Barth, R.P., Weigensberg, E.C., Fisher, P.A., Fetrow, B., & Green, R.L. (2008). Re-entry of elementary aged children following reunification from foster care. Children & Youth Services Review, 30, 353-364.
When children enter out-of-home care, the service plan is usually to reunify them safely to their families. However, we know that 30-50% of children who have been reunified will return to out-of-home care. Re-entry to care is a significant concern to child welfare practitioners, researchers and policy makers.
This study used a large American longitudinal survey to identify factors predictive of reentry for children aged 5-12 years old. The survey’s sample contained 1,927 children in care; 273 (8.2%) of those children reunified with their families, and of those, 58 (16.3%) re-entered care within the 3 year period of study. The mean time to reunification was 12.6 months and for the children who reentered care, the mean time to reentry was 6.9 months. Children who were reunified were more likely to have experienced physical abuse and less likely to have sexual abuse identified as their primary type of maltreatment compared to children who were not reunified. Counter-intuitively, they also had significantly more family risks and were more likely to have had previous child welfare involvement.
Re-entry was predicted by higher Child Behavior Checklist scores and three or more children in a household. Each CBCL unit increase raised a child’s odds of reentry by 6%. Children from households of three or more children were 23% more likely to re-enter care than children with two or fewer children in their household.
This research suggests that elementary school-aged children with greater levels of problem behaviours be reunified with more support or caution, especially when reunified to larger families.
Data from the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being (NSCAW) were used for this analysis. The NSCAW is a nationally representative study of children with plausible allegations of abuse and neglect. Independent variables examined for possible prediction of reentry fell into one of two categories: child level factors, and family risk factors. Child characteristics included demographic factors as well as the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL). Family cumulative risk scores were measured by specific factors (e.g., domestic violence) identified by child welfare workers, as well as by number of children living in the household. Children’s age, race, gender, CBCL scores, receipt of special education, and family size were not associated with reunification.
Bivariate and multivariate Cox proportional hazard analyses were conducted to examine the relationships of variables on the likelihood of children re-entering care over time. This research focused only on children 5-12 years of age and these findings may not generalize to other age groups. This research was conducted on an American sample and may not generalize to Canada.