Elsevier

Child Abuse & Neglect

Volume 31, Issue 4, April 2007, Pages 361-374
Child Abuse & Neglect

Caregiver commitment to foster children: The role of child behavior

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2006.12.003Get rights and content

Abstract

Objective

This study aimed to examine the association between child behavior problems and caregiver commitment to their child in a group of young foster children.

Method

The sample consisted of 102 caregiver-child dyads from the greater Baltimore area. Child behavior was assessed using the Child Behavior Checklist [CBCL; Achenbach, T. M. (1991). Manual for the Child Behavior Checklist/4–8 and 1991 profile. Burlington, VT: University of Vermont, Department of Psychiatry; Achenbach, T. M. (1992). Manual for the Child Behavior Checklist/2–3 and 1992 profile. Burlington, VT: University of Vermont, Department of Psychiatry], and caregiver commitment was assessed using a semi-structured interview known as the “This is My Baby” Interview [Bates, B., & Dozier, M. (1998). “This Is My Babycoding manual. Unpublished manuscript, University of Delaware, Newark]. For a sub-sample of the dyads (N = 76), we examined caregiver commitment and parent-reported child behavior at two time points in order to examine the stability of a caregiver's commitment over time and to examine the direction of the association between the two variables.

Results

Overall, caregiver reported child behavior was significantly associated with caregiver commitment. Both caregiver reported child behavior and caregiver commitment were highly stable over an 11-month period. When we examined the data over time, the effect of caregiver reported child behavior at time 1 on caregiver commitment at time 2 was not significantly larger than the effect of caregiver commitment at time 1 on caregiver reported child behavior at time 2. As a result, we were not able to determine the direction of the association between caregiver reported child behavior and caregiver commitment.

Conclusions

Our results indicate that caregiver reported child behavior is significantly associated with caregiver commitment to their foster children, even after controlling for factors including age of entry into foster care and time in placement.

Introduction

Whether or not a caregiver becomes committed to a foster child has important implications for the child. Most importantly, caregiver commitment has been found to predict placement stability for foster parent-child dyads (Dozier & Lindhiem, 2006). This finding is important because placement stability has consistently been found to predict a host of positive outcomes for foster children (e.g., Aldgate, Colton, Ghate, & Heath, 1992; Fisher, Burraston, & Pears, 2005; Newton, Litrownik, & Landsverk, 2000). For example, foster children in stable placements are likely to have higher academic achievement (Aldgate et al., 1992) and fewer behavior problems (Newton et al., 2000) than foster children who experience multiple placements. Therefore, understanding the determinants and correlates of caregiver commitment might have important implications for the lives of foster children. In this study, we were interested in whether child characteristics are associated with caregiver commitment. Specifically, we examined whether parents’ reports of children's behaviors predict caregivers’ commitment.

Several studies have examined the effects of foster family characteristics on foster children's behavioral and emotional functioning (see Orme & Buehler, 2001 for a review). Characteristics that have been investigated include parenting variables, the home environment, demographic variables, caregiver mental health, and social support. Less is known about the effects of child adaptation on caregiver variables. We are particularly interested in the effects of foster children's characteristics on caregivers’ commitment to an enduring relationship. Although this has not been studied directly, several studies have documented the association between child behavior problems and placement stability (e.g., James, Landsverk, & Slymen, 2004; Newton et al., 2000, Pardeck, 1983). In a large sample of over 4,000 foster children, mostly between the ages of 6 and 17, children who entered foster care with behavior problems at home, behavior problems at schools, or emotional problems were all more likely be experience multiple foster care placements than children without such problems (Pardeck, 1983). It should be noted, however, that this study did not control for many potential third variables. Externalizing behavior has been found to be a particularly reliable predictor of placement disruptions (e.g., James et al., 2004, Newton et al., 2000). In a recent study, externalizing behavior was found to predict several aspects of placement stability including delays in achieving a stable placement, disruptions late during placement, and multiple short placements in a group of out-of-home care children between the ages of 1 and 16 (James et al., 2004). The methodology of this study, however, did not allow for the inference of causality from these findings. Landsverk and colleagues also examined the direction of the association between problem behaviors and number of placements in a group of children between 0 and 17 in foster care (Newton et al., 2000). They found evidence for a bi-directional effect. Foster children with externalizing behavior early in placement were more likely to experience multiple placements than those children without externalizing behavior problems. For a group of children who did not have behavior problems early in placement, multiple placements led to increases in externalizing behaviors, internalizing behaviors, and overall problem behaviors.

Based on our conceptualization of commitment (i.e., motivation to be in a long-term relationship with the child), these studies suggest that child behavior may be an important determinant of caregiver commitment. Even when placed as early as 12 months of age, foster infants bring with them behaviors that are independent of the caregiver with whom they are placed (Stovall & Dozier, 2000; Stovall-McClough & Dozier, 2004). Stovall-McClough and Dozier have also found that foster mothers tend to provide more or less nurturance to foster infants, depending on the infants’ behaviors. Infants who are placed at an earlier age tend to display behaviors that elicit more nurturance from caregivers than infants who are placed at a later age.

