Unstable child welfare permanent placements and early adolescent physical and mental health: The roles of adverse childhood experiences and post-traumatic stress.

Although researchers have found that child welfare placement disruptions are associated with elevated youth physical and mental health problems, the mechanisms that explain this association have not been previously studied. The present study built on a previous investigation of the physical and behavioral consequences of long-term permanent placement patterns among youth who participated in the Longitudinal Studies of Child Abuse and Neglect (LONGSCAN). The current investigation (n=251) aimed to (a) report the early adolescent living situations of youth with different long-term placement patterns, and (b) to delineate the roles of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and post-traumatic stress (PTS) reactions in the association between unstable long-term placement patterns and physical and mental health problems during the transition to adolescence.

Long-Term Placement Trajectories of Children Who Were Maltreated and Entered the Child Welfare System at an Early Age: Consequences for Physical and Behavioral Well-Being.

Objective: This study aimed to identify children's long-term placement trajectories following early child welfare involvement and the association of these trajectories with subsequent physical and behavioral well-being.

Method: Participants were 330 children who entered out-of-home care following a substantiated report of child abuse or neglect during infancy/early childhood and their caregivers. Participants were interviewed at child ages 4 and 12 years to assess children's physical and behavioral well-being and every 2 years in between to determine child placements.

Factors associated with caregiver stability in permanent placements: a classification tree approach.

Objective: Identify individual and environmental variables associated with caregiver stability and instability for children in diverse permanent placement types (i.e., reunification, adoption, and long-term foster care/guardianship with relatives or non-relatives), following 5 or more months in out-of-home care prior to age 4 due to substantiated maltreatment.