Foster Care Research
NATIONAL | CALIFORNIA | MARYLAND | WASHINGTON STATE
NATIONAL
Assessing the Effects of Foster Care
Casey Family Programs; Pecora, Williams, Kessler, Downs, O’Brien, Hiripi, Morello (2003)
This document presents data collected from case records and interviews about the life experiences, educational achievements, and current functioning of more than a thousand Casey Family Programs foster care alumni who were served in 23 communities across the country between 1966 and 1998. The high school graduation rates and employment rates were positive for many alumni. This occurred despite many placement changes (the rate of which was slowed significantly by Casey services)
The Child Welfare Financing Structure
Murray (2001)
The current child welfare financing structure is a complex system consisting of various federal, state, and local funding streams.1 Federal funds account for approximately half of states’ total reported spending for child welfare services, 2 and come from more than 30 programs.
Fostering Connections and Increasing Adoptions Act Summary
CLASP (2008)
The Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act (H.R. 6893/P.L. 110- 351) will help hundreds of thousands of children and youth in foster care by promoting permanent families for them through relative guardianship and adoption and improving education and health care. Additionally, it will extend federal support for youth to age 21. The act will also offer for the first time many American Indian children important federal protections and support.
Improving Family Foster Care, Northwest Study
Casey Family Programs; Pecora, Williams, Kessler, Downs, English, J. White, Hiripi, C. White, Wiggins, Holmes (2005)
The Northwest Foster Care Alumni Study (Northwest Alumni Study) examined outcomes for 659 alumni who were placed in family foster care as children. The investigation included adults between the ages of 20 and 33 who had been placed in family foster care between 1988 and 1998, and who were served by one of three agencies: (1) Casey Family Programs; (2) the Oregon Department of Human Services, Division of Children, Adults, and Families; or (3) the Washington Department of Social and Health Services, Children’s Administration, Division of Children and Family Services. The study focused on identifying how alumni were faring and what foster care experiences resulted in positive outcomes.
Midwest Evaluation of the Adult Functioning of Former Foster Youth, Outcomes at Age 23 and 24
Chapin Hall Center for Children, University of Chicago; Courtney, Dworsky, Lee, Raap (2010)
The Midwest Evaluation of the Adult Functioning of Former Foster Youth (hereafter referred to as the “Midwest Study”) is a prospective study that was designed, in part, to provide a comprehensive picture of how foster youth as they transition to adulthood since the John Chafee Foster Care Independence Act of 1999 became law. This report is based on the fourth wave of survey data. These data were collected from 82 percent of the baseline sample between July 2008 and April 2009. Study participants were 23 or 24 years old at the time. This report describes what we learned about how these young people were faring across a variety of domains, including living arrangements, relationships with family of origin, social support, education, employment, economic well-being, receipt of government benefits, physical and mental well- being, health and mental health service utilization, sexual behaviors, pregnancy, marriage and cohabitation, parenting, and criminal justice system involvement.
Midwest Evaluation of the Adult Functioning of Former Foster Youth, Outcomes at Age 21
Chapin Hall Center for Children, University of Chicago; Courtney, Dworsky, Cusic, Havlicek, Perez, Keller (2007)
The Midwest Evaluation of the Adult Functioning of Former Foster Youth (hereafter referred to as the “Midwest Study”) is a prospective study that was designed, in part, to provide a comprehensive picture of how foster youth as they transition to adulthood since the John Chafee Foster Care Independence Act of 1999 became law. Two earlier reports from the Midwest Study (Courtney, Terao, & Bost, 2004; Courtney, Dworsky, Ruth, Keller, Havlicek, & Bost, 2005) described what was learned from survey data collected from young people in Wisconsin, Iowa, and Illinois, first at the age of 17 or 18 and then again at age 19. This third report is based on interviews conducted with the young people when they were 21 years old.
Midwest Evaluation of the Adult Functioning of Former Foster Youth, Outcomes at Age 19
Chapin Hall Center for Children, University of Chicago; Courtney, Dworsky, Ruth, Keller, Bost, Havlicek (2005)
This is the second report from the Midwest Evaluation of the Adult Functioning of Former Foster Youth, a longitudinal study that is following foster youth in the states of Illinois, Iowa and Wisconsin as they “age out” of the child welfare system and transition to adulthood. The study is a collaborative effort among the three state public child welfare agencies, Chapin Hall Center for Children at the University of Chicago, and the University of Wisconsin Survey Center. Its purpose is to provide states with the first comprehensive view of how former foster youth are faring as they transition to adulthood since the John Chafee Foster Care Independence Act of 1999 became law.
Chapin Hall Center for Children, University of Chicago; Courtney, Terao, Bost (2004)
The study follows the progress of foster youth in the participating states through age 21 who reached the age of 17 years old while in out-of-home care and who had been in care for at least one year prior to their seventeenth birthday. The focus of the study is on youth who were placed in out-of-home care due to abuse and/or neglect, and this first wave of data includes youth’s status with respect to family history and current family relations, experiences while in out-of-home care, health, mental health, social support, delinquency, substance abuse, education and employment.
