Predicting family reunification, adoption, and subsidized guardianship among adolescents in foster care.
Predicting family reunification, adoption, and subsidized guardianship among adolescents in foster care.
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预测寄养青少年的家庭团聚、收养和监护补贴。
DOI：
10.1111/j.1939-0025.2010.01045.x
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发表时间：
2010
期刊：
影响因子：
--
通讯作者：
Spielfogel,JillE
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Leathers,SonyaJ;Falconnier,Lydia;Spielfogel,JillE
虽然国家立法试图减少儿童被寄养的时间，但这些政策对青少年的效果不如对儿童，这就提出了如何最好地促进青少年永久寄养的问题。本研究考察了预测青少年收养、补贴监护和团聚的因素。对203名随机选择的12- 13岁儿童的社会工作者和养父母进行了采访，这些儿童被安置在传统或专门的寄养机构中。永久性结果被追踪了8年。在研究结束时，超过40%的青少年被安置在永久的家庭中。正如假设的那样，与生母的牢固关系预示着成功的团聚，与寄养家庭的高度融合预示着被收养。此外，与收养相比，与生母关系密切而与寄养家庭关系较弱的青少年更容易得到寄养父母的补贴监护。出乎意料的是，行为问题与任何永久性结果无关。结果表明，促进与成年人的牢固关系是为寄养儿童寻找永久家庭的关键。此外，在青春期不应停止为获得永久的努力。
Although national legislation has attempted to decrease the length of time that children spend in foster care, these policies have been less effective with adolescents than with children, raising questions about how best to promote permanency for adolescents. This study examined factors that predict adolescent adoption, subsidized guardianship, and reunification. The caseworkers and foster parents of 203 randomly selected 12-to 13-year-olds placed in traditional or specialized foster care were interviewed. Permanency outcomes were prospectively tracked for 8 years. By the end of the study, over 40% of the adolescents were placed in permanent homes. As hypothesized, a strong relationship with a biological mother predicted successful reunification, and a high degree of integration into a foster home predicted adoption. Additionally, when compared with adoption, subsidized guardianship with foster parents occurred more frequently for youth with strong relationships with their biological mothers and weaker relationships with their foster families. Unexpectedly, behavior problems were not related to any permanency outcomes. Results suggest that promotion of strong relationships with adults is the key in efforts to find permanent families for foster children. Furthermore, efforts to attain permanency should not cease during adolescence.