Somebody's children or nobody's children? How the sociological perspective could enliven research on foster care

Annual Review of Sociology

Volumn 40, Issue , 2014, Pages 599-618

  Wildeman, Christopher ^a   Waldfogel, Jane ^b  

^a Department of Obstetrics Gynecology   (United States)

^b Och Spine at New York Presbyterian Hospitals   (United States)

Author keywords

Child maltreatment; Child Protective Services; Child welfare; Foster care; Inequality

Indexed keywords

EID: 84905254204     PISSN: 03600572     EISSN: None     Source Type: Book Series    
DOI: 10.1146/annurev-soc-071913-043358     Document Type: Review

References (149)

1. Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl, 570 U. S. (2013)
2. Ahrens KR, Katon W, McCarty C, Richardson LP, Courtney ME. 2012. Association between childhood sexual abuse and transactional sex in youth aging out of foster care. Child Abuse Negl. 36:75-80
3. Anda RF, Croft JB, Felitti VJ, Nordenberg D, Giles WH, et al. 1999. Adverse childhood experiences and smoking during adolescence and adulthood. JAMA 282:1652-58
4. Andersen SH. 2010. A good place to live? On municipality characteristics and childrens placement risk. Soc. Serv. Rev. 84:201-44
5. Appell AR. 1996. Protecting children or punishing mothers: gender, race, and class in the child protection system. S. C. Law Rev. 48:577-613
6. Atwine B, Cantor-Graae E, Bajunirwe F. 2006. Psychological distress among AIDS orphans in rural Uganda. Soc. Sci. Med. 61:555-64
7. Avery RJ. 2010. An examination of theory and promising practice for achieving permanency for teens before they age out of foster care. Child. Youth Serv. Rev. 32:399-408
8. Bartholet E. 1999. Nobodys Children: Abuse and Neglect, Foster Drift, and the Adoption Alternative. Boston: Beacon Bartholet E. 2000. Reply: Whose children? A response to ProfessorGuggenheim. Harvard Law Rev. 113:1999-2008
9. Belsky J. 1993. Etiology of child maltreatment: a developmental ecological analysis. Psychol. Bull. 114:413-34
10. Benedict MI, White RB. 1991. Factors associated with foster care length of stay. Child Welf. 70:45-59
11. Berger LM, Bruch SK, Johnson EK, James S, Rubin D. 2009a. Estimating the "impact" of out-of-home placement on child well-being: approaching the problem of selection bias. Child Dev. 80:1856-76
12. Berger LM, Paxson C, Waldfogel J. 2009b. Mothers, men, and child protective services involvement. Child Maltreat. 14:263-76
13. Berger LM, Slack KS, Waldfogel J, Bruch SK. 2010. Caseworker-perceived caregiver substance abuse and child protective services outcomes. Child Maltreat. 15:199-210
14. Berger LM, Waldfogel J. 2004. Out-of-home placement of children and economic factors: an empirical analysis. Rev. Econ. Househ. 2:387-411
15. Berger LM, Waldfogel J. 2011. Economic determinants and consequences of child maltreatment. Work. Pap. No. 111, OECD Soc., Employ., Migr., Paris
16. Berk RA, Campbell A, Klap R, Western B. 1992. The deterrent effect of arrest in incidents of domestic violence: a Bayesian analysis of four field experiments. Am. Sociol. Rev. 57:698-708
17. Blalock HM. 1967. Toward a Theory of Minority-Group Relations. New York: Wiley Blau PM, Duncan OD. 1967. The American Occupational Structure. New York: Wiley
18. Bosk CL. 1979. Forgive and Remember: Managing Medical Failure. Chicago: Univ. Chicago Press
19. Brand JE, Xie Y. 2010. Who benefits most from college? Evidence for negative selection in heterogeneous economic returns to higher education. Am. Sociol. Rev. 75:273-302
20. Breen R, Jonsson JO. 2005. Inequality of opportunity in comparative perspective: recent research on educational attainment and social mobility. Annu. Rev. Sociol. 31:223-43
