IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/labeco/v65y2020ics0927537120300440.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Family first or the kindness of strangers? Foster care placements and adult outcomes

Author

Listed:
  • Lovett, Nicholas
  • Xue, Yuhan

Abstract

We evaluate the long-run effects of placing foster children with extended family, rather than unrelated caregivers. An instrumental variable identification strategy is used to estimate the effects of kinship care relative to traditional foster care. We find former foster youth placed with kin benefit across a host of important adult outcomes, including increases in employment and education, and reductions in public assistance, homelessness, and incarceration. Estimated effects are statistically significant, and robust to multiple specifications. Findings suggest kinship care has the potential to improve important adult outcomes for a large, at-risk population and create large social cost savings.

Suggested Citation

  • Lovett, Nicholas & Xue, Yuhan, 2020. "Family first or the kindness of strangers? Foster care placements and adult outcomes," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:labeco:v:65:y:2020:i:c:s0927537120300440
    DOI: 10.1016/j.labeco.2020.101840
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0927537120300440
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.labeco.2020.101840?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. David Deming, 2009. "Early Childhood Intervention and Life-Cycle Skill Development: Evidence from Head Start," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 1(3), pages 111-134, July.
    2. James J. Heckman, 1976. "The Common Structure of Statistical Models of Truncation, Sample Selection and Limited Dependent Variables and a Simple Estimator for Such Models," NBER Chapters, in: Annals of Economic and Social Measurement, Volume 5, number 4, pages 475-492, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Aviv Nevo & Adam M. Rosen, 2012. "Identification With Imperfect Instruments," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 94(3), pages 659-671, August.
    4. Cuddeback, Gary S., 2004. "Kinship family foster care: a methodological and substantive synthesis of research," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 26(7), pages 623-639, July.
    5. Peters, Jay, 2005. "True ambivalence: Child welfare workers' thoughts, feelings, and beliefs about kinship foster care," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 27(6), pages 595-614, June.
    6. Luc Behaghel & Bruno Crépon & Marc Gurgand & Thomas Le Barbanchon, 2015. "Please Call Again: Correcting Nonresponse Bias in Treatment Effect Models," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 97(5), pages 1070-1080, December.
    7. F. Kreuter & K. Olson & J. Wagner & T. Yan & T. M. Ezzati‐Rice & C. Casas‐Cordero & M. Lemay & A. Peytchev & R. M. Groves & T. E. Raghunathan, 2010. "Using proxy measures and other correlates of survey outcomes to adjust for non‐response: examples from multiple surveys," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 173(2), pages 389-407, April.
    8. Ori Heffetz & Daniel B. Reeves, 2019. "Difficulty of Reaching Respondents and Nonresponse Bias: Evidence from Large Government Surveys," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 101(1), pages 176-191, March.
    9. Anthony Bald & Eric Chyn & Justine Hastings & Margarita Machelett, 2022. "The Causal Impact of Removing Children from Abusive and Neglectful Homes," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 130(7), pages 1919-1962.
    10. Brooks, Devon & Barth, Richard P., 1998. "Characteristics and outcomes of drug-exposed and non drug-exposed children in kinship and non-relative foster care," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 20(6), pages 475-501, July.
    11. Iglehart, Alfreda P., 1994. "Kinship foster care: Placement, service, and outcome issues," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 16(1-2), pages 107-122.
    12. Keller, Thomas E. & Wetherbee, Kathleen & Le Prohn, Nicole S. & Payne, Vincent & Sim, Kelly & Lamont, Elena R., 2001. "Competencies and problem behaviors of children in family foster care: variations by kinship placement status and race," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 23(12), pages 915-940, December.
    13. Santavirta, T., 2014. "Unaccompanied evacuation and adult mortality: Evaluating the finnish policy of evacuating children to foster care during world war II," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 104(9), pages 1759-1765.
    14. Doyle, Joseph J., 2007. "Can't buy me love? Subsidizing the care of related children," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(1-2), pages 281-304, February.
