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Updated: Sep 8, 2025

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Foster Care Entry and Later Academic Achievement Among Infants Involved With Child Protective Services

Kierra Sattler1, Sarah Font2, Carlomango Panlilio2

  • 1The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Greensboro, North Carolina, USA.

Child Development
|August 20, 2025
PubMed

Insights

Early foster care placement can improve reading scores and reduce absenteeism, particularly for Black children. These findings highlight the critical impact of timely child welfare interventions on academic success.

Area of Science:

  • Child development
  • Educational psychology
  • Social work

Background:

  • Early life experiences significantly influence academic outcomes.
  • Racial disparities exist in child protective services and foster care placements.
  • The impact of foster care entry timing on school performance by race is under-researched.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the association between age at foster care entry and subsequent school outcomes.
  • To examine if these associations differ by race/ethnicity.
  • To inform child welfare policy and practice.

Main Methods:

  • Utilized linked, longitudinal administrative data for a cohort of 8,795 infants.
  • Analyzed data from children involved with child protective services by age one.
  • Examined relationships between early foster care placement (within 6 months) and reading scores/absenteeism, stratified by race.

Main Results:

  • Foster care placement within the first six months of life was linked to better basic reading test scores.
  • Early placement was also associated with reduced school absenteeism.
  • These positive associations were more pronounced for Black children.

Conclusions:

  • The timing of foster care placement is a critical factor in children's academic development.
  • Early intervention through foster care shows promise in mitigating negative school outcomes, especially for vulnerable racial groups.
  • Findings underscore the need for equitable and timely child welfare services.

Keywords:
academic outcomesfoster careinfants

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