Centre de recherche universitaire sur les jeunes et les familles, 2915, avenue du Bourg-Royal, Québec, Québec G1C 3S2, Canada.
Département de psychologie, Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières (UQTR), 3351, boul. des Forges, C.P. 500, Trois-Rivières, Québec G9A 5H7, Canada.
Child Abuse Negl. 2022 Aug;130(Pt 3):105359. doi: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2021.105359. Epub 2021 Oct 24.
Placement stability is a major concern after a child enters foster care. Several studies have focused on the different factors associated with the risk of moving the child. However, the role and effect of the type of family foster care is less clear.
The purpose of this study is to identify the characteristics of children and their biological mothers, which are associated with initial type of care (non-relative foster care (NRFC), kinship foster care (KFC) and foster-to-adopt family (FAF)), and to examine the association between the type of care and placement stability.
Case files of 361 Canadian children aged <12 years (X = 4.64; SD = 3.75) were reviewed during the window period of five years after their first out-of-home placement (NRFC n = 156; KC n = 155; FAF n = 50).
Our results show that children in FAF and KFC are initially placed at a younger age than children in the NRFC group. They also indicate that children placed in NRFC have a more significant accumulation of problems than the other two groups (FAF and KFC). Also, boys are placed in NRFC more often than girls, who are more frequently placed in FAF. Multivariate analysis revealed that children placed in FAF are less likely to face a high number of movements, even after controlling for the child's age, gender, and cumulative problems.
This study highlights the role of foster care type at entry into foster care. It supports clinical discussion for an optimal response for neglected and maltreated children, as well as better services for foster parents, according to their specific needs.
儿童进入寄养家庭后，安置稳定性是一个主要关注点。已有多项研究聚焦于与儿童转移风险相关的各种因素。然而，家庭寄养类型的作用和影响尚不清楚。
本研究旨在确定与儿童及其生母初始照料类型（非亲属寄养（NRFC）、亲属寄养（KFC）和寄养-收养家庭（FAF））相关的特征，并检验照料类型与安置稳定性之间的关联。
对 361 名年龄<12 岁的加拿大儿童（X=4.64；SD=3.75）的案例档案进行回顾，这些儿童在首次离家安置后的五年窗口期内（NRFC 组 n=156；KFC 组 n=155；FAF 组 n=50）。
我们的研究结果表明，FAF 和 KFC 中的儿童最初的安置年龄比 NRFC 组的儿童小。研究结果还表明，与其他两组（FAF 和 KFC）相比，NRFC 组的儿童问题积累更为显著。此外，男孩比女孩更常被安置在 NRFC 中，而女孩则更常被安置在 FAF 中。多变量分析表明，即使在控制了儿童的年龄、性别和累积问题后，FAF 中安置的儿童面临多次转移的可能性更小。
本研究强调了进入寄养家庭时寄养类型的作用。它支持了根据儿童的具体需求，为被忽视和受虐待的儿童提供最佳应对方案以及为寄养父母提供更好服务的临床讨论。