21. Caffey J. 1946. Multiple fractures in the long bones of infants suffering from chronic subdural hematoma. Am. J. Roentgenol. Radium Ther. 56:163-73
22. Cancian M, Yang MY, Slack KS. 2013. The effect of child support income on the risk of child maltreatment. Soc. Serv. Rev. 87:417-437
23. Case A, Paxson C, Ableidinger J. 2004. Orphans in Africa: parental death, poverty, and school enrollment. Demography 41:483-508
24. Cherlin AJ, Burton LM, Hurt TR, Purvin DM. 2004. The influence of physical and sexual abuse on marriage and cohabitation. Am. Sociol. Rev. 69:768-89
25. Chernoff R, Combs-Orme T, Risley-Curtiss C, HeislerA. 1994. Assessing the health status of children entering foster care. Pediatrics 93:594-601
26. Chisholm K. 1998. A three year follow-up of attachment and indiscriminate friendliness in children adopted from Romanian orphanages. Child Dev. 69:1092-106
27. Correll SJ, Benard S, Paik I. 2007. Getting a job: Is there a motherhood penalty? Am. J. Sociol. 112:1297-339
28. Coulton CJ, Korbin JE, SuM. 1999. Neighborhoods and child maltreatment: a multi-level study. Child Abuse Negl. 23:1019-40
29. Courtney ME, Dworsky A. 2006. Early outcomes for young adults transitioning from out-of-home care in the USA. Child Fam. Soc. Work 11:209-19
30. Cunningham S, Finlay K. 2013. Parental substance use and foster care: evidence from two methamphetamine supply shocks. Econ. Inq. 51:764-82
31. Currie J, Tekin E. 2012. Understand the cycle: childhood maltreatment and future crime. J. Hum. Resour. 47:509-49
32. Desmond M. 2012a. Disposable ties and the urban poor. Am. J. Sociol. 117:1295-335
33. Desmond M. 2012b. Eviction and the reproduction of urban poverty. Am. J. Sociol. 118:88-133
34. Dietz PM, Spitz AM, Anda RF, Williamson DF, McMahon PM, et al. 1999. Unintended pregnancy among adult women exposed to abuse or household dysfunction during their childhood. JAMA 282:1359-64
35. dosReis S, Zito JM, Safer DJ, Soeken KL. 1994. Mental health services for youths in foster care and disabled youths. Am. J. Public Health 91:1094-99
36. Doyle JJ. 2007. Child protection and child outcomes: measuring the effects of foster care. Am. Econ. Rev. 97:1583-610
37. Doyle JJ. 2008. Child protection and adult crime: using investigator assignment to estimate causal effects of foster care. J. Polit. Econ. 116:746-70
38. Drake B, Pandey S. 1996. Understanding the relationship between neighborhood poverty and specific types of child maltreatment. Child Abuse Negl. 20:1003-18
39. Du Bois WEB. 1899 (1996). The Philadelphia Negro: A Social Study. Philadelphia: Univ. Pa. Press
40. Dube SR, Anda RF, Felitti VJ, Chapman DP, Williamson DF, GilesWH. 2001. Childhood abuse, household dysfunction, and the risk of attempted suicide throughout the life span. JAMA 286:3089-96
41. Duncan GJ, Brooks-Gunn J, Klebanov PK. 1994. Economic deprivation and early childhood development. Child Dev. 65:296-318
42. Ehrle J, Geen R. 2002. Kin and non-kin foster care-findings from a national survey. Child. Youth Serv. Rev. 24:15-35
43. Elder GH. 1974 (1998). Children of the Great Depression. Chicago: Univ. Chicago Press
44. Elders MJ, Albert AE. 1998. Adolescent pregnancy and sexual abuse. JAMA 280:648-49
45. Fallesen P. 2013a. Downward spiral: the impact of foster care placements on paternal public dependency. Presented at Annu. Meet. Popul. Assoc. Am., 78th, New Orleans
46. Fallesen P. 2013b. Time well spent: the duration of foster care and early labor market, educational, and health outcomes. J. Adolesc. 36:1003-11
47. Fanshel D, Shinn EB. 1978. Children in Foster Care: A Longitudinal Investigation. New York: Columbia Univ. Press
