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. 2017 Aug;22(3):205-214.
doi: 10.1177/1077559517701855. Epub 2017 Apr 5.

Children Placed In Out-of-Home Care as Midlife Adults: Are They Still Disadvantaged or Have They Caught Up With Their Peers?

Lars Brännström  1 , Bo Vinnerljung  1 , Hilma Forsman  1 , Ylva B Almquist  2
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Children Placed In Out-of-Home Care as Midlife Adults: Are They Still Disadvantaged or Have They Caught Up With Their Peers?

Lars Brännström et al. Child Maltreat. 2017 Aug.

Abstract

International research has consistently reported that children placed in out-of-home care (OHC) have poor outcomes in young adulthood. Yet, little is known about their outcomes in midlife. Using prospective data from a cohort of more than 14,000 Swedes born in 1953, of which nearly 9% have been placed in OHC, this study examines whether there is developmental continuity or discontinuity of disadvantage reaching into middle age in OHC children, compared to same-aged peers. Outcome profiles, here conceptualized as combinations of adverse outcomes related to education, economic hardship, unemployment, and mental health problems, were assessed in 1992-2008 (ages 39-55). Results indicate that having had experience of OHC was associated with 2-fold elevated odds of ending up in the most disadvantaged outcome profile, controlling for observed confounding factors. These findings suggest that experience of OHC is a strong marker for disadvantaged outcomes also in midlife.

Keywords: child welfare; cohort study; foster care; longitudinal research.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Conflicting Interests: The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Outcome profiles in midlife (percentage and frequencies in parentheses).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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