Foster Care and Adoption Flashcards
What factors influence whether a child will be placed in out-of-home care?
- Prior victim are more than 2 times more likely than first-time victims
- Children younger than 4, more likely
- Victims of sexual abuse, less likely
What are some characteristics of Foster parent commitment?
- Strong emotional investment in child
- Evidence of “psychological adoption”
- Consideration of the child as one’s own
What is the purpose of “This is my Baby” (TIMB) Interview
To test for aptitude of foster parent commitment
Example:
- “Do you ever wish you could raise [child]?”
- “How much would you miss [child] if they ever had to leave your care?”
What is an example of a High Commitment response from a caregiver?
“All the time. From the day that she came to my door…. I mean for, she’s been with us, when she came to us she was a month old. So she, she, um, she’s our little pride and joy…. I don’t think I would be able to let her leave my care at this point.”
What is an example of a Low Commitment response from a caregiver?
“Sometimes- But that’s not what we do. We take them, help them and – send them back to where they’re supposed to be or wherever it’s good for them to be.”
What is Best for the Child in terms of commitment?
- Some may argue that it is better for a child NOT to develop a “strong” attachment with a foster parent, because they are likely to lose that person
Attachment theory would suggest the opposite:
- Children NEED to feel loved, cared for, valued
- Children are biologically programmed to expect this care
What are some Research About Commitment
- Parents who foster fewer children, are more likely to express commitment
- Parents who express higher commitment demonstrate more positive affect toward their children during play interactions
- Children who have foster parents with higher commitment show higher self-esteem and better social/emotional functioning
- Children who have foster parents with higher commitment show less behavior problems and more placement stability
What are some types of caregiving arrangements?
- Foster parents
- Cottage caregivers
- Shift caregivers:
What are foster parents?
Primary caregiver for the child, in a family
What are cottage caregivers?
Live with children in a group-care setting
What are shift caregivers?
Rotating shifts with children in group-care setting
How are the caregiving arrangements compared?
Foster caregivers express significantly higher levels of commitment than cottage care and shift workers in group care settings.
What are some quote examples of Foster parents?
- “I wanna be grandma…hopefully she’ll have a baby girl!”
- “As long as I’m alive, he’s going to go to college.”
- “…just like one of my own children… he’s mine, even though I know…one day he will be leaving.”
What are some quote examples of Cottage caregivers?
- “It’s for our benefit that we don’t get close…she’s definitely a resident.”
- “I would probably give him my phone number but I would tell him don’t use it everyday…I wouldn’t want him accessing my Facebook page or anything like that.”
What are some quote examples of Shift caregivers?
- “When asked about whether she would miss the child: “I see so many kids come through here, probably not.”
-“I’ve learned to not get attached to them because…they may leave one day.”
What are some take aways about Foster Care?
- Foster care can be a context in which caregivers commit and emotionally invest in children, even when the situation is temporary
- In contrast, group care may prevent this level of commitment to a particular child
What are some implications of Foster Parenting?
- Need for more foster parents, who invest in fewer children
- Aim for pre-adoptive homes, kinship care, or foster parents that support relationship with birth parent (when reunification is the plan)
- Help foster parents feel psychologically/emotionally committed
- Resources/support for foster parents
What are some challenges for children?
- Developmentally, children expect (and are biologically prepared for) a primary caregiver
- Instability, disruptions in care
- Lack of support for “aging out”
How does Institutional or Orphanage care compare to Foster care?
- Out-of-home care is necessary
- Comes with challenges for children in care, and challenges for adults providing care
What is Random Assignment
- Process of randomly assigning participants to have a certain experience
- When participants are randomly assigned to groups, third variables (confounds) are randomly distributed across the groups
- Random assignment leads to the condition of groups systematically differing only on the manipulated variable
- May have other differences, but these are now random
What is a BEIP [Bucharest Early Intervention Project] design
- Study design
- Random assignment
- High-quality foster care (Designed by researchers)
- Care as usual (Institutional care)
- Community Comparison group
BEIP High-Quality Foster Care
- Social workers visited every 10 days within first several months of placement, then twice per month
- Social workers available for phone calls and visits as needed; case managers on call 24/7
- Developmental and behavioral interventions to address needs of children
- 8-week foster parent support group (education and social support)
What is a Longitudinal Follow Up?
- Longitudinal assessment schedule:
Baseline (Mean age = 22 months); 9 months; 30 months; 42 months; 54 months; 8 year follow up - Domains of functioning assessed: Physical development, language, social functioning, cognition, attachment, brain function, mental health functioning
What are some important research questions about BEIP Design
- What are the effects of extreme deprivation on children’s development?
- Can foster care ameliorate effects of early neglect?
If so, does it matter when?
What are some Big Picture Take Aways
- Effects of institutional care are pervasive and devastating
- Timing is of the essence: Remediation becomes more difficult the longer adverse conditions last
- In moving away from institutional care, it is critical that a high quality foster care system be developed
What are some Effects on Attachment?
- Assessed at 42 months
- Measured using the Strange Situation (Ainsworth et al., 1978)
Classifications:
Organized (Secure, Insecure [Avoidant, Resistant])
Disorganized - Who was the primary caregiver to whom attachment was assessed? Community children with mothers, Foster children with foster mothers, Institutionalized with “favorite” caregiver
What are some effects of timing for attachment?
- Children placed in foster care before 24 months were more likely to have secure attachments, than children placed later
What is Reactive Attachment Disorder (DSM-V)
- Formerly RAD-Inhibited type
- Withdrawn, doesn’t engage, lack of preference for caregiver, poor emotion regulation
What is Disinhibited social engagement disorder (DSM-V)
- Formerly RAD-Disinhibited type
- Lack of reticence around strangers, willingness to go off with stranger, clinging to unfamiliar adults
What are the Effects on Reactive Attachment Disorder in BEIP
- Institutionalized children (both FC and CAU) showed elevated inhibited type and disinhibited behavior, compared to never-institutionalized community controls
What are the Effects on Brain Activity?
- Remember findings that institutionalized children show Lower alpha power/higher theta power seen in institutionalized (similar to ADHD)
- If placed into foster care before 24 months, children showed EEG activity in the alpha band that was comparable to never-institutionalized children
Summary of BEIP
- Effects of institutional care are pervasive and devastating
- Timing is of the essence: Remediation becomes more difficult the longer adverse conditions last
- In moving away from institutional care, it is critical that a high quality foster care system be developed
