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From Foster Care to Adoption and Guardianship: A Twenty-First Century Challenge

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Abstract

For nearly four decades, child welfare policy and practice have focused on the achievement of legal permanence for children in foster care. Although federal child welfare policy has resulted in the movement of children from state custody to legally permanent adoptive or guardianship families, little is known about the quality and enduring nature of these placements. A significant challenge of the twenty-first century child welfare system is how to ensure the well-being of children currently living with adoptive parents or guardians. This paper discusses child welfare policy and trends related to post-permanency well-being, including the decrease in Title IV-E foster care caseloads nationwide and the simultaneous increase in Title IV-E adoptive and guardianship caseloads. We highlight the needs of a twenty-first century child welfare system, including increased federal efforts to ensure child permanence and well-being after legal adoption or guardianship has been achieved, as well as more rigorous longitudinal and interdisciplinary research focused on the post-permanency adjustment of children and their families.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge the assistance of Laura Radel, Acting Director, Division of Children and Youth Policy, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Ms. Radel shared the state-level Title IV-E claims data with the authors. The contents of this manuscript do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the USHHS or Ms. Radel.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Helen Bader School of Social Welfare, University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee, 2400 E. Hartford Avenue, Milwaukee, WI, 53211, USA

    Nancy Rolock

  2. Department of Social Work, California State University, Stanislaus, One University Circle, Turlock, CA, 95382, USA

    Alfred G. Pérez

  3. School of Social Work, East Carolina University, 116 Rivers Building, Greenville, NC, 27858, USA

    Kevin R. White

  4. American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare, The University of Texas at Austin, School of Social Work, 1925 San Jacinto Blvd. Stop D3500, Austin, TX, 78712, USA

    Rowena Fong

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  1. Nancy Rolock
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Correspondence to Nancy Rolock.

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Nancy Rolock, Alfred G. Pérez, Kevin R. White, and Rowena Fong declare that they do not have any conflict of interest.

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This article does not contain any studies with human participants performed by any of the authors.

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Rolock, N., Pérez, A.G., White, K.R. et al. From Foster Care to Adoption and Guardianship: A Twenty-First Century Challenge. Child Adolesc Soc Work J 35, 11–20 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10560-017-0499-z

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