NCJ Number
205118
Journal
Future of Children Volume: 14 Issue: 1 Dated: Winter 2004 Pages: 31-47
Date Published
2004
Length
17 pages
Annotation
This document discusses the importance of safety and stability to healthy child development and reviews the research on the risks associated with maltreatment and the foster care experience.
Abstract
Many children in foster care have experienced compromised prenatal environments, maltreatment prior to foster care, or multiple moves while in foster care. In addition to the troubling family circumstances that bring children into State care, they face additional difficulties within the child welfare system that may further compromise their healthy development. Family stability is defined not as a specific family structure or condition, but rather as a family environment in which caregiving practices provide children with the consistent, nurturing care they need to thrive. A review of research shows that family stability is best viewed as a process of caregiving practices that, when present, can greatly facilitate healthy child development. Children in foster care, as a result of exposure to risk factors such as poverty, maltreatment, and the foster care experience, face multiple threats to their health development, including poor physical health, attachment disorders, compromised brain functioning, inadequate social skills, and mental health difficulties. Providing stable and nurturing families can bolster the resilience of children in care and improve negative impacts on their developmental outcomes. Developmentally-sensitive child welfare policies and practices designed to promote the well-being of the whole child, such as ongoing screening and assessment and coordinated systems of care, are needed to facilitate the health development of children in foster care. 90 endnotes