Impact of Childhood Foster Care and Other Out-of-Home Placement on Homeless Women and Their Children

• NCJ Number: 180007
• Journal: Child Abuse & Neglect Volume: 23 Issue: 11 Dated: November 1999 Pages: 1057-1068
• Author(s): Cheryl Zlotnick; Marjorie J. Robertson; Marguerite A. Wright
• Date Published: 1999
• Length: 12 pages
• Grant Number(s): MH46104; MH51651; DA09334
• Sponsoring Agency: National Institute on Drug Abuse; National Institute of Mental Health
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This article compares homeless women who have childhood histories of foster care or other out-of-home placement to those who have not.

Abstract

Structured interviews with homeless women (n=179) from a countywide probability study found that one-third of them had been raised apart from their parents. Among women with children under age 18, 61.5 percent had children who had lived in foster care or other out-of-home placements. Variables associated with homeless mothers' children living in foster care or other out-of-home placements were: (1) child was school-age, (2) mother was age 35 or older, (3) mother had a current alcohol or drug use disorder, (4) mother experienced childhood sexual abuse, and (5)mother ran away from home when under age 18. Parenting was difficult for homeless mothers who may have needed to place children with others to facilitate school attendance. Parent-child interaction may be problematic in family shelters where privacy is rare. Thus, the article recommends that programs promoting family preservation for homeless mothers should provide parenting support as well as permanent housing. Tables, references