The purpose of this study is to examine how common teenage pregnancy is among young women in and aging out of foster care and to determine whether the risk of becoming pregnant can be reduced by extending foster care beyond age 18. The study used data from the first two waves of the Midwest...

In spite of a prevailing policy focus, little is known about the employment outcomes of former foster youth during early adulthood and the factors associated with those outcomes. We explore how former foster youth who aged out of care in Illinois, Wisconsin, and Iowa are faring in the labor...

A large body of work has documented significant educational delays and other challenges among children in foster care. In response, child welfare agencies have developed different policies and practices to help monitor, support, and advocate for foster children's educational needs. An important...

Achieving legal permanency (i.e., family reunification, adoption, or legal guardianship) for children placed in out-of-home care due to abuse, neglect, or dependency is one of the primary goals of the public child welfare system. Following through the end of 2008 children who first entered...

While the U.S. Supreme Court has expressed the opinion that providing parental counsel to indigent parents is generally a sound practice, it has ruled that parents do not have an absolute constitutional right to counsel in termination of parental rights proceedings, and not all states provide a...

Youth aging out of the foster care system are at high risk for adult arrests, but providing extended foster care support during the early years of their transition from adolescence to independent adulthood may reduce this risk. This study used survey data from the Midwest Evaluation of the Adult...

The antecedents and consequences of workgroup psychological safety were examined in a statewide study of 1040 public child welfare workers nested within 239 supervisory work units. Work group psychological safety mediated the effects of individual-level antecedents on turnover intention....

This study examines the frequency and predictors of youth running away from foster care in Illinois. Using data from the state's child welfare management information system and Medicaid paid claims data, study analyses focus on 14,282 children and youth who ran away from care at least once...

Youth emancipated from the foster care system face challenges in securing steady employment and earning a living wage. Using data from the Midwest Evaluation of the Adult Functioning of Former Foster Youth, this article uses Tobit analyses to test the statistical relationship between multiple...

This study reports the prevalence of PTSD, major depression, alcohol abuse/dependence and substance abuse/dependence diagnoses assessed with a structured clinical interview protocol in a population-based, multi-state, age cohort of older adolescents about to exit child welfare systems. PTSD was...