Displaying 1 - 10 of 12
Abstract
The IV-E Waivers and Family First Prevention Services Act prioritize prevention services, including services that reduce out-of-home placements. Placement in out-of-home care is associated with a variety of adverse outcomes as well as high costs to society. Studies that focus on utilization of health services suggest that these costs are not evenly distributed among recipients, and that high utilizers make up a small percentage of individuals who utilize a disproportionate share of resources. The purpose of the paper is to examine child characteristics and child welfare services…
Summary
This report turns the lens on young people who age out of foster care and explores four areas — education, early parenthood, homelessness and incarceration — where they fare worse than their general population peers. Readers will learn the economic cost of this shortfall and see how targeted interventions can help these youth while also erasing billions of dollars in unnecessary costs.
In This Report, You’ll Learn
- What challenges youth in foster care face compared to their general population peers.
- The economic benefit of doing more to help young people…
In State Fiscal Year (SFY) 2014, child welfare agencies in the United States spent $12.8 billion in federal funds to protect and promote the well-being of children who are at risk of, or have been victims of, maltreatment. Federal spending accounted for slightly less than half of the $29.1 billion in total child welfare agency spending in SFY 2014.
Because child welfare services are administered locally, either through state or county-administered systems, there is variation in how child welfare agencies use federal funds. This brief highlights variation among states in child welfare…
Abstract
This study from the Special Issue on Kinship Care of the Child Welfare Journal examined the impact of a kinship supports intervention implemented in 16 children services agencies. Children placed with kin experienced greater stability, reached permanency more quickly, and were less likely to experience subsequent maltreatment or re-enter care than children placed in non-relative foster care. Furthermore, children receiving intervention services experienced shorter, more stable placements than children placed with kin…
Abstract
Modern-day conceptions of American childhood and family situate children, and the labor required to rear them, outside of the wage labor market. This ethnographic study of a foster care adoption program shows how board payments elicit commodification anxiety at this local site, and in American culture more broadly. In using board payments as a litmus test to weed out parents with profiteering motives, workers inadvertently play into a model that devalues care work—which is disproportionately done by women and minorities. This study places everyday casework into the context of…
Abstract
Although foster care homes play a crucial role in providing stable placements to children who enter the child welfare system due to maltreatment, there is currently no federal minimum rate nor standard methodology to establish adequate rates to support foster parents to meet these children's needs. Therefore, it is important to establish a model to estimate the real costs associated with caring for children to serve as a foundation for states to set adequate reimbursement rates. The objectives of this study are to: use the methodology of a 2007 study to…
Abstract
Although foster care homes play a crucial role in providing stable placements to children who enter the child welfare system due to maltreatment, there is currently no federal minimum rate nor standard methodology to establish adequate rates to support foster parents to meet these children's needs. Therefore, it is important to establish a model to estimate the real costs associated with caring for children to serve as a foundation for states to set adequate reimbursement rates. The objectives of this study are to: use the methodology of a 2007 study to establish foster care…
This document sheds some light on where funding discussions currently stand with regard to U.S. government programs for global children and youth issues. The information is presented according to relevant funding accounts within various appropriations bills. Some issues, such as trafficking, are addressed in multiple funding accounts through various U.S. government departments, agencies, and offices. Other issues, such as early childhood development and protection from violence are referenced under certain accounts without specific appropriations. U.S. government assistance for vulnerable…
This paper from the U.S. National Academy of Medicine argues the importance of investment in early childhood development and serves as a call to action “to close the gap between what is known and what is done to support the development of children globally and, in turn, sustainable progress for communities and nations.” The paper offers an analysis of the cost of inaction on investing in children’s development and the return on investment if resources are put into supporting early childhood development. The paper focuses on U.S. domestic policy and investment as well as U.S. foreign aid and…
This paper presents new estimates of the average lifetime cost per child maltreatment (CM) victim in the United States and aggregate lifetime costs for all new cases of CM incurred in 2008 using an incidence-based approach. This study extends previous research in this area by correcting methodological flaws of previous studies; incorporating more recent and comprehensive studies of the epidemiology, consequences, and costs of CM; and providing a framework for using the findings in the literature to estimate the incidence-based economic burden of CM.…