What Midwest Study Data Tells us About Youth as Young Adults, Powerpoint
University of Washington, School of Social Work (2010)
This report presents new data on outcomes experienced by young people making the transition to adulthood from foster care. It also points out some implications for policy and practice of the varied experiences of former foster youth in transition.
“Present Engaged and Accounted For”
The National Center for Children in Poverty; Chang, Romero (2008)
This document addresses the critical importance of addressing chronic absence in the early grades.
Educational Stability Checklist
The American Bar Association and Casey Family Programs (2009)
What do child welfare agencies, education agencies, courts, and legislators need to do to effectively implement the education provisions of the FosteringConnections to Success and IncreasingAdoptions Act? What laws, policies, and practices need to be changed and what individuals and agencies must be involved in making the needed change?
The Fostering Connections Resource Center
The Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008 (PL 110-351) builds on prior law by adding requirements that ensure the educational stability of children in foster care.
Foster Care and Education, Q&A
The Legal Center for Foster Care and Education (2009)
The Link Between Education and Permanency
Foster Care and Education, Q&A
The Legal Center for Foster Care and Education (2008)
“Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008″ – Education Provisions
The 100 Most Useful Social Work Resources
socialworkdegree.org (2010)
There is a wealth of information available online about topics and issues relating to social work. This list of resources should be of use to social work students, practicing social workers, and anyone interested in public policy, sociology, or counseling.
CALIFORNIA
Partners for our Children & University of Washington School of Social Work; Courtney, Dworsky, and Peters (2009)
This report analyzes the potential costs and benefits of allowing foster youth to remain in care until age 21, the policy encouraged by the Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act and proposed in California’s Assembly Bill 12, the California Fostering Connections to Success Act.
LAUSD DCFS Probation Data Match
Education Coordinating Council (2008)
This report tracks foster youths education in L.A. County.
California Child Welfare Performance Indicators Project
The California Child Welfare Performance Indicators Project is a collaborative venture between the University of California at Berkeley and the California Department of Social Services, with funding generously provided by the Department of Social Services and the Stuart Foundation. The project aggregates California’s administrative child welfare and foster care data into customizable tables that are refreshed quarterly and made openly available on a public website. This comprehensive data source allows those working at the county and state level to examine performance measures over time. In addition to stratifications by year and county, data can also be filtered by age, ethnicity, gender, placement type, and other subcategories to craft “on the fly” ad hoc tabulations. This project provides policymakers, child welfare workers, and the public with direct access to information on California’s entire child welfare system.
MARYLAND
Access To Education for Children in State Supervised Care
The Maryland Department of Human Resources in conjunction with the Maryland State Department of Education
The State Departments of Human Resources and Education have designed the Access to Education for Children in State-Supervised Care handbook for professionals working in Maryland child welfare and educational systems. The handbook will help child welfare workers and school staff to minimize common barriers to success in school for foster children.
Maryland Children’s Cabinet (2009)
The Ready by 21 Leadership Team convened four subcommittees whose membership included local providers, stakeholders and state child serving agency staff to develop benchmarks in the areas of Education, Employment, Health, and Housing. Cross-cutting issues, which cross multiple age groups and subject areas, and corresponding benchmarks were also identified. This document is the compilation of all five areas, with corresponding strategic action steps.
Maryland Department of Human Resources (2009)
A report on child welfare in Maryland from 2007-2009
WASHINGTON STATE
Children’s Administration, Performance Report
Washington State Department of Social and Health Services (2008)
This report, the 12th annual Children’s Administration Performance Report documents the Administration’s efforts towards improving child safety and permanency, and child and family well being. Additional performance outcome measures and information are provided to report progress on the Administration’s four priority goal areas: 1) Safety 2) Permanency 3) Well-Being 4) Supporting Client Outcomes.
Foster Youth Transitions to Independence: Options to Improve Program Efficiencies
Washington State Institute for Public Policy (2010)
The 2009 Legislature directed the Washington State Institute for Public Policy to “evaluate the adequacy of and access to financial aid and independent living programs for youth in foster care.” This examination analyzes results and includes opportunities to improve efficiencies within these programs.
Improving Education Outcomes for Children and Youth in Foster Care, Summary
Washington State Department of Social and Health Services (2010)
The state Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) Children’s Administration launched a ground-breaking Education Advocacy Program in collaboration with Treehouse, a King County non-profit organization leading the way in providing educational advocacy and support for youth in foster care. This statewide initiative will guide foster youth, their caregivers, school staff, and social workers in the advocacy process.
Racial Disproportionality and Disparity in Washington State Child Welfare – Remediation Plan
Washington State Department of Social and Health Services (2008)
The Washington State Racial Disproportionality Advisory Committee (WSRDAC) established a multi-year approach to its work and identified indicators for its goal of eliminating racial disproportionality and racial disparities.
Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction; Willhoft, Munson (2009)
HB2679 required the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) to provide an annual report on the educational experiences and outcomes of students in foster care. The report is based upon students identified by the Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) as having been in foster care during the 2006-2007 school year and for whom OSPI had a student record.
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