Date of Award
Summer 8-2011
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science (MS)
Department
Mathematics and Statistics
First Advisor
Dr Gengsheng (Jeff) Qin
Second Advisor
Dr. Xu Zhang
Third Advisor
Dr. Jun Han
Abstract
This thesis investigates the relationship between foster care placement settings and discharges. Placement settings are where foster children live: foster homes, group homes, etc. There may be one or several placements for any individual child. In the interest of stability, federal funding to states depends in part on low numbers of placement moves. Federal reviews, however, do not consider whether the placement settings resemble permanent family life (foster homes compared to congregate care) or the direction of placement moves. Competing risks regression was used to analyze time to discharge data of foster children in Georgia. Discharges (competing risks) were compared based on the number and the direction of placement moves. Children with movement patterns that favored placements similar to permanent family life were found to have higher probabilities of discharges to safe permanence. This thesis promotes “proximity to permanence” as an important, but often overlooked, consideration in foster care placements.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.57709/2099002
Recommended Citation
Fost, Michael, "The Path from Foster Care to Permanence: Does Proximity Outweigh Stability?." Thesis, Georgia State University, 2011.
doi: https://doi.org/10.57709/2099002