Families Who Return to the Child Welfare System after a Previous Termination of Parental Rights: Few in Number, High in Court Utilization

• Published date: 01 October 2020
• Date: 01 October 2020
• Author: Ryan D. Davidson,Megan S. Irgens,Connie J. Beck
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/fcre.12522

FAMILIES WHO RETURN TO THE CHILD WELFARE SYSTEM AFTER

A PREVIOUS TERMINATION OF PARENTAL RIGHTS: FEW IN

NUMBER, HIGH IN COURT UTILIZATION

Ryan D. Davidson, Megan S. Irgens, and Connie J. Beck

Anecdotally, judges, court staff and behavioral health providers working in the child welfare system indicate that families

commonly return to the system after a termination of parental rights. The current study is the first to empirically investigate

these families who return to the system with new children. Results show that although only a small proportion of families ret-

urned after a previous termination of parental rights, these families often returned multiple times with new children. Future

research should attempt to replicate these results in other jurisdictions and focus on risk and protective factors to better under-

stand the needs of these parents and children, and determine how to better support them within the child welfare system.

Key Points for the Family and Juvenile Court Community:

Less than 10% of the families who returned to the child welfare system within one calendar year in 2007 returned

following a termination of parental rights.

Families returned to the system, on average, less than a year after the previous casewas closed.

Children in the new cases following their parents’previous termination of parental rights tended to be younger than

children in the original cases.

Parental substance abuse and failure-to-protect were the most commonly reported reasons for removal when families

returned after a termination of parental rights.

Many families experienced more than one case ending in a termination of parental rights. Families who returned to

the child welfare system after a termination of parental rights had an average of five separate cases/dependency peti-

tions including both prior to and following the case in this study ending in a termination of parental rights.

Additional research is needed to aid in identification of risk factors for families returning so that new skills and addi-

tional support may be provided for families at risk.

Keywords: Child Maltreatment; Child Welfare; Re-entry; Termination of ParentalRights.

I. INTRODUCTION

Within the United States, there are over 400,000 children in foster care and each year approxi-

mately 250,000 children leave the foster care system (U.S. Department of Health and Human

Services, 2018). Children spend an average of nearly two years (20 months) in foster care prior to

exiting foster care (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2018). Approximately half of

the children leaving foster care are reunified with one or both of their parents (U.S. Department of

Health and Human Services, 2018) while the remaining half stay in their placement while waiting

to either enter a guardianship, be adopted or age out.

Over the past several decades, the United States has shifted from a primarily child protection cul-

ture within the child welfare system to more of a balance between child protection and a family ser-

vice model (Gilbert, 2012). A child protection culture frames abuse as, “…th e harmful behavior of

malevolent parents”where legal intervention is needed. Whereas the family service model perceives

abuse as, “...a manifestation of family dysfunction stemming from psychological difficulties, marital

troubles, and socio-economic stress which are amenable to therapeutic interventions”

Corresponding: ryan.davidson@childrens.harvard.edu

This research did not receive any grant funding from any agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

FAMILY COURT REVIEW, Vol. 58 No. 4, October 2020 873–881, doi: 10.1111/fcre.12522

© 2020 Association of Family and Conciliation Courts