The role of cultural dissimilarity factors on child adjustment following foster placement.

Anderson, Maurice ; Linares, L. Oriana

'The role of cultural dissimilarity factors on child adjustment following foster placement'

Children and Youth Services Review 34:4, April 2012, pp 597-601

Ethnic compatibility of biological and foster families may contribute to child psychological adjustment to foster placement. The aim of this study was to examine the contribution of cultural dissimilarity factors on child psychological adjustment shortly after children enter non-kinship placements. The hypothesis was that the number and types of cultural dissimilarity factors (mismatched ethnicity, country of birth and spoken language) between biological and foster families would contribute to child internalising problems (depression and loneliness) and externalising problems (conduct problems) after considering family and agency clustering and adjusting for confound variables (child age, gender and severity of child maltreatment). The sample comprised 106 minority ethnic children aged seven to 15 years from 62 families. Results showed that a higher number of dissimilar types and certain types contributed to lower scores in child psychological adjustment. Dissimilar ethnic status between caregivers contributed to depression and loneliness symptoms, while dissimilar spoken language contributed to conduct problems in the foster home. These results inform the public policy debate regarding ethnic matching between foster children and caregivers.