Re: Needing help with Research Dilemma

[MARK COURTNEY <courtney@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Brian:

I do not know what study your colleague at work is talking about, but it
is fairly safe to say that the jury is still out about how former foster
children fare during adulthood in comparison with children who might have
gone into care but remained home.  The research in this area is limited by
a host of methodological problems not the least of which is serious sample
attrition in virtually every study.  The Child Welfare League of America
just published a monograph by McDonald, Westerfelt, Allen, and Piliavin
that reviews the research in this area.  The general conclusion is that
adult outcomes for former foster children are often "rotten," but that the
research that has been done to date is so limited (in amount and quality) 
that firm comparisons to outcomes for other populations are not possible. 

At any rate, I am not convinced that there is any way to test the
hypothesis that children will fare better if placed than if left at home
since we are not likely--thank god--to conduct an experiment wherein
children are randomly assigned to stay home or be placed in foster care.
In the absence of such a test, the selection problem posed by the fact
that children who are placed MAY differ in significant but unmeasured
(unmeasurable?) ways from those who are not placed will always call into
question any comparison of outcomes across groups. 

By the way, Irv Piliavin and I at the Institute for Research on Poverty
are conducting a study of the post-discharge functioning of former foster
youth in Wisconsin.  We are following a random sample cohort of youth who
were interviewed while still in care and are being interviewed again 9
months and 18 months after discharge from foster care.  We are just about
done with our second wave of interviews and are maintaining a response
rate of about 85% at follow-up so far.  The original sample had 141
members.  We will not be able to tell whether these folks did better than
they would have had they remained at home, but maybe we can shed some
light on how they are doing and what might have helped them to fare
better.  By the way, about 90% of them report that there was NOTHING that
the child welfare system could have done for them or their families that
would have allowed them to stay at home. 

Good luck! 

*******************************************************************************
Mark E. Courtney 
Assistant Professor 
School of Social Work 
University of Wisconsin-Madison 
1350 University Avenue 
Madison, WI 53706
phone: (608) 263-3669 
fax: (608) 263-3836 
email: courtney@ssc.wisc.edu

On Fri, 14 Feb 1997, Brian Ingram wrote:

> I need to know if there are any studies or research that has been 
> completed that demonstrate that children who were raised in long-term
> foster care are more successful than children who were either left at or
> returned home to the child's original parents or relatives.
> 
> There seems to be a trend developing in my agency that challenges many
> of the beliefs that we once held so dear.  Those beliefs pertain to the
> trauma that we caused when we removed a child from the parents.  Someone
> has quoted some research that points out that children who were raised
> in foster care are more likely to succeed (the success is measured in
> terms of employment, housing and income stability) than children who
> were raised by their parents.  If this accurate, I feel that the studies
> only measure half of the issues involved.  Success at work may be nice
> in a physical needs sense, but is it likely that the child will be
> successful in his/her marriage?  How about as a parent?  What about
> interpersonal relationships?
> 
> Any help you can provide would be most appreciated.
> 
> Thanks in advance,
> 
> Brian Ingram
>