NCJ Number
248071
Journal
Child Abuse and Neglect Volume: 38 Issue: 7 Dated: July 2014 Pages: 1208-1220
Date Published
July 2014
Length
13 pages
Annotation
This study examined the religious socialization of youth involved in the child welfare system.
Abstract
This study on the religious socialization of youth involved with the child welfare system found that youth self-reports of religious attendance and their ratings of its importance to them were associated with the religious attendance of their caregivers, whether the caregivers were their birth-parents or foster parents. The study also found that foster parents were more likely to regularly attend religious services than birth parents, youth were more likely to attend weekly religious services if they indicated that religion was very important to them, and youth with Black caregivers were more likely to attend weekly religious services compared to youth with White caregivers. The study also examined the longitudinal changes in youth's attitudes towards religion and found that the majority of the youth, 75 percent, did not change their weekly religious attendance, and a majority of the youth, 70 percent, did not switch between high religious importance and less religious importance. Decreases in weekly attendance were generally reported by youth who moved between home and foster care placements. Data for the study were obtained from the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being dataset. This survey is a nationally representative study of children involved in child protective services investigations. The sample used for this study included children age 11 and older who answered questions about religious attendance and religious importance. The findings from the study indicate increased religiosity for children involved with the child welfare system, and that child welfare workers need to be aware of this change and adhere to ethical guidelines for spiritually sensitive practice. Study limitations are discussed. Figures, tables, and references