Former Foster Youth as Fathers: Risk and Protective Factors Predicting Father–Child Contact

This study uses longitudinal data from the Midwest Evaluation of the Adult Functioning of Former Foster Youth to examine father-child contact between fathers who aged out of foster care and their children (N = 287 children of 150 fathers). The authors examine the effect of remaining in foster care after age 18 and find that it is positively associated with father-child contact when fathers are age 26. Some of this relationship is explained by positive associations between remaining in care, employment, and men's coresidence with the child's mother, and a negative association with criminal conviction. Even among involved fathers, however, criminal convictions and unemployment are common. Findings suggest that extending care from age 18 to 21 benefits young men, and their children, when they become fathers. Child welfare policies and practice should attend to the needs of young men who become fathers, before and after they exit care.Key Words: fatherhood, child welfare, at-risk children and families, social policy.IntroductionAbout 30,000 youth "age out" of the state's care each year (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2010). Although some youth do relatively well, many experience substantial challenges, including early parenthood and involvement with public systems after discharge (Courtney, Hook, & Lee, 2012; Foster & Gifford, 2005; Osgood, Foster, & Courtney, 2010). Recent research shows that by age 26, about half of young men who aged out of care in Illinois, Iowa, and Wisconsin are fathers compared to only about one quarter of similarly aged men interviewed in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health; Harris et al., 2009). Of concern is that fathers who aged out of care are less likely to be living with their children. Less than half of fathers who aged out of care live with at least one of their children compared to over two-thirds of similarly aged fathers surveyed in Add Health (Courtney et al., 2011). Research shows that although some parents fare relatively well for their age, over half of resident children born to former foster youth live with parents who could best be described as struggling, and over half of nonresident children have parents with substantial challenges including involvement with the criminal justice system (Courtney et al., 2012).Although youth making the transition to adulthood from foster care are a particular focus of U.S. social policy (Courtney, 2009; Osgood et al., 2010), federal legislation does not make any mention of states' responsibility to prepare youth for parenting or to support young parents as they make the transition to adulthood. Approximately 150,000 current and former foster youth between ages 16 and 21 are entitled to services from states in preparation for independent living under the Chafee Foster Care Independence Act (FCIA). Whereas FCIA allocates $182 million in federal funds per year to states for provision of social services, housing, and direct support for postsecondary education, recent legislation is more expansive. The Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008 (Fostering Connections Act) gives states the option, starting in 2011, of claiming federal reimbursement for extending foster care from age 18 to 21. Thirteen states, accounting for over half of the national foster care population, have already submitted amendments to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services indicating that they intend to exercise the option. The potential costs of extending care if all states eventually take up this option is $2 billion per year in additional spending (Peters, Dworsky, Courtney, & Pollack, 2009). For states to claim reimbursement on behalf of a young adult, he or she must be either in school, employed or in an employment-promoting activity, or incapable of doing these activities due to a medical condition (Courtney, 2009). The only mention of parenting in either law is language in the accountability provisions of the Chafee Act requiring states to track "nonmarital childbirth. …