A FOSTER-CARE RESEARCH AGENDA FOR THE 90S

The authors delineate a research agenda built around contemporary issues, hoping to provide a stimulus for significant research development and support by those who carry out, fund, and use research as active participants in the movement to improve the outcomes for children and families served by the child welfare system. Specific topics include: improvement of the data available for foster care research, permanency planning, multiple services used by foster children, epidemiology of foster care, bonding of children with foster parents, short- and long-term outcomes of foster care, mental health service provision to foster children, service characteristics and their relationship to child foster care outcomes, system studies, and kinship foster care. Recommendations for additional effort around methodology include longitudinal analysis, selection bias, new methods for the analysis of change, and individual level and aggregate level dynamics.