Link

Above is the link to my source. The text of the "abstract" can be found at the end of this article. A recent Cambridge study has found that out of home foster care with strangers has a negative effect on childhood development, and that behavioral problems may result.

While this certainly would not be reason to justify leaving a child in a home where provable, criminal abuse and neglect are part of the daily living experience, it certainly would be and should be a call to exercise a great deal of caution in child removals and placements, and to try to keep the child with individuals familiar to the child when it is possible and would not put the child in a risky situation. Because foster care is a traumatic experience (something I could have told you 25 years ago without a Cambridge study), it should only be used as a last resort, when there is GOOD reason to believe that leaving the child in the home would severely jeopardize the child's health or safety.

The impact of foster care on development.

Lawrence CR, Carlson EA, Egeland B.

University of Minnesota.

Foster care is a protective intervention designed to provide out of home placement to children living in at-risk home environments. This study employs prospective longitudinal data (N = 189) to investigate the effects of foster care on the development of child behavior and psychological functioning taking into account baseline adaptation prior to placement and socioeconomic status at the time of placement. Comparisons were made among three groups: children who experienced foster care, those who were maltreated but remained in the home, and children who had not experienced foster care or maltreatment despite their similarly at-risk demographic characteristics. In the current sample, children placed in out of home care exhibited significant behavior problems in comparison to children who received adequate care, and using the same pre- and postplacement measure of adaptation, foster care children showed elevated levels of behavior problems following release from care. Similarly, children placed into unfamiliar foster care showed higher levels of internalizing problems compared with children reared by maltreating caregivers, children in familiar care, and children who received adequate caregiving. Findings suggest that outcomes related to foster care may vary with type of care and beyond the effects associated with maltreatment history, baseline adaptation, and socioeconomic status.Preparation of the work and the research described herein were supported by a National Institute of Mental Health grant (MN 40864) to Byron Egeland.