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PubMedDate not supplied

Concept mapping the needs of foster parents.

This study describes the needs of foster parents as perceived by the foster parents themselves. Forty-nine parents from 30 foster families were asked to describe their needs in response to the question: "What do you need to be a good foster parent?" Five themes were apparent in their answers: (1) good working relationships; (2) cultural sensitivity; (3) harmonious and stable family relationships; (4) adequate payment for services; and (5) a range of personality characteristics and parenting skills. These themes are consistent with the literature, with the notable exception of respite, a need identified in the literature but not by the sampled foster parents. The study results lend credibility to the existing literature on the needs of foster parents.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Comparing the health status of low-income children in and out of foster care.

Children in foster care face poverty, family dysfunction, neglect, and abuse, with high rates of chronic health, emotional, and developmental problems. This study compared the overall health status of a group of children entering foster care with a group of Medicaid-eligible children living with their parents, matched for age and gender. It identified significantly more health and developmental problems in children in foster care than in the comparison group. Possible contributors to the higher percentage of problems among foster care children may be that the foster children have more problems related to the underlying risk factors resulting in placement, or that the foster care physicians conducted a more comprehensive assessment or had lower clinical thresholds. Further research is necessary to identify and treat the problems of this high-risk group.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2004

Forming attachments in foster care: infant attachment behaviors during the first 2 months of placement.

This study investigated the development of attachment relationships in 38 foster infant-caregiver dyads over the first 2 months of placement. We used the Parent Attachment Diary to measure foster infants' daily attachment behaviors, the Adult Attachment Interview to examine foster parents' attachment states of mind, and Ainsworth's Strange Situation to capture attachment classifications. We examined differences in diary scales (secure, avoidant, resistant, and coherence) as they related to age at placement and foster parent attachment, using hierarchical linear modeling and analyses of variance. The results indicated infants with autonomous foster parents and infants placed at younger ages showed higher early and overall levels of secure behavior, less avoidant behavior, and more coherent attachment strategies compared to infants placed with nonautonomous foster parents. Changes in attachment behaviors over time were not predicted by the models; however, there was a significant decrease in the daily coherence of attachment behaviors associated with Strange Situation disorganization. Finally, we found significant concordance between the diary and Strange Situation scales for secure and avoidant behaviors.

Age Factors↗
PubMed1992

Children in foster care in California: an examination of Medicaid reimbursed health services utilization.

The number of children in foster care in California doubled from 27,534 in 1980 to more than 62,419 in 1988, representing approximately 1% of the child population in the state. Past studies have demonstrated that children in foster care have high rates of medical and mental health problems. An examination of all Medi-Cal-paid claims was undertaken to describe the utilization of health services by children in foster care. Although children in foster care represent 4% of Medi-Cal-eligible children younger than 18 years of age, they account for approximately 5% of children using Medi-Cal services and 6.7% of expenditures, representing a 23% greater utilization rate and 41% greater expenditure rate than all children covered by Medi-Cal. Using the entire Medi-Cal population younger than 18 years of age as comparison group, examination of inpatient and outpatient service utilization for specific condition categories showed few differences between children in foster care and the comparison group except for mental health service utilization, where children in foster care were much higher users of services.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1992

Mental health service utilization by children in foster care in California.

An examination of Medi-Cal-paid claims was undertaken to assess the utilization of mental health services by children in California's foster care system. Using unduplicate counts of service use and diagnoses, it was determined that children in foster care account for 41% of all users of mental health services even though they represent less than 4% of Medi-Cal-eligible children. When partitioned into specific service categories, children in foster care account for 53% of all psychologist visits, 47% of psychiatry visits, 43% of Short Doyle/Medi-Cal inpatient hospitalization in public hospitals, and 27% of inpatient psychiatric hospitals. Expenditure for services paralleled utilization frequency. When compared to the non-foster care Medi-Cal-eligible child population, children in foster care have 10 to 20 times the rate of utilization per eligible child for selected services. For children in foster care, 75% of all diagnoses for billed service were accounted for by four diagnoses: adjustment disorders (28.6%), conduct disorders (20.5%), anxiety disorders (13.8%), and emotional disorders (11.9%), with clear age-related differences in the distribution of diagnoses.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Sex, contraception and pregnancy among adolescents in foster care.