48. Fisher AP. 2003. Still "not quite as good as having your own"? Toward a sociology of adoption. Annu. Rev. Sociol. 29:335-61
49. Freisthler B. 2004. A spatial analysis of social disorganization, alcohol access, and rates of child maltreatment in neighborhoods. Child. Youth Serv. Rev. 26:803-19
50. Garbarino J. 1977. The human ecology of child maltreatment: a conceptual model for research. J. Marriage Fam. 39:721-35
51. Garbarino J, Sherman D. 1980. High-risk neighborhoods and high-risk families: the human ecology of child maltreatment. Child Dev. 51:188-98
52. Gelles RJ. 1997. The Book of David: How Preserving Families Can Cost Childrens Lives. New York: Basic Books
53. Gilbert R, Kemp A, Thoburn J, Sidebotham P, Radford L, et al. 2009a. Child maltreatment 2: Recognising and responding to child maltreatment. Lancet 373:167-80
54. Gilbert R, Widom CS, Browne K, Fergusson D, Webb E, Janson S. 2009b. Child maltreatment 1: Burden and consequences of child maltreatment in high-income countries. Lancet 373:68-81
55. Guggenheim M. 2000. Somebodys children: sustaining the familys place in child welfare policy. Harvard Law Rev. 113:1716-50
56. Hacsi TA. 1998. Second Home: Orphan Asylums and Poor Families in America. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Univ. Press
57. Hamilton L, Cheng S, Powell B. 2007. Adoptive parents, adaptive parents: evaluating the importance of biological ties in parental investment. Am. Sociol. Rev. 72:95-116
58. HamptonRL, Newberger EH. 1985. Child abuse incidence and reporting by hospitals: significance of severity, class, and race. Am. J. Public Health 75:56-60
59. Hochstadt NJ, Jaudes PK, Zimo DA, Schachter J. 1987. The medical and psychosocial needs of children entering foster care. Child Abuse Negl. 11:53-62
60. Jackson M, Cox DR. 2013. The principles of experimental design and their application in sociology. Annu. Rev. Sociol. 39:27-49
61. Johnson EI, Waldfogel J. 2002. Parental incarceration: recent trends and implications for child welfare. Soc. Serv. Rev. 76:460-79
62. Jones MB. 1989. Crisis of the American orphanage, 1931-1940. Soc. Serv. Rev. 63:613-29
63. Jones MB. 1993. Decline of the American orphanage, 1941-1980. Soc. Serv. Rev. 67:459-80
64. Jonson-Reid M, Barth RP. 2000. From placement to prison: the path to adolescent incarceration from child welfare supervised foster or group care. Child. Youth Serv. Rev. 22:493-516
65. Kempe CH, Silverman FN, Steele BF, Droegemueller W, Silver HK. 1962. The battered-child syndrome. JAMA 181:17-24
66. Kirk DS. 2009. A natural experiment on residential change and recidivism: lessons from Hurricane Katrina. Am. Sociol. Rev. 74:484-505
67. Kirk DS, Papachristos AV. 2011. Cultural mechanisms and the persistence of neighborhood violence. Am. J. Sociol. 116:1190-233
68. Knott T, Donovan K. 2010. Disproportionate representation of African-American children in foster care: secondary analysis of the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System. Child. Youth Serv. Rev. 32:679-84
69. Kruttschnitt C, McLeod JD, Dornfeld M. 1994. The economic environment of child abuse. Soc. Probl. 41:299-315
70. Lane WG, Rubin DM, Monteith R, Christian CW. 2002. Racial differences in the evaluation of pediatric fractures for physical abuse. JAMA 288:1603-9
71. Latour B, Woolgar S. 1979 (1986). Laboratory Life: The Construction of Scientific Facts. Princeton, NJ: Princeton Univ. Press
72. Laub JH, Sampson RJ. 2004. Shared Beginnings, Divergent Lives: Delinquent Boys to Age 70. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Univ. Press
73. Lawrence CR, Carlson EA, England B. 2006. The impact of foster care on development. Dev. Psychopathol. 18:57-76
