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Resources
- Achieving Stability in Placement
This section of the Evidence-Based Practice Tool from Results Oriented Management in Child Welfare at the University of Kansas School of Social Welfare discusses client, organization, and service factors associated with placement stability and supported by research evidence.
- Placement Stability and Mental Health Costs for Children in Foster Care
This report from the journal Pediatrics found that foster care placement instability was associated with increased mental health costs during the first year in foster care, particularly among children with increasing general health care costs. These findings highlight the importance of interventions that address the global health of children in foster care and may permit better targeting of health care resources to subgroups of children most likely to use services.
- Why Should the Child Welfare Field Focus on Minimizing Placement Change as Part of Permanency Planning for Children?
This handout from Casey Family Programs reviews current studies to summarize why it is so important that children placed in foster care experience as few moves as possible. It demonstrates that minimizing placement change will: minimize child pain and trauma; lessen child attachment, behavior and mental health disorders; decrease school changes and increase academic achievement; maximize continuity in services, decrease foster parent stress, and lower program costs; and increase the likelihood that a child will establish an enduring positive relationship with a caring adult.
- Preventing Placement Disruptions in Foster Care
The PATH Bremer Project consists of a comprehensive review of the literature on
preventing placement disruptions in foster care conducted between August 27, 2007 and January
10, 2008. The literature review is organized into two broad topic areas: 1) risk and protective
factors for placement stability and 2) preventing disruptions in foster care.
State Reports and Resources
The Center for Social Services Research, University of California at Berkeley, receives quarterly extracts from the California Child Welfare Services Case Management System. Placement stability is one of the factors tracked by entry cohorts. Reports are available at this site.
District of Columbia
- An Assessment of Multiple Placements for Children in Foster Care in the District of Columbia
To increase placement stability for District children in foster care, this report from the District's Child and Family Services Agency Office of Organizational Development and Practice Improvement and the Center for the Study of Social Policy discusses four primary strategies: foster parent recruitment and skill development, a comprehensive kinship strategy, a first placement-best placement strategy, and a teen placement strategy.
Illinois
- Placement Stability Study
This 1999 study from the Children and Family Research Center (CFRC), School of Social Work, University of
Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, tracked children with three or more moves within a six-month period and found that service needs of children with behavioral challenges were not being met, resulting in frequent moves. It recommends the creation of a structured system of individualized needs -assessment, service planning, and routine evaluation for all children with behavioral needs, regardless of placement type.
- Instability in Foster Care
In this 2003 brief, CFRC summarizes its research and work with the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services in the area of placement stability.
- Placement Stability and Number of Children in Home
This report updates a 2004 analysis of the relationship between placement stability and the number of foster children in the home. The re-analysis extends the observation period an additional three years: FY2004-2006.
New York: Rensselaer County Foster Care Enrichment Team Report
This report describes a multi-system collaboration that achieved remarkable improvement in placement stability in a New York county. The project team, including the local public child welfare, mental health and health agencies, and private child placing agencies met regularly to address the needs of specific children as well as system-level issues.
During the four-year period (1999-2002) covered by the report, the rate of unplanned placement changes in the county fell from 22.6% to 2.7%. The report provides extensive information regarding the background and operation of the program and detailed recommendations for replication.
North Carolina - Foster Care Placement Disruption in North Carolina
This article in Fostering Perspectives discusses the causes of placement disruption and gives foster parents tips on how they can help promote placement stability.
Ohio - Placement Stability of Public Children Services Agencies
This report from the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, Office for Children and Families explored the characteristics of children who had multiple placements and agency practices and activities that impacted placement stability.
Webcasts and Teleconferences
- Achieving Permanence for Children: Pioneering Possibilities for Placement Stability - November 17, 2005
Lorrie L. Lutz, a consultant with NRCFCPPP, discussed CFSR results and findings from a survey of the states designed to learn about barriers to placement stability and promising practices to promote permanency. Shaun Donahue, Director of Field Services in Vermont, described step-by-step how this state achieved significant improvement in foster care placement stability through careful analysis, connecting staff to problem-solving activities and system change.
- Promoting Stability in Foster Care: Why Children Move and How to Minimize Disruptions
This web seminar, jointly sponsored by Chapin Hall Center for Children and the National Conference of State Legislatures, reportz on a study that found that the challenges foster parents face in meeting the needs of foster children, often without adequate resources, help drive frequent moves. Originally aired June 7, 2006.
- Using Coordinated Technical Assistance to Improve Placement Stability
Coordinated technical assistance from the Children's Bureau's Training and Technical Assistance Network can help agencies develop comprehensive, effective action plans to make program improvements. This teleconference from the National Resource Center for Organizational Improvement highlights an example of this coordinated technical assistance focused on improving placement stability, and recruitment and retention of foster families in one district in Florida. It features the collaboration among several national resource centers, AdoptUsKids, the State of Florida Department of Children and Families, district staff and community-based care providers. It discusses the partnership, the roles and responsibilities of all the parties, the model developed and the successful results of the collaboration.
Curricula
- Promoting Placement Stability and Permanency through Caseworker/Child Visits
Through the Child and Family Service Review process, it was found that there is a significant positive relationship between caseworker visits with children and a number of other indicators for safety, permanency and well-being. This curriculum was developed by the National Resource Center for Family-Centered Practice and Permanency Planning in response to that clear indication that the importance of caseworker visits to children in foster care is positively correlated to outcomes for children and families. This one day curriculum is intended to be part of either pre-service or ongoing training within a child welfare organization. It builds on the concepts of attachment, strengths-based assessment and planning, child and youth development, effective interviewing and organizing contacts. It allows caseworkers to practice some of the skills through role plays and preparatory activities. The seven developmental checklists are tools for caseworker's to use as they begin to more intentionally structure their visits to focus on safety, permanence, and well being.
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Promoting Permanency Through Worker/Parent Visits
This one day competency-based curriculum helps workers structure their visits with family to promote safety, well being and permanency. It provides a review of what has been learned from the CFSR about the relationship between worker/parent visits and placement stability and permanency and gives workers seven developmental checklists and questions to assess safety and well being. Workers learn how to use a four step process to organize their visitation with family.
- Promoting the Well Being of Children in Substitute Care
This training module is designed to be a six hour training that focuses on achieving placement stability for children in care. The module provides information on how this outcome can be integrated into daily casework and performance tools that help casework professionals better manage toward this outcome. This module was developed specifically for the Illinois child welfare system; however, the material can be adapted and used for child welfare systems outside of Illinois. It is designed for staff at the field level.
NRCFCPPP Information Packet
Websites
- National Data Analysis System - National Working Group
The National Working Group to Improve Child Welfare Data (NWG) is a state-driven effort to identify common definitions, patterns and differences in state child welfare data, better understand the data and how it reflects practice, and ultimately achieve standardization in selected areas. NWG is facilitated by the Child Welfare League of America at the request of NDAS sponsor states. To date the NWG has focused on the federal outcome measures and standards used as part of the Child and Family Services Reviews. The site includes several items related to placement stability, including results of a survey to clarify differences among states, developed common definitions, and created a Placement Change Definition Implementation Guide.
- Northwest Institute for Children and Families
The Director's Corner of this website contains research summaries and articles from Executive Director Dee Wilson.
Last updated 06/12/09
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