Young women aged 13-18 who were surveyed in a 1986 study of child welfare clients were over 50 percent more likely to have had sexual intercourse than those in a comparison group drawn from a national sample of young women; they were also more than twice as likely to ever have been pregnant. The child welfare teenagers also scored significantly lower than their counterparts on a test of sexuality and birth control knowledge. Among the child welfare clients (half of whom were at home and half of whom were in foster care), the young women living in foster homes were less likely than those living with their own families to have ever had sex voluntarily (33 percent vs. 47 percent). However, the foster children were less likely to have used birth control at their most recent intercourse or to have obtained contraceptives from a family planning clinic. Nearly half of the foster care teenagers and 40 percent of the teenagers living at home reported having been sexually abused. Victims of sexual abuse were especially likely to be sexually active. Among blacks, the teenagers in foster care and their national counterparts were similar in the proportions who had had sexual intercourse, who had had voluntary intercourse and who had ever been pregnant. Among whites, however, the foster care teenagers were about four times as likely as their matched peers to have had intercourse and to have had voluntary sex, and they were almost eight times as likely to have been pregnant.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Family experiences when a child is HIV-positive: reports of natural and foster parents.

The purpose of this exploratory study was to examine issues reported by natural and foster parents when caring for a child 3 years of age or younger with vertically transmitted HIV-disease. Issues common to both groups, and specific to the natural and foster parents were explored. The issues discussed by the natural mothers included guilt, their relationship with their infected child, and the effects of their HIV infection on their family. Issues discussed by foster mothers included their decision to foster a HIV-positive child, characteristics of their HIV- positive foster children, fears of transmission, and the effect of the HIV-positive foster child(ren) on their natural family. Issues common to both sets of mothers include disclosure, support, preparation for the HIV-positive child's death, and life in general. The experiences of these families are important to describe in order for pediatric nurses to give accurate, sensitive, and culturally appropriate care.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1977

Some effects of a split litter cross foster design applied to 15 day old rat pups.

Rat litters were divided and cross fostered on a postnatal Day 15 so that each mother had 4 of her own pups and 4 pups of a second litter, until weaning at 21 days. Daily weight and body temperature measurements made between Day 15 and 21 showed no differences between foster pups and pups who stayed with their biological mothers. However, by the age of 30 days, foster pups weighed less than pups reared by their own (biological) mothers; and foster pups at that age did not survive food deprivation as well as the pups reared by their biological mothers. In their Day 30 weights and the capacity to survive food deprivation, foster pups resembled pups that had been permanently separated from their mothers on postnatal Day 15. We conclude that the split cross foster design may introduce variability rather than reduce it. Nonetheless, this design may be useful in the experimental investigation of maternal behavior and mother-pup interactions in the rat.

Animals↗
PubMed1987

The effects of cross-fostering on the development of social preferences in meadow voles (Microtus pennsylvanicus).

To determine the role of the parental environment in the formation of species attachments in the meadow vole (Microtus pennsylvanicus), young of this species were fostered to either meadow vole parents (in-fostered young) or to prairie vole parents (M. ochrogaster; cross-fostered young). At 50 to 60 days of age, subjects were tested for social preference in an environment that simulated the conditions of a runway system. The testing design assessed the reaction of fostered animals to a novel species (M. pinetorum) as well as to the parental and biological species. The proportion of total test time spent near stimulus animals did not vary as a function of rearing condition. However, when compared to in-fostered controls, cross-fostered meadow voles displayed increased preference for prairie voles. Novelty did not appear to be a significant factor in test animal choice. These results suggest that in meadow voles, preference for the species of social partner is dependent on postnatal experience with parents.

Animals↗
PubMed1989

Open-field behavior of spontaneously hypertensive and Wistar-Kyoto normotensive rats: effects of reciprocal cross-fostering.

The influence of the maternal environment on the development of open-field behavior in spontaneously hypertensive (SHR) rats was investigated using the technique of reciprocal cross-fostering. Entire litters of SHR and Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) normotensive rats were either reared by their natural mothers, in-fostered to dams of the same strain, or cross-fostered to dams of the opposite strain on the day after birth. Open-field behavior was assessed in male and female rats from the six groups (2 strains x 3 rearing conditions) at 30, 60, 90, and 120 days of age. Animals were observed in the open-field during a 5-min test period and the number of squares entered and hindlimb rears were recorded. At all ages tested, SHR rats were more active in the open field, entering more squares and rearing more frequently than WKYs. SHR females were more active than age-matched SHR males, while no sex differences were apparent in the WKY strain. At each age, open-field behavior was similar across WKY rearing groups. SHR control and in-fostered animals responded similarly in the open field; however, SHR cross-fostered rats (particularly females) tended to be more active than controls. Although cross-fostering has profound effects on cardiovascular development and functioning in the SHR, it appears that altering the early maternal environment experienced by SHR pups does not grossly affect the development of open-field behavior.

