Estimating the relational well-being of siblings separated by out-of-home care

ABSTRACT

This study utilized web-based data collection and latent profile analysis to visualize and describe the relational well-being of youth experiencing foster care-related sibling separation. Legally authorized representatives for 724 youth in seven states in the U.S.A. completed a brief electronic questionnaire assessing youth’s social competence, emotional competence, sibling warmth, and sibling interaction quality. Six profiles of relational well-being emerged from the analysis and included youth who were “struggling—all domains,” “struggling—sibling relationships,” “thriving—all domains,” “near struggling—all domains,” “mixed—thriving sibling relationships/near-struggling social-emotional competence,” and “average—all domains.” Significant differences were observed for the proportion of youth in a particular profile based on their current out-of-home care status, permanency plan goal, and the survey respondent’s relationship to the youth. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Foster care
• research methodology
• well-being

Conflict of Interest

The corresponding author is the program evaluation committee chair of the organization which provided the data for this investigation.

Ethical Approval

This study was approved by the Institutional Review Board at the University of Minnesota—Twin Cities (IRB No. 1610E97742).

Informed Consent

Informed consent was obtained from study participants.

Additional information

Funding

Funding for this research was provided by the School of Social Work, College of Education and Human Development, University of Minnesota – Twin Cities, and with matching funds from the Center for Advanced Studies in Child Welfare and the Minnesota Department of Human Services, Children and Family Services Division, Grant #GRK%129722.

Notes on contributors

Jeffrey Waid

Dr. Jeffrey Waid is an Assistant Professor of Social Work at the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities. His research focuses on promoting the well-being of children and families through the development, implementation, and evaluation of prevention and intervention services for child maltreatment. He is particularly interested in the potential of novel programming formats to strengthen protection among children and families at risk of child welfare/foster care intervention, the protective potential of kin and sibling relationships for youth in out-of-home care, and the processes associated with adaptation and resilience following maltreatment exposure and child welfare/foster care intervention.