Re-entering foster care Trends, evidence, and implications》.pdf

Children and Youth Services Review 31 (2009) 471–481 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Children and Youth Services Review j ournal homepa ge: www.elsevier. com/ locate/ childyouth ☆ Re-entering foster care: Trends, evidence, and implications Sara E. Kimberlin a, Elizabeth K. Anthony b,⁎, Michael J. Austin a a Bay Area Social Services Consortium, Center for Social Services Research, School of Social Welfare, University of California, Berkeley, United States b School of Social Work, Arizona State University, United States a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t Article history: The child welfare system strives to balance protecting the safety and well-being of abused and neglected Received 2 August 2008 children with preserving families whenever possible. When children must be removed from their homes and Received in revised form 1 October 2008 placed in foster care, family reunification is the preferred child welfare strategy. Unfortunately, not all Accepted 6 October 2008 reunifications are successful, and a significant number of children re-enter foster care each year. Foster care Available online 22 October 2008 re-entry represents a failure of permanency that has potentially serious negative effects on children. Thus the child welfare system must work to reduce and