Girls in foster care are at far higher risk
of becoming pregnant as teenagers compared to other adolescents, a new study
from a US 
think-tank shows.
The report, from Child Trends, find that by the age of 19,
girls who had been in foster care were two and a half times more likely than
were girls nationwide to have become pregnant (48 versus 20 percent) and nearly
three times more likely to have had a child (32 versus 12 percent).
The study looked at an extensive body of
research which showed that children in foster care were more likely to be
exposed to a number of family and individual factors that make teens more
susceptible to getting pregnant or having a child.
“Teens in foster care may have higher rates
of pregnancy and childbearing than do their counterparts who are not in foster
care because they often experience more of these risk factors than does the
average teen,” the report said.
“The risk factors in question include chaotic
and abusive/neglectful homes of origin; family turbulence while in care; and
more engagement in problem behaviors and less engagement in academic
pursuits—all of which are associated with early sexual initiation and risky
sexual relationships and behaviors.”
Family structure, it found, “has a strong
influence on whether a teen gets pregnant or has a child”.
“In particular, growing up in a household
without two biological parents is associated with an elevated risk of a teen
birth, and children in foster care are more likely to live in such households,”
it said.
The study cited US government figures which
showed between 50 and 80 percent of children in foster care have been removed
from households headed by single mothers or unmarried couples.
Furthermore, once in foster care, children
are also more likely to be living in households headed by a single parent or by
a cohabiting couple than are other children.
Turbulence in family environments was another
factor associated with sexual risktaking and with a greater likelihood that a
teen will have a baby, and the report said that this was another risk factor to
which children in foster care were more likely to be exposed.
The study cited a California study of youth
who had been in foster care which found that “young women with five or more
placements were twice as likely to become pregnant while in foster care as were
those with just one placement”.
It also found that the majority of children
in foster care, prior to their placement had “lived in low income households,
and that, once in foster care, these children were more likely than were other
children to be living in low income households or households receiving public
assistance,” yet another risk factor for an increased likelihood of teen
pregnancy.
The study noted that high levels of school
engagement and academic performance can act to protect teens against teen
pregnancy, amongst other negative outcomes.
But it said that children and teens in foster
care faced many educational challenges.
“Children in foster care change schools far
more frequently than do children who live with their parents,” it noted.
One study of children and teens in foster
care in the US state of Washington found that children in foster care were
twice as likely to have changed schools than were children who were not in
foster care.
Studies have shown that frequent school
transitions have been linked to low educational achievement and engagement and
high rates of school dropout.
In Washington state, children in foster care
scored 15 to 20 percentile points below those outside the foster care system on
statewide standardized tests, and twice as many teens in foster care had
repeated a grade.