    15. Koh, Eun, 2010. "Permanency outcomes of children in kinship and non-kinship foster care: Testing the external validity of kinship effects," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 32(3), pages 389-398, March.
    16. Owen Thompson, 2018. "Head Start’s Long-Run Impact: Evidence from the Program’s Introduction," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 53(4), pages 1100-1139.
    17. William P. Warburton & Rebecca N. Warburton & Arthur Sweetman & Clyde Hertzman, 2014. "The Impact of Placing Adolescent Males into Foster Care on Education, Income Assistance, and Convictions," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 47(1), pages 35-69, February.
    18. King, Bryn & Putnam-Hornstein, Emily & Cederbaum, Julie A. & Needell, Barbara, 2014. "A cross-sectional examination of birth rates among adolescent girls in foster care," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 179-186.
    19. Lindquist, Matthew J. & Santavirta, Torsten, 2014. "Does placing children in foster care increase their adult criminality?," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 72-83.
    20. Berrick, Jill Duerr & Barth, Richard P. & Needell, Barbara, 1994. "A comparison of kinship foster homes and foster family homes: Implications for kinship foster care as family preservation," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 16(1-2), pages 33-63.
    21. Bran Duncan & Laura Argys, 2007. "Economics Incentives and Foster Care Placement," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 74(1), pages 114-142, July.
    22. Heckman, James, 2013. "Sample selection bias as a specification error," Applied Econometrics, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), vol. 31(3), pages 129-137.
    23. Joseph J. Doyle Jr., 2007. "Child Protection and Child Outcomes: Measuring the Effects of Foster Care," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 97(5), pages 1583-1610, December.
    24. Iglehart, Alfreda P., 1995. "Readiness for independence: Comparison of foster care, kinship care, and non-foster care adolescents," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 17(3), pages 417-432.
    25. Havlicek, Judy, 2011. "Lives in motion: A review of former foster youth in the context of their experiences in the child welfare system," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 33(7), pages 1090-1100, July.
    26. Timothy G. Conley & Christian B. Hansen & Peter E. Rossi, 2012. "Plausibly Exogenous," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 94(1), pages 260-272, February.
    27. Nina Santavirta & Torsten Santavirta, 2014. "Child Protection And Adult Depression: Evaluating The Long‐Term Consequences Of Evacuating Children To Foster Care During World War Ii," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 23(3), pages 253-267, March.
    28. Joseph Doyle & H. Peters, 2007. "The market for foster care: an empirical study of the impact of foster care subsidies," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 5(4), pages 329-351, December.
    29. Landsverk, John & Davis, Inger & Ganger, William & Newton, Rae & Johnson, Ivory, 1996. "Impact of child psychosocial functioning on reunification from out-of-home placement," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 18(4-5), pages 447-462.
    30. Joseph J. Doyle Jr., 2008. "Child Protection and Adult Crime: Using Investigator Assignment to Estimate Causal Effects of Foster Care," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 116(4), pages 746-770, August.
    31. Font, Sarah & Maguire-Jack, Kathryn, 2013. "Academic engagement and performance: Estimating the impact of out-of-home care for maltreated children," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 35(5), pages 856-864.
    32. Torsten Santavirta, 2012. "How Large Are the Effects from Temporary Changes in Family Environment: Evidence from a Child-Evacuation Program during World War II," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 4(3), pages 28-42, July.
    33. Ori Heffetz & Matthew Rabin, 2013. "Conclusions Regarding Cross-Group Differences in Happiness Depend on Difficulty of Reaching Respondents," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 103(7), pages 3001-3021, December.
    34. Harden, Brenda Jones & Clyman, Robert B. & Kriebel, Dawn K. & Lyons, Mary E., 2004. "Kith and kin care: parental attitudes and resources of foster and relative caregivers," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 26(7), pages 657-671, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Peter Choate & Christina Tortorelli, 2022. "Attachment Theory: A Barrier for Indigenous Children Involved with Child Protection," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(14), pages 1-20, July.
