Objective:

(1) Examine associations of foster care exit type (e.g., reunification with birth family, adoption, guardianship/permanent relative placement, or emancipation from care) with risk of entry into state prison; (2) Examine racial disparities in those associations.

Method:

With data on over 10,000 Wisconsin youth who entered foster care in mid- to late-childhood, we present imprisonment rates in young adulthood by race, sex, and foster care exit type. Proportional hazards models with a robust set of covariates compared prison entry rates among the most common exit types—reunification, aging out, and guardianship/permanent relative placement.

Results:

Nearly 13 percent of the sample experienced imprisonment in young adulthood. Compared with emancipated youth, hazard of imprisonment was 1.58–1.96 times higher among reunified youth. Differences were largely unexplained by observed individual, family, or foster care characteristics. Imprisonment rates were similar for emancipated youth and youth exiting to guardianship/permanent relative placement. Hazard of imprisonment for reunified Black youth was twice that of reunified white youth, but racial differences in prison entry were statistically non-significant among emancipated youth.

Conclusion:

Efforts to reduce incarceration risk for all youth in foster care are needed. Reunified youth may benefit from services and supports currently provided primarily to emancipated youth.

中文翻译：

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寄养、永久性和入狱风险

客观的：

(1) 检查寄养出口类型（例如，与出生家庭团聚、收养、监护/永久亲属安置或脱离照料）与进入州监狱的风险的关联；(2) 检查这些协会中的种族差异。

方法：

根据 10,000 多名威斯康星州青少年在儿童中后期进入寄养机构的数据，我们按种族、性别和寄养出口类型列出了青年时期的入狱率。具有一组稳健协变量的比例风险模型比较了最常见的出境类型（重新统一、老化和监护/永久亲属安置）的入狱率。

结果：

近 13% 的样本在年轻时曾被监禁。与解放青年相比，团聚青年被监禁的风险高出1.58-1.96倍。观察到的个人、家庭或寄养特征很大程度上无法解释差异。被解放的青年和退出监护/永久亲属安置的青年的监禁率相似。重新统一的黑人青年被监禁的风险是重新统一的白人青年的两倍，但在被解放的青年中，入狱的种族差异在统计上并不显着。

结论：

需要努力降低所有寄养青少年的监禁风险。重新统一的青年可能会受益于目前主要为解放青年提供的服务和支持。