First births to maltreated adolescent girls: Differences associated with spending time in foster care

Few studies have examined adolescent pregnancy and childbirth among adolescents involved in child welfare services (CWS) and studies on this topic had reported conflicting findings. Some studies showed little observable differences in early parenting among girls who were placed in foster care and those who received home services; and some other studies found that those in foster care were twice as likely to give birth as an adolescent compared to those who remained at home.

To better understand the association between spending time in foster care and rates of early childbirth, this study examined first births among a cohort of maltreated, CWS-involved adolescent girls (N= 85,766) in California who experienced a substantiated allegation of maltreatment after their 10th birthday. Findings of this study showed that among the full cohort of the CWS-involved adolescent girls, about 18% gave birth before their 20th birthday. Among girls who spent time in foster care, about 19.5% gave birth as an adolescent. Results of this study indicated that highest childbirth rates were among Latina, Black, and Native American adolescent girls. However, when compared to the general population, spending time in foster care may be more of a risk factor for White adolescents than for those from other racial/ethnic groups. Furthermore, types of maltreatment (physical abuse, severe neglect, and caretaker absence) and recurrence were also associated with higher birth rates, indicating increased susceptibility to early childbirth. The author concluded that spending time in foster care per se might not be the most important predictor for early childbirths among CWS-involved teenage girls, even though the results of this study showed some benefits for a subgroup of adolescent girls to be placed in care than remaining at home. Other factors, such as types of maltreatment experiences and ethnicity, should also be taken into consideration while examining the relation between spending time in care and the rates of early childbirth.