Siblings in Foster Care: An Overview of Research, Policy, and Practice

McCormick, Adam

doi:10.1080/15548731003799662

Cited by 24 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…This expectation is known as adultification, or parentification, and can have both positive and negative effects on later adulthood (Burton, 2007). For example, foster youth often make adult decisions about adoption or placement options and take on adult responsibilities such as caring for siblings (McCormick, 2010). For the subset of foster youth in care in late adolescents, they are actually trained in skills for adulthood as young as fourteen years old (Naccarato & DeLorenzo, 2008) through what is often referred to as independent living programs (ILPs).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Early Adult Identification Among Youth With Foster Care Experience: Implications for Emerging Adulthood

Singer

Berzin

2015

Journal of Public Child Welfare

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Research is scarce that examines how previous life experiences impact emerging adulthood, generally recognized as a distinct developmental stage between ages 18 and 26. Using cumulative advantage-disadvantage theory, this study explores differences during the transition to adulthood between youth with and without foster care experience. A multiple-step, multiple-mediator model with logistic regression was used with data from Wave III of Add Health (n ¼ 13,574). Results suggest that youth with foster care experience are undergoing an accelerated path to their adult identities. No longer attending school and perceived independence help explain this finding.KEYWORDS aging out of foster care, foster care, independent living services for youth, child welfare, transition to adulthood, emerging adulthoodOver the past 20 years the transition to adulthood has become longer and more varied. Many of today's youth slowly emerge into adult roles and responsibilities throughout their twenties. These youth do not identify as adults until their early thirties, when they feel that they have reached a level of self-sufficiency and social maturity (Arnett, 2004). Arnett (2000) suggests that this period represents a new stage of development called emerging adulthood. Arnett (2004) explains emerging adulthood, ages 18 to 26 years, as a time when

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Early Adult Identification Among Youth With Foster Care Experience: Implications for Emerging Adulthood

Singer

Berzin

2015

Journal of Public Child Welfare

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“…Studies of siblings in foster care are rarely anchored to relevant developmental theories (e.g., social learning theory, attachment theory) (McCormick, 2010), making it difficult to propose hypotheses involving sibling interaction and growth and challenging to understand the contexts in which sibling relationships with peers, kin, and other adults manifest themselves (James et al, 2008; Sen & Broadhurst, 2011). …”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These universal strategies include co-placement and visitation policies and in some instances attention to the needs of siblings (via needs assessments). In practice, the application of these policies may be inconsistent and prone to systemic barriers including: court decisions preventing coterminous co-placement; the lack of suitable foster homes allowing for the housing of large sibling groups; placement changes and other permanency transitions; and logistical limitations on the frequency of visitation between siblings who have positive relationships but are not co-placed (Child Welfare Information Gateway, 2013; McCormick, 2010). However, when successful, the application of co-placement and visitation policies can be considered a non-targeted and universal prevention approach that indirectly seeks to enhance sibling bonds and permanency (Akin, 2011; Albert & King, 2008; Holloway, 1997; Staff & Fein, 1992; Webster et al, 2005).…”

Section: Sibling Relationship Quality As a Lever For Intervention mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Roughly two-thirds of foster youth nationally have at least one sibling in foster care (Shlonsky, Elkins, Bellamy, & Ashare, 2005; Child Welfare Information Gateway, 2013), with many of these youth placed in separate residences while in foster care. The importance of preserving and strengthening sibling bonds is reflected at the federal level in the Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008, which requires reasonable efforts to co-place siblings in foster residences, as well as in Child and Family Service Review state indicators pertaining to sibling co-placement (McCormick, 2010). Over half of state child welfare systems have policies prioritizing the placement of foster youth with siblings in the same physical residence in order to support the ability of foster youth to establish and maintain lifelong sibling ties (Gustavsson & MacEachron, 2010; Herrick & Piccus, 2005).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Intervening to improve outcomes for siblings in foster care: Conceptual, substantive, and methodological dimensions of a prevention science framework

McBeath

Kothari

Blakeslee

et al. 2014

Children and Youth Services Review

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In recent years, the child welfare field has devoted significant attention to siblings in foster care. Policymakers and practitioners have supported efforts to connect siblings via shared foster placements and visitation while researchers have focused on illuminating the empirical foundations of sibling placement and sibling intervention in child welfare. The current paper synthesizes literature on sibling relationship development and sibling issues in child welfare in the service of presenting a typology of sibling-focused interventions for use with foster youth. The paper provides two examples of current intervention research studies focused on enhancing sibling developmental processes and understanding their connection to child welfare outcomes. The paper concludes by presenting an emerging agenda informing policy, practice, and research on siblings in foster care.

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“…Evidence relating to public care of abused and neglected siblings has been building over the last two decades. To date, this has mainly focused on the imperative to place lookedafter siblings together, where in a child's best interests, and on child outcomes where this is fully, partially or not achieved (see recent reviews by Jones, 2016;McCormick, 2010;and Meakings, Sebba and Luke, 2017). The challenges associated with achieving co-residence of looked-after siblings have also been studied and have been found to include children coming into care at different times, experiencing multiple moves, being part of large sibling groups and age and gender differences (Shlonksy, Webster and Needell, 2003).…”

Section: Current Knowledge Regarding the Public Care Of Abused And Nementioning

confidence: 99%

Sibling birth order, use of statutory measures and patterns of placement for children in public care: Implications for international child protection systems and research

Henderson

Jones

Woods

2017

Children and Youth Services Review

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Public care of abused and neglected children is one important element of statutory intervention which aims to address the major global challenge of protecting children from abuse and neglect. Where a child is part of a sibling group, this introduces particular challenges with regard to meeting the needs of all those affected. This paper presents findings from one of the first studies examining birth order effects on statutory intervention patterns for looked-after siblings. The experiences and outcomes of children were compared depending on maternal birth order at the time of data collection. We found strong evidence that the length of time from first referral of a child deemed at risk to first statutory intervention is greater for first-born than for last-born children and firstborn children are significantly older than last-born children when they are first placed on statutory measures. The study concludes that first-born siblings may be particularly vulnerable to delayed statutory intervention and the cumulative effects of harm and certain routes to permanence may be less available to them. We argue for increased focus within international child welfare policy and practice on timely and intensive assessment of first-born children, where risk of maltreatment is identified, in order to address potential inequalities of access to protection. A focus on risk introduced by systemic factors within legal and welfare systems in addition to risk introduced by perpetrators of abuse is needed. We also argue for greater research attention to, and more precise measurement of, birth order as a variable in studies of the looked-after population. Highlights First-born children are significantly older than last-born children when they are first placed on statutory measures. The length of time from first referral to first statutory intervention is greater for first-born than for last-born children. First-born children are significantly older than last-born children when they are first accommodated and significantly more last-born than first-born children are adopted. We conclude that first-born children may be particularly vulnerable to the cumulative effects of harm and subject to delayed statutory intervention.

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Siblings in Foster Care: An Overview of Research, Policy, and Practice

Cited by 24 publications

References 21 publications

Early Adult Identification Among Youth With Foster Care Experience: Implications for Emerging Adulthood

Early Adult Identification Among Youth With Foster Care Experience: Implications for Emerging Adulthood

Intervening to improve outcomes for siblings in foster care: Conceptual, substantive, and methodological dimensions of a prevention science framework

Sibling birth order, use of statutory measures and patterns of placement for children in public care: Implications for international child protection systems and research

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