Family Structure and Foster Care Outcomes: Analyzing the Impact of Single-Parent Households

Background and Purpose: More than one in four U.S. children are raised by a single parent with nearly 80% of these households led by women. Single-parent households are disproportionately involved in the child welfare system. Prior research suggests that structural disadvantages, such as economic instability and limited social and formal supports, co-contribute to disparities in both child removal and reunification outcomes. Using Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory as a guiding framework, this study investigates whether caretaker family structure at the time of removal influences the length of stay in foster care and the likelihood of reunification, the preferred permanency outcome for children in foster care.

Methods: Using the 2021 Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS) child file dataset the analytic sample included 215,991 children discharged from foster care in 2021. One-way ANOVA was used to identify group differences in time to discharge by family structure. Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression was used to assess the relationship between family structure and length of stay. Multinomial and binary logistic regressions were used to examine discharge outcomes and odds of reunification, controlling for removal reasons including neglect, parental drug or alcohol abuse through interaction terms.

Results: Analyses revealed differences in discharge outcomes by family structure. Children from single female-headed households, who made up nearly 45% of the sample, had significantly longer lengths of stay than children from married couple households, averaging 27 additional days in care (β = 27.02, p < .001). Multinomial logistic regression showed children from single female-headed households were also significantly more likely to exit to adoption rather than reunification (β = 0.30, p < .001). Binary logistic regression indicated that children from single female (OR = 0.83, p < .001) and single male (OR = 0.79, p < .001) households had lower odds of reunification compared to those from married couples. Interaction effects demonstrated that while children removed for reasons of neglect were likely to reunify overall, this effect was weakest for single female-headed households (β = 0.08, p < .001).

Conclusions and Implications: This study emphasizes the need for child welfare system reform to improve engagement practices with single-parent families, provide tailored services to single-parents, and increase flexible access to reunification services. Further research could include family composition studies, service utilization across families, court-level decision making, and exploring region-specific trends in reunification timelines.