Children in the child welfare system face a multitude of challenges following maltreatment. These children frequently go on to report poor outcomes in many facets of their life, including education. It is thought that children who are removed from their home following maltreatment and placed in out-of-home placement (OHP), experience even more challenges due to their removal from their home and environment. The literature surrounding maltreated children's educational outcomes suggest that these children struggle in school when compared to children who have not experienced maltreatment. However, literature surrounding the educational outcomes of maltreated children who experience OHP, versus maltreated children who do not experience OHP, tend to collectively present with mixed results. The purpose of this study was to isolate the effect of OHP on the educational outcome of, school engagement, to get a clearer picture of how OHP affects the educational outcomes of maltreated children. This study utilized data from the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-being (NSCAW II) with a total sample of 1,490 children. Propensity score matching was employed to isolate the effect of OHP on school engagement. The results indicate that there is no statistically significant difference in the school engagement of maltreated children who experience OHP, when compared to the school engagement on maltreated children who remain in-home. Direction for future research, and clinical implications are addressed. / Master of Science / Children who experience any form of abuse (physical, sexual, neglect, and other), tend to experience a number of challenges in many parts of their life following the abuse. It is thought that children who are removed from their home following abuse and placed in out-of-home placement (OHP), experience even more challenges due to their removal from their home, family, and school. OHP is when the child is removed from the home and placed with a temporary caregiver in a: family or non-family foster home, group home, residential care, etc. When looking at the challenges that these abused children face, it is common for these children to experience challenges with school and their academics. The purpose of this research study was too narrow in on how OHP affects the child’s ability to do well in school, specifically how it affects the child’s school engagement. School engagement is best described as the way the child interacts and responds to school, including their attitudes and thoughts about school. The results indicate that there is no significant difference in the school engagement of children who experience abuse and OHP, when compared to the school engagement of children who experience abuse and remain in their original home. The results of this research study suggest that it is less about OHP, and more about abuse, that makes it difficult for abused children to have positive school engagement.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:VTETD/oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/100995 |
| Date | 11 June 2019 |
| Creators | Reichard, Kasey Danielle |
| Contributors | Adult Learning and Human Resource Development, Landers, Ashley Lace, Cunanan-Petty, Elnora Danao, Muruthi, Bertranna Alero |
| Publisher | Virginia Tech |
| Source Sets | Virginia Tech Theses and Dissertation |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | ETD, application/pdf |
| Rights | In Copyright, http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ |
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