Skip to main content
PMC home page
American Journal of Public Health logoLink to American Journal of Public Health
. 1998 Sep;88(9):1368–1370. doi: 10.2105/ajph.88.9.1368

Foster care children and family homelessness.

C Zlotnick 1, D Kronstadt 1, L Klee 1
PMCID: PMC1509078  PMID: 9736878

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: This study examined the association between family homelessness and children's placement in foster care. METHODS: The prevalence of homelessness in a random sample of 195 young foster children was examined. RESULTS: Almost half of the birth parents of the foster children had experienced homelessness. Those children were more likely than other foster children to have siblings in foster care and to be place with nonrelatives. CONCLUSIONS: An extremely high prevalence of family homelessness was found among children in foster care. Policy implications of the association between family homelessness and placement into foster care are discussed.

Full text

PDF
1368

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Bassuk E. L., Buckner J. C., Weinreb L. F., Browne A., Bassuk S. S., Dawson R., Perloff J. N. Homelessness in female-headed families: childhood and adult risk and protective factors. Am J Public Health. 1997 Feb;87(2):241–248. doi: 10.2105/ajph.87.2.241. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Bassuk E. L., Weinreb L. F., Buckner J. C., Browne A., Salomon A., Bassuk S. S. The characteristics and needs of sheltered homeless and low-income housed mothers. JAMA. 1996 Aug 28;276(8):640–646. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Halfon N., Klee L. Health services for California's foster children: current practices and policy recommendations. Pediatrics. 1987 Aug;80(2):183–191. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Herman D. B., Susser E. S., Struening E. L., Link B. L. Adverse childhood experiences: are they risk factors for adult homelessness? Am J Public Health. 1997 Feb;87(2):249–255. doi: 10.2105/ajph.87.2.249. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Klee L., Halfon N. Mental health care for foster children in California. Child Abuse Negl. 1987;11(1):63–74. doi: 10.1016/0145-2134(87)90034-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Klee L., Soman L. A., Halfon N. Implementing critical health services for children in foster care. Child Welfare. 1992 Mar-Apr;71(2):99–111. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Koegel P., Melamid E., Burnam m. A. Childhood risk factors for homelessness among homeless adults. Am J Public Health. 1995 Dec;85(12):1642–1649. doi: 10.2105/ajph.85.12.1642. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Robertson M. J., Zlotnick C., Westerfelt A. Drug use disorders and treatment contact among homeless adults in Alameda County, California. Am J Public Health. 1997 Feb;87(2):221–228. doi: 10.2105/ajph.87.2.221. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Susser E. S., Lin S. P., Conover S. A., Struening E. L. Childhood antecedents of homelessness in psychiatric patients. Am J Psychiatry. 1991 Aug;148(8):1026–1030. doi: 10.1176/ajp.148.8.1026. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Takayama J. I., Bergman A. B., Connell F. A. Children in foster care in the state of Washington. Health care utilization and expenditures. JAMA. 1994 Jun 15;271(23):1850–1855. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Wood D. L., Valdez R. B., Hayashi T., Shen A. Health of homeless children and housed, poor children. Pediatrics. 1990 Dec;86(6):858–866. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from American Journal of Public Health are provided here courtesy of American Public Health Association

RESOURCES