Risks of Reentry into the Foster Care System

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Risks of Reentry into the Foster Care System for
Children who Reunified Terry V. Shaw,
MSW University of California, Berkeley School
of Social Welfare This research is funded by the
California Department of Social Services and the
Stuart Foundation
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Outcomes, outcomes, everywhere(or why bother
looking at reentry?)

• Government Performance and Results Act of 1993
  (GPRA)
• Annual Outcomes Report to Congress mandated by
  Adoption and Safe Families Act (ASFA) of 1997 and
  amended in 2003
• Statewide Data Indicators in Child and Family
  Services Reviews (a subset of the Annual
  Outcomes)
• We want to ensure that children are in safe and
  stable homes. Reentering care is a sign that the
  reunification was not optimal.

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Foster Care Reentries

• Of all the children who entered care during the
  year under review, what percent re-entered foster
  care within 12 months of a prior foster care
  episode?
• National Standard 8.6 or less

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Previous Research on Reentry to Care Authors and
Articles
Courtney, Mark E. (1994). "Factors Associated
with the Reunification of Foster Children with
Their Families." Social Service Review 68 (1)
81-108
Festinger, T. (1994). Returning to Care
Discharge and Reentry into Foster Care.
Washington, DC Child Welfare League of America.
Frame, L., Berrick, J.D., Brodowski, M.L.  (2000)
Understanding reentry to foster care for
reunified infants.  Child Welfare, 79 (4), pp.
339-369 .
Frame, L., (2002) Maltreatment reports and
placement outcomes for infants and toddlers in
out-of-home care.  Infant Mental Health Journal,
23 (5), pp. 517-540 .
Wells, Kathleen and Shenyang Guo (1999)
Reunification and Reentry of Foster Children.
Children and Youth Services Review, 21 (4)
273-294
Wulczyn, Fred (1991). "Caseload Dynamics and
Foster Care Reentry." Social Service Review 65
133-156.
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Research on Reentry to Care

• Race/Ethnicity of the Child.
• Length of Time in Care prior to Reunification.
• Age of child at entry into foster care.
• Type of placement a child experiences in foster
  care.
• Number of placements while in foster care.

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Research on Reentry (continued)

• Reason for removal from home 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.

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Study Population

• 1998, 1999, 2000, and 2001 First Entries to
  Foster Care in California.
• Initial Stays greater than 5 days.
• Children reunifying within 12 months of initial
  entry into foster care.
• What are the differences between the children who
  reenter care within one year after reunification
  and those who do not?

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Variables Examined

• Childs Race/Ethnicity
• Childs Gender
• First Entry Year
• Reason for removal from home.
• Time in Care prior to reunification.
• Predominant Placement Type.

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Variables Examined (continued)

• Title 4e Eligible
• Whether the child was found eligible for AFDC or
  not.
• Did the parent(s) receive drug or alcohol
  services?
• Inpatient or Outpatient Substance Abuse Services.
• FP Drug Treatment
• Substance Abuse Services and Testing
• 12-Step Program
• Family structure child was removed from.

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Variables Examined (continued)

• Primary language spoken at home.
• Number of placement moves while in foster care.
• Entry Rates at the census tract level.
• Population characteristic (census tract).
• Percent Female Headed Households
• Percent Below Poverty.
• Percent Unemployed.

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Note California child population is 7 Black,
35 White, 44 Hispanic 10
Asian/Other, 0.5 Native American, 3.5 two or
more.
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Overall Population of children who reunified by
First Entry Year
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Results

• Sibling correction was used allowing for the
  inclusion of all siblings in a sibling group.
• Gives the same parameters as a model taking into
  account only one randomly selected sibling, but
  adjust the standard errors.
• This method was discussed in some detail
  yesterday by Barbara Needell.

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Odds of Reentry - Ethnicity
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Odds of Reentry Reason for Removal
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Odds of Reentry Length of time in Care
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Odds of Reentry Age at Entry
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Odds of Reentry Predominant Placement
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Odds of Reentry Other Factors
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Odds of Reentry Other Factors, pt 2
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Conclusions

• When variables measuring poverty, drug and
  alcohol services, and marital status are added
  into the model ethnicity is not a significant
  predictor of reentry.
• Gender is not a significant predictor of reentry.
• A longer stay in care initially is protective.
  (The shorter the initial stay in care the higher
  the likelihood of reentry).

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Conclusions (continued)

• The older a child is at first entry the less
  likely they are to reenter compared to infants.
• Compared to kinship care, different predominant
  placement types increase a childs odds of
  reentry.
• Children who are 4e eligible are over 2X more
  likely to reenter care than non-4e eligible
  children.

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Conclusions (continued)

• Entering care from a single family home increases
  the odds of reentry to care.
• Coming from a primarily non-English speaking home
  is protective. Children from primarily
  non-English speaking homes are 2/3 as likely to
  reenter care.
• For every 1 increase in the pct of female headed
  households in the census tract there is 1.01X the
  odds of reentering care.

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Conclusions (continued)

• For every 10 per 1,000 increase in the entry rate
  at the Census Tract level there is 1.08X increase
  in the odds of reentering foster care.
• Gender, Entry Year, Number of placement moves,
  Percent Below the Poverty Line and Percent
  Unemployed were not significant predictors of
  reentry.

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The End!
Center for Social Services Research Web
Page http//cssr.berkeley.edu/CWSCMSReports
Terry V. Shaw tvshaw_at_berkeley.edu (510) 643 -
1899