Understanding Postadoption and Guardianship Instability for Children and Youth Who Exit Foster Care (PAGI)

For children in foster care, adoption and guardianship represent two important permanency outcomes. However, a finalized adoption or guardianship does not necessarily ensure that a child will experience long-term stability or have a permanent home. 

The extent to which families experience postadoption and guardianship instability is uncertain. One challenge is that instability may be formal (where a child re-enters foster care) or informal (where a child lives temporarily with another family member). And the reasons for this instability are not always clear. In addition, little is known about the potential of child welfare agencies to serve as a key source of information on instability. 

The purpose of this project is to examine rates of instability, factors associated with instability, and the supports and resources that promote post-permanency stability. Ultimately, the project aims to support efforts to build the capacity of federal, state, and local agencies to get accurate information about instability for children who exit foster care to adoption or guardianship.

The project team completed a number of activities to inform their research on instability (e.g., literature review, conceptual framework, and compiled existing data). The team also developed research designs that are described in the report, Understanding Post Adoption and Guardianship Instability for Children and Youth Who Exit Foster Care: Study Design Options. The conceptual framework is included as an appendix in this report. 

The project completed two studies:

1. Contact After Adoption or Guardianship:  Child Welfare Agency and Family Interactions study collected data on the intentional and unintentional ways public child welfare agencies are in contact with or receive information about the well-being of children and youth who have exited the foster care system through adoption or guardianship - in particular, information about the experiences of these children and youth with placement instability.
   
   Information collections related to this study have been reviewed and approved by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs under OMB #0970-0567. Related materials are available at the Contact After Adoption or Guardianship: Child Welfare Agency and Family Interactions (Descriptive Study) information collection page on RegInfo.gov.
   
   The data from this study are archived at the National Data Archive on Child Abuse and Neglect (NDACAN): https://www.ndacan.acf.hhs.gov/datasets/dataset-details.cfm?ID=261
    
2. Survey of National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-being (NSCAW) Adopted Youth, Young Adults, Adults, and Adoptive Parents gathered information on the extent of post adoption instability events that occur in families who have adopted children who have exited the foster care system and factors potentially related to instability. Data collection ended at the beginning of March 2022.
   
   Information collections related to this study have been reviewed and approved by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs under OMB #0970-0555. Related materials are available at the Survey of National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being (NSCAW) Adopted Youth, Young Adults, Adults and Adoptive Parents information collection page on RegInfo.gov. 
   
     The data from this study are archived at NDACAN: https://www.ndacan.acf.hhs.gov/datasets/dataset-details.cfm?ID=270

For both studies, the approved information collection documents are accessible by clicking on the ICR Ref. No. with the most recent conclusion date. To access the information collections (e.g. interviews, surveys, protocols), click on View Information Collection (IC) List. Click on View Supporting Statement and Other Documents to access other supplementary documents.

The project also created the Post Adoption and Guardianship Instability Tracking Toolkit. This toolkit is designed to help child welfare agencies develop a systematic way to track instability for children who exit foster care through adoption or guardianship. Tracking post-permanency instability over time can help agencies better understand how many families struggle after adoption or guardianship. Better tracking may also help agencies identify and respond to challenges early and intervene before crises and instability occur. 

The contract for this project was awarded to RTI international, with partners Nancy Rolock (Case Western Reserve University) and Kevin White (East Carolina University).

Point(s) of contact: Alysia Blandon and Jacquelyn Gross