variability in developmental outcomes of foster children and the implications for foster care research and practice. We first provide a brief overview of our previous work, where we have shown by means of meta-analysis and a longitudinal study that foster children greatly vary with respect to their developmental functioning. We then discuss that it is both the heterogeneity of developmental trajectories and the lack of an accurate model for predicting foster children's development that make the screening and monitoring of foster children's development important. We provide suggestions for screening and monitoring, and discuss the Brief Assessment Checklist as an example of a specific instrument available for screening and monitoring of vulnerable children exposed to severe social adversity. We conclude our article with directions to improve foster care and research on foster care, including a discussion of the effectiveness of and foster children's susceptibility to interventions, support for foster parents and the potential of large national and international studies.

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“…In contrast to children from the general population, foster children are characterized by high levels of internalizing and externalizing behaviour problems ( Carbone, Sawyer, Searle, & Robinson, 2007 ; Goemans, Van Geel, Van Beem, & Vedder, 2016 ; Pritchett et al, 2016 ). Exact numbers differ across studies, but proportions of foster children with clinically significant mental health problems have been reported to be over one-third ( Maaskant, Van Rooij, & Hermanns, 2014 ), almost half ( Burns et al, 2004 ) or even over half ( Tarren-Sweeney & Hazell, 2006 ). A recent meta-analysis reported that approximately 40% of the foster children show mental health problems ( Vasileva & Petermann, 2016 ).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Psychosocial screening and monitoring for children in foster care: Psychometric properties of the Brief Assessment Checklist in a Dutch population study

Goemans

Tarren‐Sweeney

Geel

et al. 2017

Clin Child Psychol Psychiatry

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Children in foster care experience higher levels and rates of psychosocial difficulties than children from the general population. Governments and child welfare services have a responsibility to identify those children in care who have need for therapeutic services. This can be achieved through systematic screening and monitoring of psychosocial difficulties among all children in foster care. However, general screening and assessment measures such as the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) and Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) might not adequately screen for the range of difficulties experienced by foster children. The Brief Assessment Checklists for Children (BAC-C) and Brief Assessment Checklists for Adolescents (BAC-A) are measures designed to screen for and monitor attachment- and trauma-related difficulties among child welfare populations. This article reports psychometric properties of the BAC-C and BAC-A, estimated in a population study of 219 Dutch foster children. The results suggest the BAC-C and BAC-A perform both screening and monitoring functions well. Their screening accuracy, internal reliability and concurrent validity are comparable to those estimated for the SDQ within the same child and adolescent sample. Future research is needed to assess the value of the Brief Assessment Checklists (BAC) compared to other measures and to validate cut-points for the BAC. This study further establishes the BAC-A and BAC-C as valid and useful mental health screening and monitoring measures for use with children and adolescents in foster care.

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Mental health and associated risk factors of Dutch school aged foster children placed in long-term foster care

Cited by 24 publications

References 46 publications

Foster Parent Stress as Key Factor Relating to Foster Children’s Mental Health: A 1-Year Prospective Longitudinal Study

Foster Parent Stress as Key Factor Relating to Foster Children’s Mental Health: A 1-Year Prospective Longitudinal Study

Variability in Developmental Outcomes of Foster Children: Implications for Research and Practice

Psychosocial screening and monitoring for children in foster care: Psychometric properties of the Brief Assessment Checklist in a Dutch population study

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