Time well spent: The duration of foster care and early adult labor market, educational, and health outcomes

• Published in: Journal of adolescence (London, England.) Vol. 36; no. 6; pp. 1003 - 1011
• Main Author: Fallesen, Peter
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Kidlington Elsevier Ltd 01.12.2013; Elsevier; John Wiley & Sons, Inc
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adults; Biological and medical sciences; Child; Child, Preschool; Databases, Factual; Denmark; Developmental psychology; Duration; Education; Educational Measurement; Employment; Female; Foster Care; Foster Children; Foster Home Care - psychology; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Health; Health Problems; Health Status; Humans; Income; Labor market; Male; Miscellaneous; Models, Statistical; Outcomes; Participation; Pediatrics; Peers; Placement; Policy; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Reform; Time Factors; Young Adult; Denmark; Policy; Duration; Foster care; Outcomes; Human; Socioeconomic status; Stigma; Foster care placement; Infantile experience; Professional status; Unemployment; Sociodemographic factor; Young adult
• ISSN: 0140-1971; 1095-9254
• DOI: 10.1016/j.adolescence.2013.08.010

Abstract Individuals who spent time in foster care as children fare on average worse than non-placed peers in early adult life. Recent research on the effect of foster care placement on early adult life outcomes provides mixed evidence. Some studies suggest negative effects of foster care placement on early adult outcomes, others find null effects. This study shows that differences in the average duration of foster care stays explain parts of these discordant findings and then test how foster care duration shapes later life outcomes using administrative data on 7220 children. The children experienced different average durations of foster care because of differences in exposure to a reform. Later born cohorts spent on average 3 months longer in foster care than earlier born cohorts. Isolating exogenous variation in duration of foster care, the study finds positive effects of increased duration of foster care on income and labor market participation.