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A growing number of children over age 10 reside in and emancipate from foster care every year. Older children face many of the same challenges as younger children, but they also have unique developmental needs. This article discusses older children in the child welfare system and finds: (1) Approximately 47% of children in foster care are over age 11, and in 2001, 20% of children leaving foster care were over age 16; (2) Older children need permanency, stability, and a "forever family." Maintaining connections with siblings and other kin can be a crucial resource for older children as they transition to independence; and (3) Former foster children are at higher risk for a number of negative outcomes, such as substance abuse, homelessness, and low educational attainment, but the research on older youth is limited and often does not consider the strengths these youth exhibit. Much can be done to better serve older children while they are in care and to provide them with better opportunities as they transition out of the system. Programs that draw on community resources, promote a system of care, link children to mentors, and teach them life skills hold promise for improving the lives of these children. (Examples of Programs/Strategies for Serving Older Youths in Foster Care and Sources of Funds/Strategies for Helping Youths Transition from Foster Care are appended. Contains 100 endnotes.)

Children in relative adoptions and foster care experience better outcomes than do children placed in non-kinship foster care. (1) These outcomes include greater placement stability, fewer school changes, higher levels [...]

This study examined changes in training participants' satisfaction with the instruction, knowledge gain, transfer of new skills, and beliefs about family involvement and engagement in working with families to help ensure children have safety. One hundred and forty-five practitioners participated in the training. Findings revealed shifts in knowledge and use of certain kinds of safety and risk assessment. Qualitative training feedback revealed that caseworkers and supervisors are now talking more about their practice and how they are trying new strategies to help children and families rather than how they complete a list of procedural tasks. The combination of workshop-based training followed by agency-based coaching appears to be a promising approach to professional learning in this practice area of child welfare.

Growing evidence has linked early trauma with severe psychiatric consequences. Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a potentially debilitating mental health condition found among some youth in foster care and foster care alumni. However, the current child welfare practice response has not met the demands in both assessment and intervention. This critical review aims to use the evidence to reshape the child welfare response to trauma in children and adolescents. We begin with research on the psychiatric consequences of child maltreatment and issues related to diagnostic assessment for PTSD. Next, we compare major foster care/alumni studies showing considerably higher rates of PTSD among young foster care recipients and alumni than among nationally comparable groups. To inform practice on childhood trauma, we then summarize current evidence-based interventions showing effectiveness with PTSD. Finally, we address new dimensions, such as gene-environment research, posttraumatic growth, and implications for reshaping child welfare practice and foster care.