The educational outcomes of children in care, as they prepare for and eventually complete the transition out of care, have been the subject of a growing body of research. Despite the progress made, no unified theory of risk... [ view full abstract ]
The educational outcomes of children in care, as they prepare for and eventually complete the transition out of care, have been the subject of a growing body of research. Despite the progress made, no unified theory of risk and protective factors associated with educational outcomes has yet arisen from the longitudinal, cohort, and cross-sectional studies conducted with youth in care. Although researchers have suggested many pre-care or in-care experiences as influences leading to the lower educational attainment frequently seen in children in care, O’Higgins, Sebba, & Gardner’s (2016) systematic review was the first to attempt to identify from the international literature the full range of predictive factors that would enable a relatively complete model of the educational achievement of children in foster or kinship care to be established.
From the results of this systematic review, the present authors performed two hierarchical regressions, one cross-sectional and the other longitudinal, of the generalizability of many of the risk and protective factors identified by the systematic review. Using secondary analysis of data drawn from the Ontario Looking After Children (OnLAC) project, the cross-sectional sample consisted of 3,662 young people aged 12 to 17 years who were residing in out-of-home care in Ontario, Canada. Within this cross-sectional sample, six factors were found to be significantly related to higher educational success: gender (female), higher caregiver educational aspirations, higher youth educational aspirations, longer time with current caregiver, more internal developmental assets, and more positive mental health. On the other hand, six factors were found to significantly predict lower educational success: neglect as a reason for coming into care, being held back a grade or more, more learning-related difficulties, ethnic minority status (Black), exhibiting a greater number of behavioural problems, and soft-drug use (cigarettes, alcohol, marijuana).
The longitudinal sample was composed of a subsample of 962 young people from the cross-sectional sample who had also been assessed 36 months later. Results revealed a statistically significant decline (-0.8 SD) in educational success over the three years between T1 and T2. Overall, three factors predicted higher educational success at T2: gender (female), having more internal developmental assets, and having more positive mental health, whereas only one factors, soft drug use, was found to predict lower educational success at T2. The way that these risk and protective factors may impact young boys and girls differently was also explored. Lastly, the implications for policy and practice will be discussed, including what factors to target for systematic assessment and early intervention and what factors could benefit from additional programming and support.
References
O'Higgins, A., Sebba, J., and Gardner, J. (2016). What are the factors associated educational achievement for children in kinship or foster care: a systematic review. Oxford University.
Assessment and decision making in child welfare , Education and qualification of children and young people in care
