small children in care: a danish longitudinal study anne-dorthe hestbæk, senior researcher the...
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Small Children in Care: Small Children in Care: A Danish Longitudinal study A Danish Longitudinal study
Anne-Dorthe Hestbæk, Senior Researcher
The Danish National Institute of Social Research
Copenhagen
The Danish National Institute of Social Research 2
The longitudinal studyThe longitudinal study
Any child born in 1995 placed in care1st data collection in 2003 (7-8 years old)N = 576 casesFollow-up every 3rd year2nd data collection in Nov.-Dec. 2006Newcomers in care will be included
The Danish National Institute of Social Research 3
Research objectivesResearch objectives
1. Which risk and protective factors are children in care exposed to?
2. Child welfare/child protection interventions during childhood and adolescence
3. Developmental outcomes of the children
4. Connection risk – protection - interventions - outcomes
The Danish National Institute of Social Research 4
Background of the studyBackground of the study
Lack of research based knowledgeDramatic increases in child welfare
expendituresThe quality of social child protection work
is questionedThe outcomes of care are questioned
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Theoretical inspirationTheoretical inspiration
Research on risk, protection and resilience, a.o.:Sroufe, Rutter, Quinton (UK)Werner & Smith (USA - Kauai study)SDQ-scale
(Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, tested and validated in several countries)
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1st data collection 20031st data collection 2003
1. Interviews with the parents of children in care
2. Questionnaire to carers (foster families, residential institutions etc.)
3. Questionnaire to social workers currently in charge of the children’s cases
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2nd data collection 20062nd data collection 2006
Questionnaire to the carers (foster care, residential care, boarding schools etc.)
Survey-based interviews with the children (web-based or personal)
Register data on children and parents
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Parents interviewed about…Parents interviewed about…
Demography EthnicitySocio economic situationPhysical and mental health of child and parentsChild welfare/protection interventions Placement career Social competences (SDQ-scale)School performance (cognitive competences, etc.)Network, peer relations, leisure activities, etc.
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Comparison groupsComparison groups
Children in care compared with ongoing longitudinal, representative study on 6,000 children born 1995:
Comparison group I: All 6,000 childrenComparison group II: Children from the
most socially disadvantaged families
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Overall conclusionOverall conclusion
Families with small children in care dispropor-tionately socially disadvantaged in every respect compared to: The families of the whole ‘95 cohort The socially disadvantaged families with children
not in care Families with children in care in general (0-17 years)
Multiproblem families: Characterised by cumulation of severe problems
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Results on demographyResults on demography Longitudinal
study of children in care
Sub-sample of socially disadvan-taged families
Longitudinal study of child develop-ment and welfare
Teenage parenthood 28 - 4 ***
Unplanned pregnancy 59 23 *** 12 ***
Single-parent household 52 33 *** 12 ***
Mother given birth to four or more children
27 3 ***
More than three marriages/cohabitations
14 6 *** 1 ***
Child lost contact with pa-rent not living in the family
37 - 13 ***
Death of one/both parents 7 - 1 ***
-
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Results on socio-economic situationResults on socio-economic situation
Longitudinal study of children in care
Sub-sample of socially disadvan-taged families
Longitudinal study of child development and welfare
No education after compulsory schooling
38 34 3 ***
Less than 9 years of schooling 15 5 *** 1 ***
No vocational training or education
70 81 13 ***
Parents experienced unemployment spells or been out of work during the last three years
58 48 * 8 ***
Parents publicly supported by pre-pension schemes
22 7 *** 1 ***
Household gross income less than 150,000 DKK a year
37 20 *** 2 ***
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Results on school performanceResults on school performance
Longitudinal study of children in care
Sub-sample of socially disad-vantaged fami-lies
Longitudinal study of child development and welfare
The child attends a lower class level than expected of the age
45 37 * 24 ***
The child performs poorly in Danish
11 6 * 3 ***
The child receives special preschool education
24 3 *** 1 ***
The child does not like the school
5 4 1 ***
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Results on health & leisureResults on health & leisure
Longitudinal study of children in care
Sub-sample of socially disad-vantaged fami-lies
Longitudinal study of child development and welfare
The child has at least one diagnosed illness/handicap
28 23 13 ***
Total SDQ-score within abnormal range
53 26 *** 9 ***
The child has not parti-cipated in organised leisure activities within last year
24 31 12 ***
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Too much instability
• The younger at first placement, the longer the child will stay in care
• The longer the period of placement, the more instable the care career
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Factors associated with instability
Factor P-value Odd Ratio
Child ethnic minority origin * 1.9
Single-headed househould * 1.4
Living in poverty 2003 *** 1.7
Receiving pre-pension schemes ** 1.9
No education beyond highschool ** 2.0
Treated for substance abuse * 1.6
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Parents’ indicators of strain Parents’ indicators of strain
1. No education after compulsory schooling
2. Socially excluded from the labour market
3. Diagnosed mental illness
4. Are or have been substance abusers
5. Been placed outside home as a child
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Children’s indicators of strainChildren’s indicators of strain
1. Has a diagnosed severe illness or a handicap
2. Fall behind children of the same age in school
3. Total score at the SDQ-scale within the abnormal range
4. Does not participate in leisure activities
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Parents’ and children’s strains combinedParents’ and children’s strains combined
The parents’ level of strain
Low (0 indicators)
Medium (1-2 indicators)
High (3-4 indicators)
Total
Low (0-1 indicator)
5 15 8 28
Medium (2-3 indicators)
12 32 9 53
High (4-5 indicators)
5 12 2 19
Total
22 59 19 100
The child’s level of strain
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Social policy perspectivesSocial policy perspectives
A need for: Intensive and prolonged
interventions to the parents, targeting the complex combination of poverty, distress, and limited parenting capacity
Highly specialised interventions for the children (medical, psychiatric, educational etc.)
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Extras
The Danish National Institute of Social Research 22
Strengths and Difficulties Strengths and Difficulties QuestionnaireQuestionnaire
25 items attributes covering 5 scales:1 scale on pro-social behaviour (5 items)4 problem-oriented scales (5 items each)
emotional problemsconduct problemshyperactivity/inattention peer relationship problems
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Carers interviwed about…Carers interviwed about…
The child’s score on SDQ scaleCooperation with parents Cooperation with Child Protective ServicesEfforts to preserve the culture of children
with ethnic minority background
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Themes of interviews with Themes of interviews with social workerssocial workers
Formal decisionsInterventionsLegal basis for decisions and interventionsCooperation with parents