Educational pathways in individuals placed in out-of-home care
From intermediate school to midlife
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.3384/SVT.2021.28.3.4261Abstract
National and international studies have shown that children with experience of out-of-home care (OHC) have poor school performance compared to their peers. However, we know less about their educational careers over time. Based on a 50-year follow-up of 12,000 individuals, of whom nearly 8 per cent had been placed in OHC before their 13th birthday, this study mapped out their educational pathways over the life course. The analyses focused on how the OHC group’s educational ambitions, achievement, and choices from sixth grade onwards differed from children who had come in contact with the child welfare system without being placed, and other majority population peers. The results showed that the OHC group consistently had poorer achievement, and made less ambitious choices compared to their majority population peers. However, the OHC group had similar or even better outcomes compared to the child welfare contact group. The results also showed that opportunities to resume studies in adulthood had played an important role for children in general and children in OHC in particular.
References
Almquist, Y.B., Grotta, A., Vågerö, D., Stenberg, S-Å. & Modin, B. (2019) Cohort profile update. The Stockholm Birth Cohort study. International Journal of Epidemiology, 1–6. doi:10.1093/ije/dyz185
Almquist, Y.B., Jackisch, J., Forsman, H., Gauffin, K., Vinnerljung, B., Hjern, A., & Brännström, L. (2018). A decade lost. Does educational success mitigate the increased risks of premature death among children with experience of out-of-home care? Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health, 72(11): 997–1002.
Arnesen, A.L. & Lundahl, L. (2006) Still social and democratic? Inclusive education policies in the Nordic welfare states. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research, 50(3): 285–300.
Berlin, M. (2020) Out-of-home care and educational outcomes. Prevalence, patterns and consequences. Stockholm: Stockholms universitet.
Boudon, R. (1974) Education, opportunity, and social inequality. Changing prospects in western society. John Wiley.
Brännström, L. & Stenberg, S-Å. (2021) Primary and secondary effects on long-term educational outcomes of individuals with experience of child welfare interventions. Child Abuse Review, 30: 48–61.
Brännström, L., Forsman, H., Vinnerljung, B. & Almquist, Y.B. (2020) Inequalities in educational outcomes in individuals with childhood experience of out-of-home care. What are driving the differences? Plos One, 15(4): e0232061.
Dæhlen, M. (2017) Child welfare clients and educational transitions. Child & Family Social Work, 22(1): 317–329.
Durbeej, N. & Hellner, C. (2017) Improving school performance among Swedish foster children. A quasi-experimental study exploring outcomes of the Skolfam model. Children and Youth Services Review, 82: 466–476.
Egelund, T., Andersen, D., Hestbæk, A-D., Lausten, M., Knudsen, L., Olsen, R. & Gerstoft, F. (2008) Anbragte børns udvikling og vilkår. Resultater fra SFI’s forløbsundersøgelser af årgang 1995. Köpenhamn: SFI.
Erikson, R., Goldthorpe, J.H., Jackson, M., Yaish, M. & Cox, D.R. (2005) On class differentials in educational attainment. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 102(27): 9730–9733.
Erikson, R. & Jonsson, J.O. (1996) The Swedish context. Educational reform and long-term change in educational inequality. I: R. Erikson & J.O. Jonsson (red.) Can education be equalized, 65–93. Boulder, Colorado: Westview.
Ferguson, H.B. & Wolkow, K. (2012) Educating children and youth in care. A review of barriers to school progress and strategies for change. Children and Youth Services Review, 34(6): 1143–1149.
Flynn, R.J., Marquis, R.A., Paquet, M-P., Peeke, L.M. & Aubry, T.D. (2012) Effects of individual direct-instruction tutoring on foster children’s academic skills. A randomized trial. Children and Youth Services Review, 34(6): 1183–1189.
Forsman, H. (2017) Foster carers’ experiences of a paired reading literacy intervention with looked-after children. Child & Family Social Work, 22(1): 409–418.
Forsman, H. (2019) Exploring the Letterbox Club programme’s impact on foster children’s literacy. Potent intervention or general support? Oxford Review of Education, 45(4): 502–518.
Forsman, H. (2020) Exploring educational pathways over the life course in children with out-of-home care experience. A multi-group path analysis. Children and Youth Services Review, 111, 104852.
Forsman, H., Brännström, L., Vinnerljung, B. & Hjern, A. (2016) Does poor school performance cause later psychosocial problems among children in foster care? Evidence from national longitudinal registry data. Child Abuse & Neglect, 57: 61–71.
Forsman, H. & Vinnerljung, B. (2012) Interventions aiming to improve school achievements of children in out-of home care. A scoping review. Children and Youth Services Review, 34(6):1084–1091.
Hansen, K.Y. & Gustafsson, J-E. (2019). Identifying the key source of deteriorating educational equity in Sweden between 1998 and 2014. International Journal of Educational Research, 93, 79–90.
Hickey, A.J. & Flynn, R.J. (2019) Effects of the TutorBright tutoring programme on the reading and mathematics skills of children in foster care. A randomised controlled trial. Oxford Review of Education, 45(4): 519–537.
