Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2025 Jul;31(3):401-422.
doi: 10.1080/13575279.2025.2468238. Epub 2025 Apr 14.

Foster Youth's Resilience and Wellbeing During Placement Changes

Miguel Nuñez  1   2 , Elizabeth Hamik  3 , Katie Nause  3 , Mary V Greiner  4   5 , Julie Bemerer  3 , Sarah J Beal  3   4   5
Affiliations

Foster Youth's Resilience and Wellbeing During Placement Changes

Miguel Nuñez et al. Child Care Pract. 2025 Jul.

Abstract

Youth in out-of-home care are at high risk of experiencing poor health and wellbeing, due to a combination of experiences before and during out-of-home care. Notwithstanding, numerous youth in out-of-home care utilize their personal abilities and characteristics of the environment to achieve positive outcomes. Despite the importance of resilience, there is limited understanding of how it is affected by child welfare characteristics, as well as the role it plays in shaping youth's perceived health and wellbeing. The purpose of this study was to analyze the relations among resilience, child welfare characteristics (i.e., amount of time in care, placement type, number of previous placement changes, and reason for home removal) and wellbeing (e.g., global health, quality of life, general mental health) for youth in out-of-home care. Youth were recruited from a foster care clinic at a large pediatric academic medical center, were in out-of-home care at the time they completed study activities, and were between 8 and 21 years of age. Resilience was measured in two domains: personal (adaptive intrapersonal/interpersonal characteristics) and caregiver (adaptive relationship characteristics between youth and primary caretaker). Results indicate that placement in family-based settings, youth reports of sadness, and other health and wellbeing indicators were associated with higher resilience in some domains, but no one domain was universally associated with all child welfare or wellbeing indicators. The results suggest that the relations between resilience and wellbeing are complex and may be multidimensional in the context of out-of-home care. This study adds to literature indicating the importance of supporting youth in out-of-home care, beginning early in placement, to ensure they can achieve the best outcomes following exposure to maltreatment and other adversity.

Keywords: adolescent; child welfare; foster care; healthcare; out-of-home care; resilience.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Interest: Drs. Beal and Greiner have a licensing agreement from Cincinnati Children’s Hospital to Cordata Healthcare Innovations, LLC for technology unassociated with this article. None of the authors have any personal financial ties to Cordata or the technology, and the authors disclose no conflicts of interest.

References

    1. Afifi TO, & Macmillan HL (2011). Resilience following child maltreatment: A review of protective factors. Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 56(5), 266–272. https://doi.org/0.1177/070674371105600505 - PubMed
    1. Aguilar-Vafaie ME, Roshani M, Hassanabadi H, Masoudian Z, & Afruz GA (2011). Risk and protective factors for residential foster care adolescents. Children and Youth Services Review, 33(1), 1–15. 10.1016/j.childyouth.2010.08.005 - DOI
    1. Almedom AM (2013). Resilience: Outcome, process, emergence, narrative (OPEN) theory. On the Horizon the International Journal of Learning Futures, 21(1), 15–23. 10.1108/10748121311297030 - DOI
    1. Beal SJ, Ammerman RT, Mara CA, Nause K, & Greiner MV (2022). Patterns of healthcare utilization with placement changes for youth in foster care. Child Abuse & Neglect, 128. 10.1016/j.chiabu.2022.105592 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Becker MA, Jordan N, & Larsen R (2007). Predictors of successful permanency planning and length of stay in foster care: The role of race, diagnosis and place of residence. Children and Youth Services Review, 29(8), 1102–1113. 10.1016/j.childyouth.2007.04.009 - DOI