Citation

Cooley M, Krysik J. Child Adolesc. Soc. Work J. 2022; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2022, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1007/s10560-022-00871-3

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

A considerable number of children and families are impacted by child welfare services each year due to suspected or substantiated child abuse and neglect. An estimated 3,145,000 children experienced a child protective investigation or an alternative response in 2020, and 618,000 were identified as victims of maltreatment (US Department of Health & Human Services [USDHHS], 2022). Children enter foster care when the abuse and neglect they experience is deemed too severe for them to live in their homes. Some 407,493 children entered foster care during 2020 (USDHHS, 2021). Children are most frequently removed from their parents due to neglect (64%), parental drug use (35%), caretaker inability to cope (13%), and physical abuse (13%; USDHHS, 2021). Upon removal, most children are placed with a relative/kin foster care home (34%) or a non-relative foster family home (45%; USDHHS, 2021)

Although only a relatively small portion of children who come to the attention of the child welfare system are removed from their parents or guardians, a significant number of children are impacted by foster care. Further, meeting the basic needs of children and families impacted by foster care consumes an uneven share of resources given the cost of out-of-home placement, supportive services, and monitoring of the birth parents, adoptive parents or other guardians, and foster families. A substantial portion of foster care is supported by federal Title IV-E funding of the Social Security Act, which covers a range of child welfare services and programs, totaling approximately $30 billion each year; foster care services alone totaled $2.7 billion in 2016 (Child Trends, 2018)...

Language: en