title: Long-Term Placement Trajectories of Children Who Were Maltreated and Entered the Child Welfare System at an Early Age: Consequences for Physical and Behavioral Well-Being.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This study aimed to identify children's long-term placement trajectories following early child welfare involvement and the association of these trajectories with subsequent physical and behavioral well-being.
  
  
  METHODS
  Participants were 330 children who entered out-of-home care following a substantiated report of child abuse or neglect during infancy/early childhood and their caregivers. Participants were interviewed at child ages 4 and 12 years to assess children's physical and behavioral well-being and every 2 years in between to determine child placements.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Latent Class Analyses identified four stable placement trajectories (i.e., adopted [32%], kinship care [15%], stable reunified [27%], and stable foster care [9%]), and two unstable trajectories (i.e., disrupted reunified [12%] and unstable foster care [5%]). Logistic regressions revealed that children in the unstable trajectories had significantly poorer physical and behavioral well-being than children in stable trajectories.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Maltreated children placed in out-of-home care are at risk for long-term placement instability and poorer physical and behavioral well-being.
authors.affiliation: Florida International University, mvilloda@fiu.edu.
authors.forename: Miguel T
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Villodas
authors.affiliation: San Diego State University, Child and Adolescent Services Research Center, Rady Children's Hospital, San Diego, CA, and.
authors.forename: Alan J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Litrownik
authors.affiliation: Child and Adolescent Services Research Center, Rady Children's Hospital, San Diego, CA, and Fielding Graduate University.
authors.forename: Rae R
authors.initials: RR
authors.lastname: Newton
authors.affiliation: San Diego State University, Child and Adolescent Services Research Center, Rady Children's Hospital, San Diego, CA, and.
authors.forename: Inger P
authors.initials: IP
authors.lastname: Davis
mesh_terms: D000300:Adoption; D002140:California; D002648:Child; D002649:Child Abuse; D002653:Child Behavior Disorders / Q000209:etiology*; D000067576:Child Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D002669:Child Welfare / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D005581:Foster Home Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male
keywords: behavior problems; child maltreatment; child trauma; child welfare placement; foster care; physical well-being
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