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Related Resources: Placement Stability

Resources and information about the number of placements for children in out-of-home care and the importance of stability for children, including State and local examples.

Out-of-Home Care: Length of Stay and Number of Placements
National Data Analysis System, Child Welfare League of America (2003)
Information on the amount of time children remain in out-of-home care and the number of placements they experienced during their last episode in out-of-home care.

Placement Change Definitions Implementation Guide (PDF - 476 KB)
Child Welfare League of America & National Working Group to Improve Child Welfare Data (2006)
Tool to help States consistently interpret Federal guidance when extracting data from their information systems to report placement change data to the Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS).

Placement Stability
National Resource Center for Family-Centered Practice and Permanency Planning
A collection of reports, curricula, and other resources relevant to placement stability.

Placement Stability in Foster Care
D'Andrade (2005)
In Child Welfare for the Twenty-First Century: A Handbook of Practices, Policies, and Programs
View Abstract
Explores the challenges involved with defining instability in foster care placement, details the evidence regarding its effects on children and youth, reviews the magnitude of the problem, explores various risk factors, and considers promising approaches.

Placement Stability Measure and Diverse Out-of-Home Care Populations (PDF - 116 KB)
Child Welfare League of America (2002)
Results from a survey of 50 states and the District of Columbia that attempted to discover how the majority of States calculated placement changes and the populations that were reflected in their out-of-home care data.

Safety and Stability for Foster Children: A Developmental Perspective
Harden
Future of Children, 14(1), 2004
Discusses the importance of safety and stability to healthy child development and reviews the research on the risks associated with maltreatment and the foster care experience. (PDF - 155 KB)

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State and local examples

Multiple Placements in Foster Care: Literature Review of Correlates and Predictors (PDF - 111 KB)
Children and Family Research Center (2004)
Discusses the incidence of placement instability among children in Illinois foster care and reasons for this instability.

State Supreme Court in Washington Recognizes Constitutional Rights of Foster Children
Grimm
Youth Law News, 25(1), 2004
Tells the story of a 1998 lawsuit filed on behalf of foster children in Washington State that claimed multiple placements and other practices by the State's child welfare system caused the children emotional and psychological harm and violated their constitutional rights.

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Updated on March 1, 2010