Exploring Associations between Housing Instability and Child Welfare Outcomes: An Analysis of State-Level Factors

Background/Purpose: On a single night in January 2023, over 186,084 families were identified as homeless in the U.S. This striking number represents just the tip of the iceberg of housing instability, which includes frequent moves, evictions, and rent burden, all of which have deleterious, long-lasting impacts on family well-being. For instance, it is well-documented that families experiencing housing instability are more likely to have their children placed in foster care and are less likely to achieve reunification with their children after foster care. Yet, most studies have focused on assessing the impacts of instability at an individual level, overlooking how state housing policies may ultimately contribute to families’ experiences with housing instability and child welfare outcomes. Thus, this study aims to examine the association between state-level housing factors and family child welfare outcomes.

Method: This study, utilizing data from the Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS) in 2021, along with available public data on state-level housing variables such as eviction filing rates, rent burden, homelessness, and funding that promotes child welfare and housing authority collaboration (e.g., Family Unification Program), examined the association between state-level housing factors and child welfare outcomes. We used multilevel binary logistic regression to analyze the association of individual-level and state-level factors with the odds of family reunification among youth in foster care in 2021 (N = 606187), while accounting for clustering by state.

Results: The unconditional model revealed a small yet significant variation in odds of reunification across states. Approximately 2.3% of the variation in family reunification for foster youth could be attributed to state-level effects. Controlling for all the explanatory variables and the random effect, states with higher eviction filing rates (OR = .992, p< .05) and higher rent burdens (OR = .963, p < .05) have significantly lower likelihoods of achieving reunification. Individual-level factors associated with the odds of reunification included age, race, ethnicity, documentation of substance abuse or neglect as reasons for removal, and living in urban area were significant.

Conclusions and Implications: This study, utilizing data from AFCARS and data on various state-level housing factors, begins to illuminate the differences in how states invest in addressing housing instability and the ultimate impact of state-level housing factors on child welfare outcomes. States with lower eviction filing rates and lower rent burdens have significantly higher odds of reunification among children in foster care. Further research is necessary to determine whether these associations are mediated by increased housing security among individual families involved in the child welfare system, or whether states with more favorable housing policies exhibit higher reunification rates due to concurrent investments in robust child welfare and related services. The passage of the 2018 Family First Prevention Services Act (FFPSA) emphasized the prevention of child maltreatment and the promotion of family stability. Our study aligns with the objectives of the FFPSA by providing crucial insights into how states can invest in and promote collaborations between housing initiatives and child welfare agencies to enhance the well-being of families.