The Impact of Eviction Moratoria during COVID-19 Pandemic on Foster Care Entries and Discharges

Background and Purpose: Existing research has established the associations between housing insecurity, eviction, and increased foster care involvement. Housing instability not only reflects a parent's struggle to provide a safe and secure living environment and maintain daily routines, but also undermines their ability to meet basic needs. Furthermore, such instability often escalates into homelessness, exacerbating health and mental well-being and further compromising parental capacity for caregiving. The COVID-19 pandemic and related employment disruption intensified economic strife for families, elevating the risk of foster care involvement, particularly for those in low-income households. In response, eviction moratoria (EM) and renter-supportive measures were enacted at the national level. Building upon pioneering research that indicates eviction moratoria's effectiveness in reducing child abuse and neglect reports, this study examines the effects of such moratoria on foster care entries and discharges, employing variation in state-level eviction moratoria as a natural experiment.

Methods: We constructed state-level bi-weekly foster care entry data from 01/01/2019 through 12/31/2021 using the Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System from the National Data Archive on Child Abuse and Neglect. Removals for reasons included physical and sexual abuse, neglect, alcohol and drug abuse among parents and children, child disability and behavior problems, parent death and incarceration, caretaker inability to cope, abandonment, relinquishment, and inadequate housing. Furthermore, we tracked discharges to reunification with parents, placements with other relatives, adoption, and other arrangements including long term foster care, emancipation, guardianship, and cases where a permanency goal had not yet been established. The presence of EM during each bi-weekly period by state was retrieved from the COVID-19 Eviction Moratoria and Housing Policy Database. To isolate the impact of EM on foster care dynamics from the influence of child abuse and neglect reports, we controlled for state-level reports of such incidents. We also included state-specific COVID-19 case and death rates from the Johns Hopkins database to adjust for pandemic-related state differences. A difference-in-difference approach was used to assess EM’s effects on foster care entries and discharges.

Results: Eviction moratoria significantly reduced foster care entry rates related to caretaker challenges, parental death, and parental incarceration, with the effect on incarceration being marginally significant. The moratoria also decreased the number of entries related to relinquishment. Furthermore, EM was associated with an increase in both the number and rate of discharges, predominantly driven by reunifications with parents, placements with other relatives, and adoptions.

Conclusion and Implications: The findings suggest that comprehensive housing support measures, such as eviction moratoria, can potentially reduce children's placement in foster care and enhance positive discharge outcomes by improving parental caregiving abilities. Such improvements could potentially be driven by increased housing stability and associated improvements in parental physical and emotional well-being, warranting further exploration in future research. This study underscores the critical role of stable housing in child welfare and the potential of policy interventions to positively impact foster care dynamics.