Foster Care - Two or Fewer Placement Settings While In Care Less Than 1 Year
Foster Care Placements w/2 or Fewer while In Care Less Than 1 yr[view
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Data Provider:NYS Office of Children and Family Services
Life
Area: Family
Definition:
Two or fewer placements while in-care less than 1 year is a measure of stability for children in foster care. The percent of children in foster care for less than one year with two or fewer placement settings is calculated by dividing the unique count of children in foster care less than one year with two or fewer placements in a given fiscal year by the total number of children in foster care less than a year during that fiscal year multiplied by 100.
Significance:
Stability of care is vital for child and youth development. As summarized by the National Scientific Council on the Developing Child (2004), young children experience their world as an environment of relationships, and these relationships affect virtually all aspects of their development — intellectual, social, emotional, physical, behavioral, and moral. The quality and stability of these relationships provide the foundation for a wide range of later developmental outcomes, including self-confidence and sound mental health, motivation to learn, achievement in school and later in life, the ability to control aggressive impulses and resolve conflicts in nonviolent ways, knowing the difference between right and wrong, having the capacity to develop and sustain casual friendships and intimate relationships, and ultimately to be a successful parent oneself. For older children and youth, stability continues to be important. For example multiple placements can result in school transfers that require adjustments that may impede both academic progress and social relations (Finkelstein, Wamsley & Miranda, 2002).
While most foster children experience only one to two placements, a significant number of children in foster care experience multiple placements. Changes in placement or disruption rates are related to the length of the child’s foster care stay (Staff & Fein, 1995), the age and functioning of the foster child (Smith et al., 2001), and the type of placement (Wulczyn, Kogan, & Jones, 2003). Research suggests that placement instability is linked to child behavioral and emotional problems, coping difficulties, poor home adjustment, and low self-concept (Smith et al., 2001; Staff & Fein, 1995) and that the child’s perceptions of the impermanency of their placements is linked to behavioral difficulties (Dubowitz et al., 1993). It is, however, difficult to disentangle the multiple preplacement influences on foster children from those that result from the foster care experience itself (Harden, 2001). For example, research has not yet been able to determine whether placement stability predicts developmental outcomes or if children with developmental difficulties are more likely to experience multiple placements (Horwitz, Simms & Farrington, 1994).
Note:
This indicator is one of the Child and Family Services Review (CFSR) permanency outcome measures (Permanency Outcome 1: Children will have permanency and stability in their living situations) and measures placement stability within 12 months of entry into foster care. The national standard is that of all children who have been in foster care for less than 12 months from the time of the latest removal from the home, 86.7 percent or more have no more than two placement settings.
Findings:
In 2004, the percentages of children with two or fewer placement settings while in-care less than 1 year for New York State (91.4%), New York City (91.3%) and Rest of State (91.5%) exceed the national standard of 86.7 percent.
In 2000, the percentages of children with two or fewer placement settings while in-care less than 1 year also exceeded the national standard in New York State (90.8%), New York City (91.8%), and Rest of State (89.6%).
References:
Dubowitz H., S. Zuravin. R.H. Starr, S. Feigelman and D. Harrington. 1993. Behavior problems of children in kinship care. Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics 14:386-393.
Finkelstein, Marni, Mark Wamsley and Doreen Miranda. 2002. What keeps children in foster care from succeeding in school? New York, NY: Vera Institute of Justice.
Jones Harden, Brenda. 2004. Safety and stability for foster children: A developmental prespective. The Future of Children 14(1):31-37.
Horwitz, S., M. Simms and R. Farrington. 1994. Impact of developmental problems on young children’s exits from foster care. Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics 15:105–110.
National Scientific Council on the Developing Child. 2004. Young children develop in an environment of relationships. Working paper no.1. Waltham, MA: National Scientific Council on the Developing Child.
Smith, D., E. Stormshak, P. Chamberlain and R. Bridges. 2001. Placement disruption in treatment foster care. Journal of Emotional and Behaviorial Disorders 9(3):200-205.
Staff, I. and E. Fein. 1995. Stability and change: Initial findings in a study of treatment foster care placements Children and Youth Services Review 16(3):379-389.
Wulczyn, F., J. Kogan and B. Jones Harden, 2003. Placement stability and movement trajectories. Social Service Review 77:212-236.
KWIC
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