Into adulthood: a follow‐up study of 718 young people who were placed in out‐of‐home care during their teens

TLDR

The study used national register data to follow 700 Swedish youths who entered out‑of‑home care in 1991 and examined their outcomes at age 25. The analysis showed that youths placed in care for behavioral problems experienced markedly higher rates of premature death, crime, mental‑health hospitalizations, teen parenthood, self‑support difficulties, and lower education than peers, whereas those placed for other reasons fared better but still worse, with placement type serving as a robust predictor of poor long‑term outcomes.

Abstract

ABSTRACT In this study, national register data were used to analyse long‐term outcomes at age 25 for around 700 Swedish young people placed in out‐of‐home care during their teens. The sample consisted of 70% of all 13‐ to 16‐year olds who entered out‐of‐home care in 1991. Results revealed a dividing line between young people placed in care for behavioural problems and those placed for other reasons. Young woman and men from the first group had – in comparison with peers who did not enter care – very high rates of premature death, serious involvement in crime, hospitalizations for mental‐health problems, teenage parenthood, self‐support problems and low educational attainment. Young people who were placed for other reasons had better outcomes, but still considerably worse than non‐care peers. Young women tended to do better than young men, regardless of reasons for placement. Very high rates of hospitalizations for mental health problems were found among young people placed for behavioural problems. Breakdown of placement was found to be a robust indicator of poor long‐term prognosis.