The Next Generation: The Relationship Between Child Welfare and Parenting for Adolescents Exiting Foster Care
Increasing attention is being placed on the period of accelerated development that occurs in later adolescence, during which executive function skills and other core capacities can be built. This is particularly critical for young parents with a history of maltreatment, whose adverse childhood experiences may have predisposed them to young parenthood and/or undermined the development of parenting competencies.
This study explores the incidence of young parenthood for girls placed into out-of-home care during adolescence (“adolescent exiters”, or AE), a particularly vulnerable group. Further, the study examines the extent to which children born to AE have early maltreatment experiences, defined as having been the subject of a maltreatment report within one year of birth. We hypothesized that certain maltreatment and foster care-related experiences increase the likelihood of AEs becoming young parents, such as a history of sexual abuse; multiple placement moves; multiple foster care episodes; and a final, non-permanent exit from care (aging out). We further hypothesized that babies of young mothers will be more likely to be reported for maltreatment within one year of birth.
Methods
Data and sample: This secondary data analysis used linked foster care, maltreatment, and birth data from one large, Southern state. Children born between 1987-1991 placed in foster care during adolescence were selected (n=8,509). Babies born to AE (n=2,559) were identified using birth data from the state’s Department of Public Health. Maltreatment data was used for two main purposes: (1) to determine the extent to which babies born to AE were identified as subjects in maltreatment reports and (2) to describe the maltreatment experiences of the AE themselves.
Statistical approach: Logistic regression was used to determine the likelihood of AEs having either of two outcomes: becoming a young parent and having a baby who is the subject of an early maltreatment report.
Results
A history of sexual abuse (OR=2.678, p<.0001), multiple placement moves ( OR=1.215, p=.0014), and multiple foster care episodes (OR=1.23, p=.0004) increases the odds of an AE becoming a parent by age 21. Although directionally consistent with the hypothesis, AEs who had non-permanent exits from foster care were not significantly more likely to become young parents. However, AEs discharged to their parents with court-ordered supervision were more likely to become young parents than AEs who returned home without such oversight (OR=1.206, p=.0023).
The babies of young AE parents were more likely to come up as subjects in early maltreatment reports (OR=1.891, p<.0001). Further, babies of AE parents with a history of sexual abuse were more likely to come up as the subject of an early maltreatment report (OR=1.304, p=.0012).
Conclusions and Implications
Integrating administrative data sources is an important methodological approach that permits the use of a wide lens for researchers seeking to understand the range of developmental factors that can affect child and young adult well-being. It makes it possible to tease out some of the more complex intergenerational dynamics that may reveal new opportunities for intervention development.