Chapter IV. Achieving Appropriate and Stable Placements
The Department believes that a State has an obligation to ensure that while children are in foster care, they experience stable and age-appropriate placements. The Report to Congress assesses State performance with regard to achieving these objectives through outcome 6—Increase placement stability, and outcome 7— Reduce placements of young children in group homes or institutions. The findings with regard to State performance on these outcomes are presented below.
State Performance on Placement-Related Outcome Measures
State performance with regard to placement stability
The measure developed to assess performance on Outcome 6 defines placement stability as “no more than two placement settings” and examines placement stability in several time frames. The measure is the following:
Outcome measure 6.1—Of all children served who had been in foster care for the time periods listed below, what percentage had no more than two placement settings during that time period?
(1) Less than 12 months from the time of latest removal from home
(2) At least 12 months but less than 24 months
(3) At least 24 months but less than 36 months
(4) At least 36 months but less than 48 months
(5) 48 or more months
The following are key findings pertaining to State performance on this measure in FY 2002 (N=52):
- The percentage of children in foster care for less than 12 months who experienced no more than 2 placement settings ranged from 55.3 in Mississippi to 99.8 percent in Puerto Rico, with a median of 84.1.
- Fourteen States (27 percent) met the national standard for this measure of 86.7 percent or more children experiencing no more than 2 placement settings within 12 months of removal from the home.
- The percentage of children experiencing no more than 2 placement settings declines substantially with increasing time in foster care. For example, the percentage of children in foster care for more than 48 months who experienced no more than 2 placement settings ranged from 7.5 in Maine to 98.7 in Puerto Rico, with a median of 27.2 percent.
Information regarding State performance from FY 1999 through FY 2002 with regard to outcome measure 6.1 is provided in table IV-1. As shown in the table, there was little difference in performance over time. However, the percentage of States meeting the national standard declined from FY 1999 to FY 2002 (-27 percent change). This finding is difficult to interpret because there was initial confusion among States with regard to what constituted a change in placement setting. For example, some States did not report a placement change if a child was placed with a caregiver with whom he or she had been placed before. Department clarification regarding placement settings may have resulted in changes in percentages on this measure for many States.
Table IV-1. State performance from FY 1999 to FY 2002 with regard to the percentage of children experiencing no more than 2 placement settings within 12 months from the time of entry into foster care (outcome measure 6.2)
| Variables | FY 1999 | FY 2000 | FY 2001 | FY 2002 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number of States | 50 | 50 | 51 | 52 |
| Mean performance (percent experiencing no more than 2 placement settings within 12 months of entry into foster care) | 82.8 | 82.5 | 82.6 | 81.8 |
| Median performance (percent experiencing no more than 2 placement settings within 12 months of entry into foster care) | 84.2 | 84.6 | 83.3 | 84.1 |
| Percent of States meeting national standard of 86.7 percent of more of children having no more than 2 placements within 12 months of entry into foster care | 37 | 31 | 25 | 27 |
Figure IV-1 provides the percentages of States exhibiting improvement, decline, or no change in performance on this measure from FY 1999 to FY 2002. As shown in the figure, the majority of States exhibited no change in performance on this measure.
State performance with regard to placements of young children in group homes and institutions
Outcome 7 examines State performance with regard to age-appropriate placements for young children. The outcome is based on the assumption that a group home or an institution usually is not the most appropriate placement setting for a young child. The measure developed to assess achievement of this outcome is the following: Outcome measure 7.1—For all children who entered foster care during the reporting period and were age 12 or younger at the time of their most recent placement, what percentage was placed in a group home or institution?
Key findings of this analyses were the following (N=51)22:
- The percentage of children age 12 and younger who were placed in a group home ranged from 0.03 in Kentucky to 25.4 in Mississippi, with a median of 3.5.
- The percentage of children age 12 and younger who were placed in an institution ranged from 0.4 in Montana to 28.7 in South Carolina, with a median of 4.2.
- The percentage of children age 12 and younger who were placed in either a group home or an institution (combined) ranged from 2.3 in Illinois to 34.7 in South Carolina, with a median of 8.6.
Table IV-2 presents information about performance on outcome measure 7.1 from FY 1999 through FY 2002. As shown in the table, there was little change in performance on this measure from FY 1999 to FY 2002. Both mean and median performance demonstrated improvement from 1999 to 2001, but then declined from 2001 to 2002.
Table IV-2. State performance from FY 1999 to FY 2002 with regard to the percentage of children age 12 and younger who were placed in a group home or institution (outcome measure 7.1)
| Variables | FY 1999 | FY 2000 | FY 2001 | FY 2002 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number of States included in Analysis | 51 | 50 | 50 | 51 |
| Mean performance (percent children age 12 and younger placed in a group home or institution) | 10.9 | 10.3 | 9.1 | 11.0 |
| Median performance (percent children age 12 and younger placed in a group home or institution) | 8.8 | 9.0 | 6.6 | 8.6 |
Figure IV-2 provides the percentages of States exhibiting improvement, decline, or no change in performance from FY 1999 to FY 2002. An equal number of States improved in performance as declined in performance.
Context Variables and State Performance
Analyses were conducted to examine the relationship of children’s age and race/ethnicity at entry into foster care to (1) the percentage of children in a State experiencing no more than 2 placement settings within 12 months of entry into foster care, and (2) the percentage of children age 12 and younger entering foster care in a State who were placed in group homes or institutions. No substantial relationships were found for these analyses.
22One State (Nevada) was excluded because of data quality concerns. Back
