Why focus on placement stability?
Research and child welfare experience support the critical importance of placement stability for children and youth in foster care.  Both attest to the negative impact of multiple placement changes on children’s development and well being and their opportunities for permanent families.  Children who experience multiple caregivers must undergo repeated transitions to and from different living arrangements (Osterling, D’Andrade, & Hines, 2009).  A large body of evidence links multiple placements with behavioral and emotional problems, education difficulties, and juvenile delinquency (Barber, Delfabbro, & Cooper, 2001; Smith, et al., 2001).   Studies also make clear that as the number of placement changes increases, there is a decreased likelihood of children and youth achieving reunification or adoption (Fisher, Kim & Pears, 2008).   As children experience placement disruptions, they can develop a sense of profound distress, loss and absence of belonging which can then lead to feelings of distrust and fear about forming healthy relationships with others (Northern California Training Academy, 2008).

A recent report (Pecora, et al., 2007) identified five reasons for focusing on minimizing placement changes for children and youth in foster care:

1. Placement stability minimizes the pain and trauma that children and youth in foster care experience.  Research indicates that children and youth experience placement changes as unsettling and confusing and that their satisfaction with their foster care experience is inversely correlated with the number of placements that they have.  Repeated moves while in foster care can add to the pain and trauma that children have already experienced. 
   
   
2. Placement stability can lessen children’s and young people’s problems with attachment and behavioral and emotional disorders.    Placement stability can provide children and youth with the opportunity to build new positive attachments which can them serve as the foundation for achieving later developmental tasks.  Placement instability has been linked to behavior problems and mental health issues.
   
   
3. Placement stability can decrease school mobility and increase academic achievement.   Changing schools, often as a result of placement changes, has been found to be related to low academic performance and a higher risk that young people will drop out of school.
   
   
4. Placement stability maximizes continuity in services, decreases foster parent stress and lowers program costs.  When placements are stable, services can be provided on a continuous basis to children and youth, foster parents experience less stress and are more likely to remain in the caregiver roles, and child welfare systems do not incur administrative and other costs associated with moving children and youth to new placements.
   
   
5. Placement stability increases the likelihood that a child will establish an enduring positive relationship with a caring adult.  When children are in stable living arrangements, they are more likely to develop stronger interpersonal relationships and social support networks with adults
   

What do we know about placement changes for children and youth in foster care?
Data from the Child and Family Service Reviews show that most states struggle to maintain placement stability for children and young people in foster care.  These data also show that the longer that children remain in care, the less likely it is that they will have two or fewer placements.  Individual studies have shown more dramatic levels of placement instability.  One study, using a definition of placement instability of four or more placements, found that 40 percent of children in the Illinois foster care system had unstable placement histories (Hartnett, et al., 1999).  A California study found that 77 percent of youth had three or more placements.  In another study, researchers found that about one-third of foster care alumni experienced three or more placement moves and an equal percentage (32.3%) experienced 8 or more placements throughout their child welfare careers (Casey Family Programs, 2007). 

Are there different types of placement changes?
Placement changes can be planned or unplanned from the perspective of the child welfare agency.   Unplanned changes may occur when the child’s caregivers no longer agree to care for the child.  This type of placement change is often associated with negative effects on the child and is often referred to as placement “breakdowns”.  Placements into residential care often occur as a result of placement breakdowns in family-based care (Sunseri, 2005).    Although placements in high-level residential care tend to be stable (Sunseri, 2005), research indicates that any gains that a child makes while in residential treatment may not transfer well when the child returns to a family environment, creating a cycle of additional placement breakdowns and returns to residential treatment (Mercer Government Human Services Consulting, 2008).

Planned placement changes may include the use of temporary placement until a permanent placement is found or placement changes that allow a child to move to a lower level care, to placement with a relative, or to a placement with siblings.   Such placement changes can be considered “positive” changes on behalf of the child as they may promote a more permanent or developmentally enhancing living situation.

What are the principal reasons that children’s placements change?
Studies suggest that the most common reason that children’s placements change is policy- or systems- related.  Other reasons are foster family-related and child behavior-related.

Policy- and System-Related Reasons.  A study by the Children and Family Research Center at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign found that 45% of placement moves were for system- or policy-related reasons, 28% for foster family-related reasons, and 25% for child behavior-related to reasons (Rolock, et al., 2009). The researchers looked specifically at the placement moves for system- or policy-related reasons and found that of these placement moves, 37% were permanency related, 26% were moves to or from temporary placements, 24% were to meet the treatment needs of children and 8% were sibling-related (Rolock, et al., 2009). In an unpublished study of placement instability in San Diego County in California found that seven out of ten placement changes occurred for system- or policy-related reasons.
 
Foster Family-Related Reasons.  The Illinois study found that the major foster parent related reasons were the foster parents requesting a change as a result of events in their lives (52% of these moves) and agencies removing children because of inappropriate behaviors of the caregivers in the placement setting (46% of these moves) (Rolock, et al., 2009).

Child Behavior-Related Reasons.  The Illinois study found that moves on the basis of child behavior were primarily at the request of the foster parents (82%) and the remaining placement moves for this reason were because the child ran away (18%) (Rolock, et al., 2009).    

What principles should guide placement stability practice?
Placement stability practice is grounded on:

1. A commitment to a careful first placement early following children’s entry into care (Center for Advanced Studies in Child Welfare Practice, 2010).  Individualized assessments of the child’s or youth’s needs, including placement needs, are conducted within the context of a family-centered approach (Cohen, Hornsby, & Priester, 2005).   The ability of caregivers to meet the child’s needs is carefully assessed  (Center for Advanced Studies in Child Welfare Practice, 2010)
   
2. Practices that maximize the “match” or “goodness of fit” between the child or youth and the caregiver, including a match in temperaments and having a relationship that is described as close (Dore & Eisner, 1993; Leathers, 2006; Center for Advanced Studies in Child Welfare, 2010)
   
3. A commitment to preventing placement changes whenever possible
   
4. A recognition that placement moves for children and youth in foster care are based on the child’s or youth’s needs, not the unavailability of appropriate placements (Gillen, 2005)
   
5. Active recruitment and preparation of and support for kin as placement resources for children and youth
   
6. Active recruitment and preparation of support for non-kin as placement resources for children and youth
   
   

What are the core components of placement stability practice? 
There are three interrelated core components of placement stability practice are:

1. Individualized assessment and placement services for children and youth
   
2. Recruitment, assessment, preparation and support for caregivers
   
3. Placement stability policies and practices for child welfare organizations