Predicting Outcome in Long-Term Foster Care

This article reports the findings of a retrospective study of 200 children in the long-term care of two child welfare agenzes. They were all in care until they reached adulthood. The study considered characteristics of the children at the beginning of their time in care, such as age, behavior problems, intelligence, and emotional rejection by parents. These characteristics were correlated with outcome, that is, the child's progress from admission to discharge. It was found that outcome was not associated with age at admission: that children with behavior problems and those who were emotionally rejected tended to make good progress in care; and that the more intelligent children were less likely to fulfill their academic potential.