Höjer, I. & Sjöblom, Y. (2011) Att stå på egna ben. Om övergången från samhällsvård till vuxenliv. Socialvetenskaplig tidskrift, 19(1): 118–127.
Jackson, S. (1994) Educating children in residential and foster care. Oxford Review of Education, 20(3): 267–279.
Johansson, H. & Höjer, I. (2014) Sweden. A long and winding road. I: S. Jackson & C. Cameron (red.) Improving the participation of young people in care in further and higher education. European research and practice, 215–250. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
Karlsson, P., Lundström, T. & Wiklund, S. (2020). Hur bristfällig är samhällsvården egentligen? Några mätproblem i observationsstudier av placerade barn. Socialvetenskaplig tidskrift, 27(2): 137–155.
Khoo, E., Skoog, V. & Dalin, R. (2012) In and out of care. A profile and analysis of children in the out-of-home care system in Sweden. Children and Youth Services Review, 34(5): 900–907.
Kääriälä, A. & Hiilamo, H. (2017) Children in out-of-home care as young adults. A systematic review of outcomes in the Nordic countries. Children and Youth Services Review, 79: 107–114.
Lindquist, M. & Santavirta, S. (2014) Does placing children in foster care increase their adult criminality? Labour Economics, 31: 72–83.
Liu, C., Vazquez, C., Jones, K. & Fong, R. (2019) The impact of independent living programs on foster youths’ educational outcomes. A scoping review. Children and Youth Services Review, 98: 213–220.
Lundström, T. (1993) Tvångsomhändertagande av barn. En studie av lagarna, professionerna och praktiken under 1900-talet. Stockholm: Stockholms universitet.
OECD (2016) Education at a glance 2016. OECD indicators. Paris: OECD Publishing Paris.
O’Higgins, A., Sebba, J., & Gardner, F. (2017) What are the factors associated with educational achievement for children in kinship or foster care. A systematic review. Children and Youth Services Review, 79, 198–220.
Pallas, A.M. (2003) Educational transitions, trajectories, and pathways. I: J.T. Mortimer & M.J. Shanahan (red.) Handbook of the life course, 165–184. Boston, MA: Springer.
Sebba, J., Berridge, D., Luke, N., Fletcher, J., Bell, K., Strand, S. … O’Higgins, A. (2015) The educational progress of looked after children in England. Linking care and educational data. Oxford & Bristol: University of Oxford & University of Bristol.
Sinclair, I., Luke, N. & Berridge, D. (2019) Children in care or in need. Educational progress at home and in care. Oxford Review of Education, 45(4): 443–460.
Sinclair, I., Luke, N., Fletcher, J., O’Higgins, A., Strand, S., Berridge, D. … Thomas, S. (2020) The education of children in care and children in need. Who falls behind and when? Child & Family Social Work, 25: 536–547.
Socialstyrelsen (2019). Öppna jämförelser 2019. Placerade barns utbildning och hälsa. Stockholm: Socialstyrelsen.
Stenberg, S-Å. (2013) Född 1953. Folkhemsbarn i forskarfokus. Umeå: Boréa bokförlag.
Stenberg, S-Å. (2018) Born in 1953. The story about a post-war Swedish cohort, and a longitudinal research project. Stockholm: Stockholm University Press.
Stone, S. (2007). Child maltreatment, out-of-home placement and academic vulnerability: A fifteen-year review of evidence and future directions. Children and Youth Services Review, 29(2), 139–161.
Tordön, R., Bladh, M., Svedin, C.G. & Sydsjö, G. (2020a) Challenging intellectual, behavioral and educational prerequisites for interventions aimed at school aged children in foster care. A compilation of Swedish test results. Children and Youth Services Review, 108, 104598.
Tordön, R., Bladh, M., Sydsjö, G. & Svedin, C.G. (2020b) Improved intelligence, literacy and mathematic skills following school-based intervention for children in foster care. Frontiers in Psychology, 11, 718.
Wall-Wieler, E., Roos, L.L., Lee, J.B., Urquia, M.L., Roos, N.P., Bruce, S. & Brownell, M. (2019) Placement in care in early childhood and school readiness. A retrospective cohort study. Child Maltreatment, 24(1): 66–75.
Vinnerljung, B. (1996) Fosterbarn som vuxna. Lund: Lunds universitet.
Vinnerljung, B., Berlin, M. & Hjern, A. (2010) Skolbetyg, utbildning och risker för ogynnsam utveckling hos barn. I: Socialstyrelsen (red.) Social rapport 2010, 227–266. Stockholm: Socialstyrelsen.
Vinnerljung, B., Tideman, E., Sallnäs, M. & Forsman, H. (2014) Paired reading for foster children. Results from a Swedish replication of an English literacy intervention. Adoption & Fostering, 38(4): 361–373.
Vinnerljung, B., Öman, M. & Gunnarson, T. (2005) Educational attainments of former child welfare clients.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2022 Socialvetenskaplig tidskrift
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