Animals↗
PubMed2001

Cross-fostering and cross-breeding of HAB and LAB rats: a genetic rat model of anxiety.

Recently, two Wistar rat lines, bred and selected for either high (HAB) or low (LAB) anxiety-related behavior on the elevated plus-maze, were described as a novel psychopathologic animal model. The behavioral and neuroendocrine responses to exposure to an emotional stressor were markedly enhanced in HAB rats compared with LAB rats, thus resembling patients suffering from psychiatric diseases. The present study focused on the developmental and genetic basis of the line-specific differences by using cross-fostering and cross-breeding approaches. For the cross-fostering paradigm, neonate HAB offspring were nursed by a LAB foster mother, and vice versa, until weaning. In the cross-breeding approach, HAB females were mated with LAB males, and vice versa, to create an intermediate F1 generation. Thereafter, the F1 animals were strictly sibling-mated to produce a segregating F2 generation. At 10 weeks of age, anxiety-related behavior of all animals was tested on the elevated plus-maze. The robustness of emotionality was assessed in rats of both lines throughout their entire lifetime. Serving this purpose, the frequency of ultrasound isolation calls, indicative of the emotionality of newborn rats, was monitored in regularly-fostered HAB and LAB pups on postnatal day 11. In addition, the timecourse of anxiety-related behavior was studied by repeated testing on the elevated plus-maze at the ages of 10 weeks, 6 months, 16 months, and 19 months. The cross-fostering approach failed to reveal behavioral differences between regularly and cross-fostered HAB and LAB rats, indicating no line-specific differences in maternal care or maternally-influenced development, at least after postnatal day 1. In contrast, cross-breeding resulted in F1 and F2 offspring displaying intermediate behavioral patterns on the elevated plus-maze which were exactly in between those shown in HAB and LAB control rats, thus confirming a genetic basis of the differences in anxiety. Cross-breeding revealed no differences related to the gender of the offspring or to the line-derivation of sire or dam, indicating an autosomal, rather than heterosomal, heredity of the divergent emotionality in HABs and LABs. Further, we were able to show stable and robust emotional differences in rats of both lines during their entire lifetime. HAB rats showed an enhanced frequency of ultrasound isolation calls on postnatal day 11 (p < 0.05) and a lower open arm exploration of the elevated plus-maze throughout adulthood (p < 0.01) compared with the same-aged LABs. In conclusion, the extremely divergent anxiety levels of HAB and LAB rats are maintained during their whole lives and are determined genetically, rather than being learned. These findings may be important for further studies on the genetic basis of emotionality.

Aging↗
PubMed2003

Effect of cross-fostering on blood pressure and renal function in the New Zealand genetically hypertensive rat.

1. The severity of hypertension displayed by adult spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) and Dahl (SS/Jr) rats can be reduced by 20-30 mmHg if the hypertensive pup is cross-fostered to a normotensive mother within the first 2 weeks of birth. In the SHR, at least, this blood pressure-lowering effect arises through programming of the neonatal kidney to excrete sodium more effectively. Thus, cross-fostering may only be effective in lowering pressure in salt-sensitive hypertensive strains. Accordingly, the aim of the present study was to determine whether cross-fostering is effective in lowering adult blood pressure in the salt-resistant New Zealand genetically hypertensive (GH) rat. 2. Genetically hypertensive and control normotensive (N) rat pups were reared by either their natural mothers or a foster mother of the opposite strain (NX and GHX). Blood pressure was tracked from the age of 6-18 weeks, at which time renal function was assessed using standard clearance techniques in anaesthetized rats. Renal function was also assessed in a separate group of young rats at 5-6 weeks of age. 3. Cross-fostered GHX rats had lower blood pressure than GH rats, but this difference was only apparent until 9 weeks. The NX rats had higher blood pressures than N rats, but again pressure converged at 10 weeks. Basal renal function did not differ between GH and GHX rats or between N and NX rats at either age. However, young GH rats had lower renal blood flow, glomerular filtration rate, urine output and sodium excretion than N rats. 4. These data show that cross-fostering is effective in lowering blood pressure in GH rats, albeit transiently. The kidneys do not appear to play a role, because renal function did not differ under the current experimental conditions between GH and GHX rats. However, the kidney may play a greater role in the onset of hypertension in the GH rat than previously thought.

Animals↗
PubMed2000

[Effect of cross-fostering on various physiological and behavioral features in Wistar and genetically cataleptic rats].

