A Study on Depression of Foster Children after Exiting the Care

1. Background and Purpose

Approximately 2000 young foster children over 18-year-old leave the care each year to commence independent living (Minister of Health and Welfare, 2007). Young people leaving out of foster care are arguably one of the most vulnerable and disadvantaged group in society. In Korea, not like America, nearly 80% of foster children still stay at residential facilities(Minister of Health and Welfare, 2007), and it has been recognized to be one of the immediate causes of maladjustment. Compared to other young people who live with their family, foster children face particular difficulties in accessing educational, employment, housing and other developmental and transitional opportunities. They also have been found to experience significant health and social deficits including homelessness, involvement in delinquency, mental and physical health problems, inadequate social support system, etc(Courtney & Dworsky, 2006). These poor outcomes, then, reflect a number of negative factors including ongoing emotional trauma (Wade & Dixon, 2006). Thus, these young people need to receive support from both formal and informal sources, but they are on the blind spot of Child Welfare System after exiting the care. In Korea, only a few studies have attempted to address this issue, and because sampling tracing is very difficult, this area has been understudied. Therefore, this study focused on the psychological adjustment of foster children after exiting the foster care.

2. Methods

The study examined both environmental and personal factors relating to foster children's adjustment. Foster children aged 18 to 25 were the target of the study and 280 children's data used for analysis. Independent variables were ‘formal social services' and ‘informal social support', and mediating variables were 'Independent living skills' and ‘self-efficacy'. Dependent variable is depression. The statistical package SPSS 15.0 was used for descriptive statistics, correlation among variables, and t-test. AMOS 7.0 was used for confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling. Gender differences were also explored using multi-group analysis in structural equation modeling.

3. Results

Major findings of the study were as follows.

Children who received more 'formal social service' and 'informal support' performed better on their adjustment after exiting the care. When children got more 'formal social services', their 'independent living skills' increased and it helped for children to adjust better. If children got more 'informal support', their 'self-efficacy' raised and it affected their adjustment.

4. Implication and conclusion

These results verified that both environmental and personal factors should be reflected together for policy making as well as practice for foster children exiting the care. Moreover, it also reconfirmed the necessity of formal service for vulnerable children whose informal support had a limit. And by examining the effect of independent living skills and self-efficacy, the study suggested the importance of personal-psychological factors for successful adjustment. Namely, the study could be applied for policy implication and pertinent program development as a foundation work.