Time well spent: the duration of foster care and early adult labor market, educational, and health outcomes.
Individuals who spent time in foster care as children fare on average worse than non-placed peers in early adult life. Recent research on the effect of foster care placement on early adult life outcomes provides mixed evidence. Some studies suggest negative effects of foster care placement on early adult outcomes, others find null effects. This study shows that differences in the average duration of foster care stays explain parts of these discordant findings and then test how foster care duration shapes later life outcomes using administrative data on 7220 children. The children experienced different average durations of foster care because of differences in exposure to a reform. Later born cohorts spent on average 3 months longer in foster care than earlier born cohorts. Isolating exogenous variation in duration of foster care, the study finds positive effects of increased duration of foster care on income and labor market participation.
Rockwool Foundation Research Unit, Sølvgade 10, 2. tv, DK-1307 Copenhagen K, Denmark; Department of Sociology, University of Copenhagen, Øster Farimagsgade 5, Building 16, DK-1014 Copenhagen K, Denmark. Electronic address: pf@rff.dk.
Peter
P
Fallesen
D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D016208:Databases, Factual; D003718:Denmark; D004521:Educational Measurement; D004651:Employment; D005260:Female; D005581:Foster Home Care / Q000523:psychology*; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015233:Models, Statistical; D013997:Time Factors; D055815:Young Adult
Duration; Foster care; Outcomes; Policy