The Prevalence of Adverse Childhood Experiences among Children in Foster Care and the Associated Impact on Placement Setting, Stability and Reunification: An Ecological-Transactional Perspective
type: CreativeWork
description: Research shows a strong and cumulative relationship between adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and risky adult behaviors, mental health disorders, diseases, and health status across the lifespan. Traumatic childhood experiences, including exposure to ACEs and being removed from biological families, affect developmental and well-being outcomes for these vulnerable populations. Children involved with the child welfare system (CWS) have experienced at least one traumatic adverse event, with the majority having complex histories of exposure to adversity. Extant research on children in foster care reveals that children ever placed in out-of-home care are more likely to have mental health and behavioral issues, less likely to graduate high school, and experience a variety of adversities, including: socioeconomic disadvantages, family instability, to live in low income neighborhoods, and exhibit more complex symptomology due to increased exposure to traumatic events. Minimal research has explored the magnitude of ACE exposure among children in foster care. This dissertation broadens the application of Cicchetti and Lynch’s (1993) ecological-transactional model of child maltreatment to all forms of adversity and links several theories to provide a dynamic and holistic framework for considering how individual factors interact with other ecological determinants in the etiology of cumulative ACE exposure among children in foster care. Application of this dynamic theoretical framework was used to examine the prevalence of cumulative ACE exposure among children in out-of-home care and to understand the effect cumulative ACE exposure has on a child’s placement setting type, placement stability, and likelihood of reunification. A nonexperimental longitudinal design was utilized to observe 2,998 Kansas children in out-of-home placement between October 2015 and July 2019. To encompass case and child characteristics along with ACE exposure rates, Kansas administrative child welfare…
abstract: Research shows a strong and cumulative relationship between adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and risky adult behaviors, mental health disorders, diseases, and health status across the lifespan. Traumatic childhood experiences, including exposure to ACEs and being removed from biological families, affect developmental and well-being outcomes for these vulnerable populations. Children involved with the child welfare system (CWS) have experienced at least one traumatic adverse event, with the majority having complex histories of exposure to adversity. Extant research on children in foster care reveals that children ever placed in out-of-home care are more likely to have mental health and behavioral issues, less likely to graduate high school, and experience a variety of adversities, including: socioeconomic disadvantages, family instability, to live in low income neighborhoods, and exhibit more complex symptomology due to increased exposure to traumatic events. Minimal research has explored the magnitude of ACE exposure among children in foster care. This dissertation broadens the application of Cicchetti and Lynch’s (1993) ecological-transactional model of child maltreatment to all forms of adversity and links several theories to provide a dynamic and holistic framework for considering how individual factors interact with other ecological determinants in the etiology of cumulative ACE exposure among children in foster care. Application of this dynamic theoretical framework was used to examine the prevalence of cumulative ACE exposure among children in out-of-home care and to understand the effect cumulative ACE exposure has on a child’s placement setting type, placement stability, and likelihood of reunification. A nonexperimental longitudinal design was utilized to observe 2,998 Kansas children in out-of-home placement between October 2015 and July 2019. To encompass case and child characteristics along with ACE exposure rates, Kansas administrative child welfare…
author: Liming, Kiley W
language: en
keywords: Social work, ACEs, Adverse Childhood Experiences, Foster Care, Reunification
date published: 2020-01-01
date modified: 2026-07-24T02:46:40Z
provider: University of Kansas
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: University of Kansas

PropertyValue
property ID: Handle
value: https://hdl.handle.net/1808/39274