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Published on: September 19, 2019
Practitioner review: Children in foster care--vulnerabilities and evidence-based interventions that promote
Leslie D Leve1, Gordon T Harold, Patricia Chamberlain
1Oregon Social Learning Center, Eugene, OR 97401, USA. lesliel@oslc.org
Insights
Children in foster care face increased risks for negative outcomes. Evidence-based interventions show promise for improving foster child well-being and addressing vulnerabilities.
Area of Science:
- Child Welfare
- Developmental Psychology
- Clinical Psychology
Background:
- Children in foster care are at higher risk for adverse emotional, behavioral, neurobiological, and social outcomes.
- Causes include abuse, neglect, and factors like prenatal substance exposure and frequent placement changes.
Purpose of the Study:
- To describe risks and vulnerabilities in foster children.
- To summarize evidence-based interventions for foster families.
Main Methods:
- Systematic search of the PsycINFO database (to March 2012).
- Identification and summary of eight efficacious evidence-based interventions.
Main Results:
- Development of interventions for foster children has lagged but several show promise.
- Service system constraints present challenges and opportunities for intervention implementation.
Conclusions:
- Increased efforts are needed to understand foster child vulnerability pathways.
- Implementing effective interventions is crucial for improving outcomes; international evaluation is also warranted.
Background:
An increasing number of children are placed in foster care (i.e., a kin or nonkin family home other than the biological parent) due to experiences of physical, sexual, emotional, or psychological abuse, and/or neglect. Children in foster care are at increased risk for a host of negative outcomes encompassing emotional, behavioral, neurobiological, and social realms.
Methods:
Areas of risk and vulnerability among foster children are described, including emotional and behavioral deficits, impaired neurobiological development, and social relationship deficits. Evidence suggesting the significance of family placement changes and prenatal exposure to substances as contributing mechanisms is presented. Based on a systematic search of the PsycINFO database (to March 2012), eight efficacious evidence-based interventions for foster families are summarized.
Findings:
Although the development of evidence-based interventions that improve outcomes for foster children has lagged behind the delivery of interventions in other service sectors (e.g., mental health and educational sectors), several interventions across childhood and adolescence offer promise. Service system constraints offer both challenges and opportunities for more routine implementation of evidence-based interventions.
Conclusions:
Given the increased likelihood of poor outcomes for foster children, increased efforts to understand the pathways to vulnerability and to implement interventions shown to be effective in remediating risks and improving outcomes for this population are indicated. Evaluation of efficacious interventions in countries outside of the United States is also needed.
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