In the GC rats reared by their natural mothers the plasma corticosterone concentration and open field locomotion were lower than in Wistar rats whereas the startle-reflex amplitude was higher. Cross-fostering did not affect the plasma corticosterone concentration or the startle-reflex amplitude. A negative correlation between these parameters was found. An open field test yielded lower results in Wistar rats reared by foster mothers belonging to the GC strain whereas the reverse cross-fostering did not affect the locomotion in GC rats. The data suggest that fostering affects the open field behaviour whereas cross-fostering effects depend on the genotype of fostered litter.

Acoustic Stimulation↗
PubMed1977

Hospital vs community (foster) care for psychiatric patients.

The aim of this study was to determine the effectiveness of foster care preparation and placement. Five hundred seventy-two patients from five hospitals were randomly assigned to foster care preparation (experimentals) or continued hospitalization (controls). They were studied before assignment, at placement of experimental subjects, and four months later regarding social functioning, mood, activity, and overall adjustment. Hospitals averaged two months preparing experimental subjects, resulting in 73% placed in foster care. Little change was observed between referral and placement. However, four months after placement, experimental subjects were significantly improved over controls, particularly in social functioning and adjustment. After four months, 88% of the foster care subjects were in the community. Findings suggest that attention should be given to selection criteria, that lengthy preparation may be unnecessary, and that foster care is superior to hospitalization for patients who cannot return to their own homes.

Emotions↗
PubMed1979

Corrective socialization in foster care of children.

While the phrase, "interminable foster care" is becoming a damning cliché in the dialogues of juvenile courts and child welfare organizations, many children are growing up in foster homes. Human love must move us to approve and enrich these foster families; childhood is too brief and important to be knowingly allowed disapproved or impoverished experience. This paper describes the foster situation: families, children, and the involved professionals. It then presents a teachable developmental theory weaved from threads of numerous known theories, and describes a process whereby "interminable" foster experience was used therapeutically for a group of handicapped homeless children.

Child↗
PubMed2000

Help-seeking steps and service use for children in foster care.

This study describes help-seeking steps and service-use patterns for school-age children in foster care. It also examines how these access indices are moderated by sociodemographic, enabling, and child disorder factors. Two home interviews and a telephone teacher interview were conducted using a sample of 302 randomly selected children (age 6-12 years) in foster care. The majority of children (80%) were given a psychiatric diagnosis, and 43% of the foster parents perceived a need for mental health services for the child. In the past year, about one-half of the children had received mental health (51%) and special education services (52%). Age and ethnicity, foster parent education, placement history, level of monthly benefits, number of caseworker visits, and disorder characteristics were related to help-seeking steps and mental health service use. Strategies to improve access to mental health services for children in foster care should include interventions at the caregiver and system levels.

California↗
PubMed1987

The medical and psychosocial needs of children entering foster care.

The estimated three to four hundred thousand children in foster care represent a population at high risk for medical and psychosocial problems. Their problems are compounded by the lack of adequate resources available to them while in foster care. This study provided a medical and psychosocial screening of 149 abused and neglected children entering the foster care system. The goal was to generate a profile of the medical and psychosocial needs of children entering the foster care system as a first step toward development of a better health care delivery system. Results indicated that these children have a much greater incidence of chronic medical conditions, are likely to weigh significantly less and be significantly shorter than the general population, require significant amounts of medical sub-specialty care, have a high incidence of developmental delays, and major deficits in adaptive behavior and have a large number of behavioral problems often associated with psychiatric disorders. Results are discussed in terms of the development of a regional model to effectively manage the health care needs of children entering foster care.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1996

The reported health and functioning of children maltreated while in family foster care.

The ability to assess accurately risk factors for maltreatment while in family foster care is essential for developing prevention and intervention strategies. Yet information about children involved in maltreatment episodes while in foster care is severely limited. This correlational study reports on characteristics, health, and functioning parameters of all 78 children with substantiated maltreatment reports between 1984-1988 in an urban foster care program as compared to a random sample of 229 nonmaltreated children in foster care in the same time period. Almost 50% of the substantiated maltreatment was sexual abuse with the remainder physical abuse and neglect. Problems in health, development, and functioning were reported in the social services record for a large number of all children, but children sexually abused while in care were significantly more likely to have a nonkinship placement, and to have mental health and development problems identified. Physical abuse and neglect while in foster care were not associated with child health and functioning characteristics. The implications of these results are discussed within the context of the data source used.

Baltimore↗