What Predicts Informal Discontinuity for Adoptive and Guardianship Families?

Background and Purpose: Previous studies have used administrative records to capture foster care re-entry as an indicator of formal post-permanency discontinuity (PPD). These studies suggest that approximately 15% of youth who exited foster care to adoption or guardianship later experience formal post-permanency instability, or discontinuity. However, PPD is a broad concept that encompasses various types of discontinuity, and few studies have examined informal types of discontinuity that are not captured by administrative records. This study aims to explore: 1) the prevalence of informal post-permanency discontinuity and 2) risk and protective factors at child and family levels that predict informal discontinuity.

Methods: Using data from surveys conducted with adoptive parents and guardians in four states (n=2750), informal PPD was defined as a child or youth spending two weeks or longer in one of the following settings after exiting foster care to adoption or guardianship: residential or hospital setting, juvenile justice setting, homeless or having run away from home. First, descriptive and bivariate analyses were conducted. Next, logistic regression was used to predict the relationship between child-and family-level characteristics and informal PPD.

Results: Descriptive analyses showed that 8% of respondents reported experiencing informal PPD. Binary logistic regression indicated that, controlling for other characteristics, children or youth living with kin (OR = 0.57, CI: 0.39 – 0.84) and those involved with extracurricular activities (OR=0.36, CI: 0.24 – 0.53) were less likely to report informal PPD, and that as family income increased, the risk of informal PPD decreased (OR=0.90, CI: 0.82, 0.98). Separate models were run for children of color (COC) and non-COC which revealed different outcomes: For COC, the OR for all three statistically significant variables remained significant, with similar OR. For non-COC, the only predictor that remained significant was extracurricular activities (OR=0.32, CI: 0.19-0.53).

Conclusions: This study expands our understanding of some difficulties children and families face after adoption or guardianship that may not result in a return to foster care but may result in placement instability not captured by child welfare administrative data. The finding that kinship care for COC was a protective factor is an important finding and provides additional support for policies and practices designed to keep families together. In addition, the finding that family income was a significant association for COC, but not for non-COC provides further evidence of the need to address poverty, particularly for families of color. While it was unsurprising that extracurricular activities were negatively associated with informal PPD, it is an important finding when considering services and supports for families formed through adoption or guardianship. Post-permanency services should be targeted at those children and families who are most at-risk for PPD to prevent foster care reentry, as well as informal PPD that may not come to the attention of the child welfare system.