Citation

Villodas MT, Litrownik AJ, Newton RR, Davis IP. J. Pediatr. Psychol. 2015; 41(1): 46-54.

Affiliation

Florida International University, San Diego State University, Child and Adolescent Services Research Center, Rady Children's Hospital, San Diego, CA, and Fielding Graduate University Florida International University, San Diego State University, Child and Adolescent Services Research Center, Rady Children's Hospital, San Diego, CA, and Fielding Graduate University.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2015, Oxford University Press)

DOI

10.1093/jpepsy/jsv031

PMID

25834181

Abstract

OBJECTIVE : This study aimed to identify children's long-term placement trajectories following early child welfare involvement and the association of these trajectories with subsequent physical and behavioral well-being.  METHOD : Participants were 330 children who entered out-of-home care following a substantiated report of child abuse or neglect during infancy/early childhood and their caregivers. Participants were interviewed at child ages 4 and 12 years to assess children's physical and behavioral well-being and every 2 years in between to determine child placements.  RESULTS : Latent Class Analyses identified four stable placement trajectories (i.e., adopted [32%], kinship care [15%], stable reunified [27%], and stable foster care [9%]), and two unstable trajectories (i.e., disrupted reunified [12%] and unstable foster care [5%]). Logistic regressions revealed that children in the unstable trajectories had significantly poorer physical and behavioral well-being than children in stable trajectories.  CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE : Maltreated children placed in out-of-home care are at risk for long-term placement instability and poorer physical and behavioral well-being.

Language: en