    2. E. Jason Baron & Ezra G. Goldstein & Joseph Ryan, 2023. "The Push for Racial Equity in Child Welfare: Can Blind Removals Reduce Disproportionality?," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 42(2), pages 456-487, March.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Hayduk Iryna, 2017. "The Effect of Kinship Placement Laws on Foster Children’s Well-Being," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 17(1), pages 1-23, February.
    2. Wu, Qi & White, Kevin R. & Coleman, Kanisha L., 2015. "Effects of kinship care on behavioral problems by child age: A propensity score analysis," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 1-8.
    3. Cameron Taylor, 2024. "Why do families foster children? A Beckerian approach," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 22(1), pages 261-293, March.
    4. Zinn, Andrew, 2010. "A typology of kinship foster families: Latent class and exploratory analyses of kinship family structure and household composition," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 32(3), pages 325-337, March.
    5. Cuddeback, Gary S., 2004. "Kinship family foster care: a methodological and substantive synthesis of research," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 26(7), pages 623-639, July.
    6. Hegar, Rebecca L. & Rosenthal, James A., 2009. "Kinship care and sibling placement: Child behavior, family relationships, and school outcomes," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 31(6), pages 670-679, June.
    7. Koh, Eun, 2010. "Permanency outcomes of children in kinship and non-kinship foster care: Testing the external validity of kinship effects," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 32(3), pages 389-398, March.
    8. Anthony Bald & Eric Chyn & Justine Hastings & Margarita Machelett, 2022. "The Causal Impact of Removing Children from Abusive and Neglectful Homes," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 130(7), pages 1919-1962.
    9. Kang, Hyunah & Chung, Ick-Joong & Chun, JongSerl & Nho, Choong Rai & Woo, Seokjin, 2014. "The outcomes of foster care in South Korea ten years after its foundation: A comparison with institutional care," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 135-143.
    10. Ehrle, Jennifer & Geen, Rob, 2002. "Kin and non-kin foster care--findings from a National Survey," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 24(1-2), pages 15-35.
    11. Lawler, Michael J., 2008. "Maltreated children's emotional availability with kin and non-kin foster mothers: A sociobiological perspective," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 30(10), pages 1131-1143, October.
    12. Littlewood, Kerry A. & Strozier, Anne L. & Whittington, Danielle, 2014. "Kin as Teachers: An early childhood education and support intervention for kinship families," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 1-9.
    13. Pac, Jessica, 2017. "The effect of monthly stipend on the placement instability of youths in out-of-home care," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 111-123.
    14. Fallesen, Peter, 2016. "Downward spiral: The impact of out-of-home placement on paternal welfare dependency," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 45-55.
    15. Zinn, Andrew, 2012. "Kinship foster family type and placement discharge outcomes," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 34(4), pages 602-614.
    16. Berrick, Jill Duerr & Hernandez, Julia, 2016. "Developing consistent and transparent kinship care policy and practice: State mandated, mediated, and independent care," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 24-33.
    17. Jeremy Thornton & Lisa Cave, 2010. "The Effects Of Organizational Form In The Mixed Market For Foster Care," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 81(2), pages 211-245, June.
    18. Patrick Kline & Christopher R. Walters, 2016. "Evaluating Public Programs with Close Substitutes: The Case of HeadStart," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 131(4), pages 1795-1848.
    19. Vericker, Tracy & Macomber, Jennifer & Geen, Robert, 2008. "The story behind kinship care caseload dynamics: An analysis of AFCARS data, 2000-2003," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 30(4), pages 437-451, April.
    20. Anthony Bald & Joseph J. Doyle Jr. & Max Gross & Brian A. Jacob, 2022. "Economics of Foster Care," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 36(2), pages 223-246, Spring.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Foster care; Adult outcomes; Family ties; Instrumental variable;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I38 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Government Programs; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • H75 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - State and Local Government: Health, Education, and Welfare

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:labeco:v:65:y:2020:i:c:s0927537120300440. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/labeco .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.