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Using three waves of data from the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being, this study examines differences in cognitive, academic, and affective well-being of youth first placed in nonkinship foster care (N = 259) and youth first placed in group care (N = 89). To compare nonrandomized groups, propensity score matching was used. Results from hierarchical linear modeling suggest that both groups of youth show improved behavior and below-average academics over time.
Concerns have been raised about the potential iatrogenic effects of placing youth in group care (GC) settings. Recent U.S. Government Accountability Office (2007, 2008) reports on abuses in GC have raised awareness about safety concerns for some residential placements. In addition, research on group interventions identified negative peer effects from GC settings (Dishion, McCord, & Poulin, 1999; Dodge, Lansford, & Dishion, 2006). However, other studies of GC (Lee & Thompson, 2008, 2009) and a meta-analysis of group interventions (Lipsey, 2006) suggest that peer contagion may not be inevitable. Current initiatives by child welfare agencies (e.g., Virginia Department of Social Services, 2008), advocacy groups (like Children's Rights; Freundlich, Morris, & Blair, 2004), and foundations (Annie E. Casey Foundation, 2010) emphasize the importance of family placements for all youth.
Importantly, youth are not randomly assigned to GC or foster care (FC) settings. While research indicates that some youth placed in GC do not require the structured level of care it provides (Lyons, Libman-Mintzer, Kisiel, &. Shallcross, 1998), there are consistent differences in the characteristics of youth served in GC and youth placed in nonkinship FC. In a nationally representative sample of youth involved in child welfare, rates of clinical- level behavior problems among youth in GC were 25% higher than youth in nonkinship FC (Burns, Phillips, Wagner, Barth, Kolko, Campbell, & Landsverk, 2004). These differences match findings from Courtney's (1998) study showing that child welfare workers preferred GC over FC for older youth with a previous GC placement and behavior problems. Youth with behavior problems were three to five times more likely to be selected for GC than for FC.
An important body of research has attempted to assess the effects of placement in FC by comparing outcomes for youth who have spent varying amounts of time in FC (Taussig, Clyman, & Landsverk,...