74. Lery B. 2009. Neighborhood structures and foster care entry risk: the role of spatial scale in defining neighborhoods. Child. Youth Serv. Rev. 31:331-37
75. Leventhal JM, Krugman RD. 2012. "The battered-child syndrome" 50 years later: much accomplished, much left to do. JAMA 308:35-36
76. Maas HS, Engler RE. 1959. Children in Need of Parents. New York: Columbia Univ. Press
77. MacMillan HL, Wathen CN, Barlow J, Fergusson DM, Leventhal JM, Taussig HN. 2009. Child maltreatment 3: Interventions to prevent child maltreatment and associated impairment. Lancet 373:250-66
78. Magruder J, Shaw TV. 2008. Children ever in care: an examination of cumulative disproportionality. Child Welf. 87:169-88
79. McLanahan S, Sandefur G. 1994. Growing UpWith a Single Parent:What Hurts, What Helps. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Univ. Press
80. Miller KA, Cahn K, Anderson-Nathe B, Cause AG, Bender R. 2013. Individual and systemic/structural bias in child welfare decision making: implications for children and families of color. Child. Youth Serv. Rev. 35:1634-42
81. Molnar BE, Buka SL, Kessler RC. 2001. Child sexual abuse and subsequent psychopathology: results from the National Comorbidity Survey. Am. J. Public Health 91:753-60
82. Morenoff JD. 2003. Neighborhood mechanisms and the spatial dynamics of birth weight. Am. J. Sociol. 108:976-1017
83. Muller C. 2012. Northward migration and the rise of racial disparity in American incarceration, 1880-1950. Am. J. Sociol. 118:281-326
84. Myers JEB. 2008. A short history of child protection in America. Fam. Law Q. 42:449-63
85. Needell B, Barth RP. 1998. Infants entering foster care compared to other infants using birth status indicators. Child Abuse Negl. 22:1179-87
86. Olds DL, Eckenrode J, HendersonCR, KitzmanH, Powers J, et al. 1997. Long-term effects of home visitation on maternal life course and child abuse and neglect. JAMA 278:637-43
87. Olds DL, Henderson CR, Cole R, Eckenrode J, Kitzman H, et al. 1998. Long-term effects of nurse home visitation on childrens criminal and antisocial behavior. JAMA 280:1238-44
88. Osgood DW, Foster EM, Courtney ME. 2010. Vulnerable populations and the transition to adulthood. Future Child. 20:209-29
89. Pager D. 2003. The mark of a criminal record. Am. J. Sociol. 108:937-75
90. Papachristos AV, Hureau DM, Braga AA. 2013. The corner and the crew: the influence of geography and social networks on gang violence. Am. Sociol. Rev. 78:417-47
91. Park JM, Metraux S, Culhane DP. 2004. Child welfare involvement among homeless children. Child Welf. 83:423-37
92. Paxson C, Waldfogel J. 2002. Work, welfare, and child maltreatment. J. Labor Econ. 20:435-74
93. Paxson C, Waldfogel J. 2003. Welfare reforms, family resources, and child maltreatment. J. Policy Anal. Manag. 22:85-113
94. Pears KC, Bruce J, Fisher PA, Kim HK. 2010. Indiscriminate friendliness in maltreated foster children. Child Dev. 15:64-75
95. Pecora PJ, Kessler RC, OBrien K, White CR, Williams J, et al. 2006. Educational and employment outcomes of adults formerly placed in foster care: results from the Northwest Foster Care Alumni Study. Child. Youth Serv. Rev. 28:1459-81
96. Perry BL. 2006. Understanding social network disruption: the case of youth in foster care. Soc. Probl. 53:371-91
97. Pfohl SJ. 1976. The "discovery" of child abuse. Soc. Probl. 24:310-23
98. Preston SH, Heuveline P, GuillotM. 2001. Demography:Measuring andModeling Population Processes. Malden, MA: Blackwell
99. Putnam-Hornstein E, Cleves MA, Licht R, Needell B. 2013a. Risk of fatal injury in young children following abuse allegations: evidence from a prospective, population-based study. Am. J. Public Health 103:e39-44