We have defined commitment narrowly as the degree to which a caregiver is motivated to be in an enduring relationship with his or her child (Bates & Dozier, 1998; Dozier & Lindhiem, 2006). Such a narrow definition has particular significance for foster parent-child dyads, in which an enduring relationship cannot be assumed. Several constructs are similar to commitment, but differ in critical ways. One such construct is that of socioemotional investment, proposed by Bradley and colleagues (Bradley, Whiteside-Mansell, Brisby, & Caldwell, 1997; Corwyn & Bradley, 1999). Bradley et al. (1997) have defined the term socioemotional investment broadly as a composite of parental delight in the child, sensitivity to the child's needs and cues, acceptance of the parenting role, and distress at being separated from the child. Socioemotional investment in both biological mothers and fathers is associated with social support, quality of the marital relationship, parental stress, child temperament, and parent personality traits (Bradley et al., 1997; Corwyn & Bradley, 1999).

This construct of socioemotional investment was developed in relation to biologically intact dyads (Bradley et al., 1997). We suggest that commitment is a much narrower construct with particular relevance for caregiver-child dyads who lack biological relatedness. The unique aspect of commitment, relative to socioemotional investment, is the emphasis on the extent to which the parent cares about the relationship enduring. We assume that there would be little variability in commitment among biologically intact dyads, except under aberrant conditions.

We acknowledge that foster care is often temporary, almost by definition. Thus, it might seem unreasonable for foster parents to “commit” to a child, especially when the placement is expected to be temporary. However, we argue that “expecting” that the relationship will endure, and acting accordingly, is advantageous for the infant or child in care (Dozier & Lindhiem, 2006). Although this might be emotionally challenging for the caregiver, especially when the infant or child is returned to his or her birthparents, having a committed caregiver is in the best interest of the child.

A number of caregiver and placement characteristics have already been examined as predictors of caregiver commitment (Dozier & Lindhiem, 2006). Caregivers were found to exhibit higher levels of commitment to infants who were placed in their care at a younger age than to infants and children who were placed at an older age. Caregivers who had cared for many foster children in the past exhibited lower levels of commitment than caregivers who had cared for fewer foster children. Most importantly, caregiver commitment was found to predict placement stability. Specifically, for every unit increase in commitment, as assessed using the “This is My Baby” Interview (Bates & Dozier, 1998), caregivers where almost twice as likely to keep their infant or child in placement for 2 years or longer (odds ratio of 1.8).

In this study, we investigated whether caregiver reported child behavior is related to caregiver commitment. This is the first study we are aware of that examines the association between characteristics of the child and caregiver commitment. Specifically, we examined the associations between child behavior assessed using the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL; Achenbach, 1991, Achenbach, 1992) and caregiver commitment assessed using the “This is My Baby” Interview (TIMB; Bates & Dozier, 1998). First, we expected that caregiver reported child behavior would predict caregiver commitment, both concurrently and predictively. Second, we expected that caregiver commitment would be moderately stable over time, affected by factors including parent-reported child behavior. Third, we expected the association between parent-reported child behavior and caregiver commitment to be partially bi-directional. Specifically, we expected that parent-reported problem behaviors would lead to lower caregiver commitment, and that lower caregiver commitment would contribute to increased parent-reported problem behaviors. Finally, we expected that previously obtained findings linking commitment with the number of children fostered by the caregiver and the child's age of entry into care would hold when controlling for parent-reported child behavior.

Section snippets

Participants and procedure

The sample consisted of 102 caregiver-child dyads from the greater Baltimore area. These dyads were recruited as part of an ongoing longitudinal study examining how young children cope with early foster care placements. The study was approved by the IRB at the University of Delaware. Written consent was obtained from both the legal guardian and foster parent of each child. Recruitment took place between the years 1995 and 2000 in two phases. The first phase of recruitment took place at the time

Preliminary analyses

Descriptive statistics for the variables in the overall sample are presented in Table 1. Correlations among the variables are presented in Table 2. Caregiver commitment was predicted by the caregiver's age (r = −.25, p < .05), the child's time with the caregiver (r = .30, p < .01), age of entry into foster care (r = −.37, p < .01), parent-reported child behavior (r = −.27, p < .05), and the number of children previously fostered (r = −.36, p < .01). Using a partial correlation, age of entry into foster care

Child behavior and caregiver commitment

Overall, caregiver reported child behavior was found to be associated with caregiver commitment. Caregivers were more committed to children who had low levels of caregiver reported behavior problems than to children who had high levels of caregiver reported behavior problems. When examined separately, the effect was statistically significant for externalizing behavior but not for internalizing behavior. This finding is consistent with research that behavior problems predict placement

Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the support of Cheryl Ransom-Garner, Commissioner of Philadelphia Department of Human Services, and Carlyse Giddens, Director of Delaware Division of Family Services; and caseworkers, foster families, birth families, and children at both agencies.

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Support for this research was provided by NIMH R01 52135 and NIMH K02 74374 to the second author.

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