Foster Care Reentry Study

1
Foster Care Re-entry Study

• A Hennepin County Project conducted in
  collaboration with
• the Minnesota Department of Human Services and
• the University of Minnesota School of Social Work

Susan J. Wells, Ph.D. Project Consultant Andrea
Nesmith, Ph.D. Research Associate Cheryl Cowan,
M.S.W. Research Assistant
Project Completed October 2003
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Federal Outcomes in Child Welfare Services

• Re-entry into foster care
• Re-abuse or neglect
• A safe stable home
• Length of time to achieve a safe stable home

3
Federal Oversight

• Linked to receipt of Title IV-E funding of the
  Social Security Act
• States must achieve specified levels of
  performance or have approved Program Improvement
  Plans
• Outcomes are based on overall performance of the
  states (75th percentile)

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How Does Minnesota Stack Up?

• In the 2001 Federal Review, some areas for
  improvement in MN were
• Timeliness of initiating investigations
• (case review)
• In-home protective services (case review)
• Re-entry into foster care
• Stability of foster care
• Length of time to adoption

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How Does Minnesota Stack Up?
Re-entry Outcomes

• Federal Standard 8.6 of one years placements
  are re-entries in 12 mos.
• Minnesota 22.6 (2001 review)

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Re-entry Study Findings

• Some factors leading to re-entry
• Placement for neglect ? less likely
• Parents incarcerated ? less likely
• Childs placement is Title IV-E reimbursable
  (child is from extremely poor family would have
  been eligible for AFDC by 1996 stds.) ? more
  likely

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Odds of Re-entry

1 The IV-E eligibility was recorded in SSIS by
the end of Placement 1 or sometime thereafter.
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Factors Associated with Re-entry
Continued on next slide
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Factors Assoc. with Re-entry (cont.)
n.s. Tested, but not significant in case
record reading study Statistically significant
in final regression analysis
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What Do the Findings Mean?

• Case more likely to involve
• physical or sexual abuse, parental drug problem,
  or abandonment
• Childs initial placement did not involve
  incarceration of parent
• Child living in extreme poverty

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Implications of Re-entry Study for Policy
Practice

• Need programs for emergency alternatives to
  placement, particularly in case of parental
  incarceration
• Will save money in the long run by avoiding
  placement and starting the cycle of institutional
  involvement
• Programs that aid families in financial need are
  important to avoiding placement
• Juxtaposition of drug problems, drug treatment
  and child welfare time frames needs to be
  addressed