100. Putnam-Hornstein E, Needell B, King B, Johnson-Motoyama M. 2013b. Racial and ethnic disparities: a population-based examination of risk factors for involvement with child protective services. Child Abuse Negl. 37:33-46
101. Putnam-Hornstein E, Webster D, Needell B, Magruder J. 2011. A public health approach to child maltreatment surveillance: evidence from a data linkage project in the United States. Child Abuse Rev. 20:256-73
102. Reading R, Bissell S, Goldhagen J, Harwin J, Masson J. 2009. Child maltreatment 4: Promotion of childrens rights and prevention of child maltreatment. Lancet 373:332-43
103. Roberts DE. 2002. Shattered Bonds: The Color of Child Welfare. New York: Basic Books
104. Roberts DE. 2012. Prison, foster care, and the systemic punishment of black mothers. UCLA Law Rev. 59:1474-500
105. Rosner D, Markowitz G. 1997. Race, foster care, and the politics of abandonment in New York City. Am. J. Public Health 87:1844-49
106. Sabol W, Coulton C, Polousky E. 2004. Measuring child maltreatment risk in communities: a life table approach. Child Abuse Negl. 28:967-83
107. Sampson RJ, Laub JH. 1993. Crime in the Making: Pathways and Turning Points Through Life. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Univ. Press
108. Sampson RJ, Loeffler C. 2010. Punishments place: the local concentration of mass incarceration. Daedalus 139:20-31
109. Sampson RJ, Morenoff JD, Gannon-Rowley T. 2002. Assessing "neighborhood effects": social process and new directions in research. Annu. Rev. Sociol. 28:443-78
110. SampsonRJ, Raudenbush SW, Earls F. 1997. Neighborhoods and violent crime: amultilevel study of collective efficacy. Science 277:918-24
111. Schene PA. 1998. Past, present, and future roles of child protective services. Future Child. 8:23-38
112. Schofield G, Moldestad B, Hojer I, Ward E, Skilbred D. 2011. Managing loss and a threatened identity: experiences of parents of children growing up in foster care, the perspectives of their social workers and implications for practice. Br. J. Soc. Work 41:74-92
113. Sharkey P. 2013. Stuck in Place: Urban Neighborhoods and the End of Progress Toward Racial Equality. Chicago: Univ. Chicago Press
114. Sharkey P, Elwert F. 2011. The legacy of disadvantage: multigenerational neighborhood effects on cognitive ability. Am. J. Sociol. 116:1934-81
115. Shaw TV, Putnam-Hornstein E, Magruder J, Needell B. 2008. Measuring racial disparity in child welfare. Child Welfare 87:23-36
116. Sherman LW, Berk RA. 1984. The specific deterrent effects of arrest for domestic assault. Am. Sociol. Rev. 49:261-72
117. Small ML. 2011. How to conduct a mixed methods study: recent trends in a rapidly growing literature. Annu. Rev. Sociol. 37:57-86
118. Smyke AT, Zeanah CH, Fox NA, Nelson CA, Guthrie D. 2010. Placement in foster care enhances quality of attachment among young institutionalized children. JAMA 81:212-23
119. Stack C. 1974. All Our Kin. New York: Basic Books
120. Stephens-Davidowitz S. 2013. How Googling unmasks child abuse. New York Times, July 14, p. SR5
121. Sullivan PM, Knutson JF. 2000. Maltreatment and disabilities: a population-based epidemiological study. Child Abuse Negl. 24:1257-73
122. Swann CA, SylvesterMS. 2006. The foster care crisis: What caused caseloads to grow? Demography 43:309-35
123. Swartz TT. 2004. Mothering for the state: foster parenting and the challenges of government-contracted care work. Gend. Soc. 18:567-87
124. Sykes J. 2011. Negotiating stigma: understanding mothers responses to accusations of child neglect. Child. Youth Serv. Rev. 33:448-56
