Understanding wellbeing and caregiver commitment after adoption or guardianship from foster care

ABSTRACT

This study explored data obtained from surveys of caregivers who had previously adopted or assumed guardianship of a child from foster care in two U.S. states (N= 937). Descriptive analyses summarized the demographic and wellbeing characteristics of children and families, and multivariate regression models estimated the association between these variables and caregiver commitment. Consistent with previous research, most caregivers (> 80%) reported positive adjustment across measures, but some caregivers indicated family struggles, such as caregiver strain, child behavior difficulties, and lack of access to adoption-competent services. Higher caregiver commitment was associated with higher family nurturing and attachment, lower caregiver strain, less child behavior problems, a younger child age, and a kinship relationship. Results of this study enhance our understanding of the wellbeing of children and caregivers after permanence and provide insight into the malleable factors that may strengthen caregiver commitment after adoption or guardianship from foster care.

KEYWORDS:

• Universal prevention
• post adoption
• post guardianship
• caregiver commitment
• post permanency discontinuity

Acknowledgments

The National Quality Improvement Center for Adoption and Guardianship Support and Preservation (QIC-AG) was funded through the Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Children’s Bureau, Grant #90CO1122. The contents of this article do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the funders, nor does mention of trade names, commercial products, or organizations imply endorsement by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. This information is in the public domain. Readers are encouraged to copy and share it but asked to please credit the QIC-AG.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the U.S. Children’s Bureau [#90CO1122].

Notes on contributors

Kevin R. White

Kevin R. White is an Assistant Professor in the School of Social Work at East Carolina University. He has over nine years of research experience focused on understanding and improving permanency and well-being for at-risk youth and their families. His research interests developed out of thirteen years of practice as a child welfare caseworker and a school social worker.

Nancy Rolock

Nancy Rolock, AM, PhD, is the Henry L. Zucker Associate Professor of Social Work Practice and Associate Dean of Research and Training at the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences, Case Western Reserve University. She has conducted child welfare research since 1996. Dr. Rolock is committed to using intervention research and implementation science to build evidence-informed services and supports for children and families involved in the child welfare system. Dr. Rolock has directed research related to examining the long-term outcomes for children and youth who have exited foster care through adoption or guardianship (post-permanency research). She is currently the Principal Investigator for a multi-year federally funded Understanding Post Adoption and Guardianship Instability project that will examine family experiences and outcomes post legal finalization of adoption or guardianship. Dr. Rolock was the Co-PI of the National Quality Improvement Center for Adoption and Guardianship Support and Preservation (QIC-AG). Understanding the risk and protective factors associated with the long-term stability of children, youth, parents and guardians is of utmost importance to the understanding of child and family well-being. Dr. Rolock seeks to illuminate these issues through her research.

Laura Marra

Laura Marra is the Research Director at The University of Texas at Austin - Texas Institute for Child and Family Wellbeing. She oversees research design, implementation, and program evaluation for projects focused on child wellbeing, family resilience, adoption, permanency, and child care. Her professional research interests include: 1) building evidence-based models of support and interventions to promote the resilience and wellbeing of children and families, and 2) disseminating evidence  in  a  way  that  is  accessible  and  relevant  to  families,  practitioners,  advocates  and  other community members.

Monica Faulkner

Dr. Monica Faulkner is a Research Associate Professor at the Steve Hicks School of Social Work at The University of Texas at Austin and the Director and co-founder of the Texas Institute for Child & Family Wellbeing. Dr. Faulkner holds Bachelor degrees in Government and Social Work from the University of Texas at Austin and a Masters in Social Work from the University of Houston. She received her PhD in Social Work from the University of Texas at Austin in 2010. As a social worker, Dr. Faulkner has worked as an advocate for survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault and as a case manager for children in foster care. Dr. Faulkner also worked in the Texas Legislature focusing on policy issues related to health and human services for two legislative sessions. Currently, Dr. Faulkner uses her research expertise to build evidence for interventions and policies that improve the lives of marginalized populations of youth and families. She specializes in program evaluations related to child maltreatment prevention, foster care, and adolescent sexual health. She has also conducted original research related to undocumented Latino parents, permanency of foster youth, and educational outcomes of foster youth.

Kerrie Ocasio

Dr. Kerrie Ocasio is an Assistant Professor in the Graduate Social Work Department at West Chester University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Ocasio uses multiple methodologies to study the experiences of children, biological parents, foster/kinship providers, and child welfare staff with foster care systems and services in order to develop attachment-focused, racially just and culturally sensitive responses to child protection that promote child well-being. She is currently engaging in a multi-year project to develop and test a pre- and post-permanency counseling service for adoption and guardianship families. Recently, she completed a national five-year research project aimed at developing and testing promising practices to improve long-term and stable permanence in adoptive and guardianship homes as part of the federally funded National Quality Improvement in Adoption and Guardianship Support and Preservation (QIC-AG) project (Grant #90CO1122-01-00). She holds a master’s degree in Social Work (MSW) from Fordham University and obtained her Ph.D. in Social Work from Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. Prior to joining the faculty at West Chester University, she was an Assistant Research Professor at Rutgers University.

Rowena Fong

Dr. Rowena Fong is the Ruby Lee Piester Centennial Professor in Services to Children and Families in the Steve Hicks School of Social Work at the University of Texas at Austin.  She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare and of the Society for Social Work and Research. She has served nationally as a past President of the Society for Social Work and Research (2009-2013). Her research areas are child welfare and adoptions, immigrant and refugee children and families, and victims of human trafficking. She was the Co-PI of the National Quality Improvement Center for Adoption and Guardianship Support and Preservation (QIC-AG). A 5 year multi-site 23.4 million dollar grant in collaboration with Spaulding for Children in Michigan, the University of Texas at Austin, the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill,  the QIC-AG grant was funded through the Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Children's Bureau, Grant #90CO1122. Dr. Fong received her doctorate at Harvard University and has authored over 100 publications, including 11 books.