Behavior Problems in Foster Care Children

Many international studies describe the psychosocial functioning of children in foster care using the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL). Although children in foster care have been reported to show high rates of behavior and emotional problems (Bolger and Patterson, 2001; Cicchetti and Barnett, 1991; Fanshel and Shinn, 1975; Kaufman and Cicchetti, 1989; Dubowitz et al., 1994; Cicchetti and Toth, 1995; Pecora et al., 2006), in our country we found little research on this topic. The obiectives of this study were (1) to assess the rule breaking behavior of children/adolescents in foster care (2) to identify the predictors of their behavior, being focus on the age of the children at the time of placement and (3) to understand the relation between gender and rule breaking behavior. The caregivers of 92 chidren in foster care completed the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL). Background information was obtained from caregivers and caseworkers. This article report findings on intake CBCL scores for a group of 92 Romanian children, 6 to18 years old served in long term foster care by 52 foster parents. The findings of this article show that children and youth in foster care experience high rates of rule breaking behavior problems and olso the implications for future research using Child Behavior Cheklist are discussed.

Keywords: foster children, rule breaking behavior, CBCL, aggressive behavior