125. Takayama JI, Bergman AB, Connell FA. 1994. Children in foster care in the state ofWashington: health care utilization and expenditures. JAMA 271:1850-55
126. Taylor CE, Guterman NB, Lee SJ, Rathouz PJ. 2009. Intimate partner violence, maternal stress, nativity, and risk for maternal maltreatment of young children. Am. J. Public Health 99:175-83
127. Tilly C. 1999. Durable Inequality. Berkeley: Univ. Calif. Press
128. Trocmé N, Knoke D, Blackstock C. 2004. Pathways to the overrepresentation of Aboriginal children in Canadas child welfare system. Soc. Serv. Rev. 78:577-600
129. Turney K, Wildeman C. 2013. Redefining relationships: explaining the countervailing consequences of paternal incarceration for parenting. Am. Sociol. Rev. 78:949-79
130. US Dep. Health Hum. Serv. 2012a. AFCARS Report 19: Preliminary FY1 2011 Estimates as of July 2012. Washington, DC: USDHHS. http://www.acf. hhs. gov/sites/default/files/cb/afcarsreport19. pdf
131. US Dep. Health Hum. Serv. 2012b. Child Maltreatment 2011. Washington, DC: USDHHS. http://www.acf. hhs. gov/sites/default/files/cb/cm11. pdf
132. US Dep. Health Hum. Serv. 2012c. Trends in Foster Care and Adoption-FY 2002-FY 2011. Washington, DC: USDHHS. http://www.acf. hhs. gov/sites/default/ files/cb/trends-fostercare-adoption. pdf
133. US House Represent., Comm. Ways Means. 2000. 2000 Green Book: Background Material andData on Programs Within the Jurisdiction of the Committee on Ways and Means. Washington, DC: US House Represent., Comm. Ways Means
134. Wakefield S, Wildeman C. 2013. Children of the Prison Boom: Mass Incarceration and the Future of American Inequality. New York: Oxford Univ. Press
135. Wald MS, Carlsmith JM, Leiderman PH. 1988. Protecting Abused andNeglectedChildren. Stanford, CA: Stanford Univ. Press
136. Waldfogel J. 1998. The Future of Child Protection: How to Break the Cycle of Abuse and Neglect. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Univ. Press
137. Waldfogel J. 2000. Child welfare research: How adequate are the data? Child. Youth Serv. Rev. 22:705-41
138. Waldfogel J. 2004. Welfare reform and the child welfare system. Child. Youth Serv. Rev. 26:919-39
139. Warburton WP, Warburton R, Sweetman A, Hertzman C. 2014. The impact of placing adolescent males into foster care on education, income assistance, and convictions. Can. J. Econ. 47:35-69
140. Western B. 2006. Punishment and Inequality in America. New York: Russell Sage Found.
141. Widom CS. 1989. The cycle of violence. Science 244:160-66
142. Wildeman C. 2009. Parental imprisonment, the prison boom, and the concentration of childhood disadvantage. Demography 46:265-80
143. Wildeman C. 2010. Paternal incarceration and childrens physically aggressive behaviors: evidence from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study. Soc. Forces 89:285-309
144. Wildeman C, Emanuel N. 2014. Cumulative risks of foster care placement by age 18 for U. S. children, 2000-2011. PLoS ONE 9:e92785
145. Wildeman C, Emanuel N, Leventhal JM, Putnam-Hornstein E, Waldfogel J, Lee H. 2014. The prevalence of confirmed maltreatment among US children, 2004-2011. JAMA Pediatr. In press
146. Wildeman C, Muller C. 2012. Mass imprisonment and inequality in health and family life. Annu. Rev. Law Soc. Sci. 8:11-30
147. Wilson WJ. 1987. The Truly Disadvantaged: The Inner City, the Underclass, and Public Policy. Chicago: Univ. Chicago Press
148. Windsor J, Benigno JP, Wing CA, Carroll PJ, Koga SF, et al. 2011. Effect of foster care on young childrens language learning. Child Dev. 82:1040-46
149. Zlotnick C, Tam TW, Soman LA. 2012. Life course outcomes on mental and physical health: the impact of foster care on adulthood. Am. J. Public Health 102:534-40