Prevalence and associated factors of placement breakdown of unaccompanied children in Flemish family foster care. A follow-up study

Frank Van Holen, Isabel Dewilde, Lenny Trogh, Camille Verheyden and Johan Vanderfaeillie

Children and Youth Services Review, 2021, vol. 127, issue C

Abstract: This study examines the prevalence of placement breakdown in family foster care for unaccompanied refugee minors (URM). Furthermore, it investigates which foster child, foster family and case characteristics are associated with breakdown. Case files of 107 URM who were placed in 2016 in Flemish family foster care (Dutch speaking part of Belgium) were analyzed. In a research window of 2.5 years, 62 placements (57.9%) had terminated: 32 placements broke down (29.9%) and 30 placements ended positively (28.0%). An ongoing asylum procedure and lying or cheating were associated with an increased likelihood of breakdown. Contacts with birth parents, on the other hand, was a protective factor for placement disruption. Therefore, legal authorities should limit the term of asylum procedures, foster care services and guardians must facilitate contacts between the URM and their parents, and the building of trust between youngsters and foster carers should be a central theme in the support process.

Keywords: Unaccompanied children; Family foster care; Breakdown (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S019074092100205X
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:cysrev:v:127:y:2021:i:c:s019074092100205x

DOI: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2021.106129

Access Statistics for this article

Children and Youth Services Review is currently edited by Duncan Lindsey

More articles in Children and Youth Services Review from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().