Research project Victimization among adolescents living in foster family care: prevalence and trends 2002-2022

Out-of-home care (OHC; foster-family care and residential care) is one of the most far-reaching interventions targeting children who are abused or neglected by their parents or adolescents with serious conduct problems and delinquency. Although OHC in most Western countries (albeit to a varying degree) is intended to improve children’s development and life chances, a range of studies has linked OHC experience to numerous negative life-course outcomes, including poor health, premature death, criminal involvement, poor employment prospects and difficulties making ends meet. Despite the fact that victimization tends to coincide with other indicators of disadvantage such as family disruption, unemployment and poverty, research on victimization among children and adolescents placed in OHC is sparse, particularly in a Nordic context. Although a research hypothesis maintaining that OHC-children run higher risks of victimization may seem trivial, the development of such risks over time is highly relevant to investigate. Drawing on repeated cross-sectional data from more than 100,000 Stockholm adolescents 2002-2022, of which around one percent report that they live in foster family care, the purpose of this project is to disclose the prevalence and patterns of victimization in adolescents living in foster-family care, and if there have been any changes over time. When a child is placed in foster family care, the society – acting in the place of a parent – obtains a far-reaching responsibility for that child’s well-being and development. The approach employed in this project is primarily descriptive, but the revealed empirical patterns may call for a more in-depth explanation in future research.

Project managers

Members