NCJ Number
76958
Journal
Children and Youth Services Review Volume: 3 Issue: 1/2 Dated: (1981) Pages: 99-114
Date Published
1981
Length
16 pages
Annotation
This study focuses on the relationship of time in foster care and the number of placements to the adult delinquency of former foster children who were placed by the Child Welfare Department of New South Wales (Australia).
Abstract
A 10- to 11-year followup of a birth cohort of 491 children discharged from wardship upon reaching 18 years of age revealed that the length of time in care was not related to subsequent convictions or to the number of court appearances and imprisonments. However, shorter care was associated with sooner first convictions of males and later first convictions of females. The number of placements was related positively to convictions, to the number of female court appearances, to sooner first convictions of males, and to later convictions of females. The number of placements was not related to the number of imprisonments. It was deduced from the findings that, except for the time to first conviction, the age of the child at committal to care and the reasons for committal are not related to adult delinquency. The association of the number of placements with adult delinquency was hypothesized to be explainable in terms of an underlying factor, common to both, of the personality characteristics of ex-foster children. These characteristics were intensified by placement in foster homes. Six tables and 27 references are included. (Author abstract modified)