Title: Foster Care Reentry
1Foster Care Reentry Going Beyond 12 Months of
Follow-up Terry V. Shaw, MSW, PhD Daniel
Webster, MSW, PhD University of California,
Berkeley School of Social Welfare This research
is funded by the California Department of Social
Services and the Stuart Foundation Presented at
the 46th Annual National Association for Welfare
Research and Statistics (NAWRS) Workshop. August
23, 2006
2For an Electronic Copy of Presentation
- http//cssr.berkeley.edu/CWSCMSreports/presentatio
ns/
3Research on Reentry to Care
- Length of Time in Care prior to Reunification.
- Type of placement a child experiences in foster
care. - Number of placements while in foster care.
- Race/Ethnicity of the Child.
- Age of child at entry into foster care.
- Reason for removal or entry into the foster care
system. - Caregiver Drug/Alcohol use.
- Poverty status (children receiving AFDC).
- Marital status (single or multi-parent homes).
- Geographic location (urban/rural).
- Child health factors.
4Study Population
- First Entries to Child Welfare Supervised Foster
Care in California (1998-2001). - Initial stays greater than 5 days.
- Children reunifying within 12 months of initial
entry into foster care. - Missing placement types excluded.
- Question Are there differences between the
children reentering care within 12 months and
those reentering care from 12 to 24 months?
5Full Model Used for Analysis included
Ethnicity, Gender, Entry Year, Age at
Entry, Length of time in Care, Reason for
removal, County Size, Presence of siblings,
AFDC eligible, Predominant placement type,
Childs Health/Behavior conditions, Whether the
parents have a referral to a drug/alcohol
treatment program, Whether the child was
removed from a single or multi-parent household,
Primary language spoken at home.
6Frequencies Reunifications and Reentries
7Frequencies Reunifications and Reentries
8Cumulative Probability of Reentry
(1-Survival) Children Reunifying within 12 months
16.65
12.28
9Cumulative Probability of Reentry (1-Survival) by
LOS Children Reunifying within 12
months Probability of reentry within 24 months
post-reunification
10Cumulative Probability of Reentry (1-Survival) by
Ethnicity Children Reunifying within 12
months Probability of reentry within 24 months
post-reunification
11Cumulative Probability of Reentry (1-Survival) by
Age Group Children Reunifying within 12
months Probability of reentry within 24 months
post-reunification
12Odds of Reentry - Ethnicity
13Odds of Reentry Length of time in Care
14Odds of Reentry Age at Entry
Significant at the 0.1 level
15Odds of Reentry Other Factors
Reentry within 12 mos.
Reentry 12 to 24 mos.
1.52
Significant at the 0.1 level
16Conclusions
- Before finalizing models, we will explore issue
of potential bias introduced by stages of
incidental selectivity (Berk Ray, 1982). - Some differences exist in the children that
reenter care between 0-12 months and 12-24
months. - African American children are 1.23 times more
likely to reenter care within 12 months and 1.32
times more likely to reenter care between 12 and
24 months compared to white children. - A longer stay in care initially is protective for
reentries within 12 months (The shorter the
initial stay in care the higher the likelihood of
reentry). Only children in care for 9 or more
months have a significantly lower odds of reentry
for reentries between 12 and 24 months.
17Conclusions (continued)
- Children between the ages of 3 and 10 have lower
odds of reentry within 12 months compared to
infants. This is somewhat different when looking
at reentries between 12 and 24 months, only ages
3-5 have lower odds of reentry compared to
infants. - If drug/alcohol services are indicated then there
is almost 2X the odds of reentry within 12
months. These odds are even higher 2.55 between
12 and 24 months. - Children with existing health/behavioral/mental
health issues have higher odds of reentering
foster care in both periods, but the odds are
greater in the 12 to 24 month group.
18The End!
Center for Social Services Research Web
Page http//cssr.berkeley.edu/CWSCMSReports
Terry V. Shaw tvshaw_at_berkeley.edu (510) 643 -
2585 Daniel Webster dwebster_at_berkeley.edu