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Many foster youth do not exit care for a permanency option and remain in foster care until they age outor are emancipated. Research findings have described the alarming circumstances of these former foster children’s adaptation to emerging adulthood. Public policy over the past three decades has sought various means of improving outcomes for these former foster youth. This review examines the legislative history leading up to extended care, the research on youth leaving foster care, youth preferences for extended care, the competition of extended care with permanency options, and the effects of extended foster care on transition-age youth. The benefits that can be had from such an extension are outlined.

The public views on child protection are often negative and assume that children in care are uniformly unhappy and would rather be at home than in care. This qualitative research sought to give voice to youth on their foster care experience. Former foster youth were asked to recall being removed from their home and reflect on whether they thought removal was necessary. More than three quarters thought removal was necessary and beneficial; 16% disagreed with the removal decision. The reasons given by both sets of youth are discussed. These results support other research findings that suggest foster youth are more satisfied than dissatisfied with care. The implications of these findings for policy are discussed.

Former residents (N= = 76) of a residential facility were interviewed 1 year after discharge to solicit their perceptions and degree of satisfaction with houseparentand child care workermodels of caregiving. Youth expressed higher satisfaction with houseparents than child care workers. Houseparents were preferred because they provided consistency and a family atmosphere, and they were less likely to leave employment. However, some youth expressed dissatisfaction with house-parents because of greater demands for intimacy from them, and their resentment over someone trying to assume their biological parents role. Findings suggest that residential centers should consider using houseparents or redesign child care worker jobs so they contain some of the advantages that youth identified with houseparents.

The objective of this research was to identify case characteristics of domestic violence cases in a child protective services (CPS) caseload. The sample was drawn from a large California county, and consisted of 442 children chosen at random from among all children who had a newly substantiated abuse case over a 6-month period. Files of sample children were reviewed to derive study data. There were 187 children (42.3%) from families with at least one domestic violence incident. Parents with a domestic violence incident were significantly more likely to have problem characteristics such as substance abuse, and to have more previous CPS referrals than nondomestic violence families. Domestic violence victims were more likely to rely on public assistance, and were less likely to have an employed parent than nonvictims. Domestic violence cases were more likely than nondomestic violence cases to contain a charge of physical abuse, emotional abuse, or failure to protect, and were more likely to have been reported to CPS by the police. Domestic violence victims received more services, conditions in the service plan, and contact from their social workers than nonvictims. Variables that predicted new referrals during a 6-month follow-up period were examined in logistic regression. Domestic violence, previous referrals to CPS, the number of social work contacts, and having an unemployed father were variables that predicted a new referral. More contact with social workers predicted new referrals. These findings suggest that either interventions with domestic violence cases are ineffective or the chronic nature of domestic violence makes new referrals for child maltreatment more likely because mandated reporters such as police intervene with domestic violence.

The author reviews the evidence linking unemployment with increasing rates of child abuse. Professionals who work with children and families need to become aware of the relationship between psychosocial and economic functioning. The mechanisms accounting for the observed relationship between abuse and joblessness are discussed, and implications for practice with families are identified.