County-Level factors matter: The role of contextual factors in foster youths’ extended foster care participation and human capital outcomes

Park, Sunggeun; Okpych, Nathanael J.; Harty, Justin S.; Courtney, Mark E.

doi:10.1177/10775595221088226

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County-Level factors matter: The role of contextual factors in foster youths’ extended foster care participation and human capital outcomes

Journal articles · Child Maltreatment, 2022

2022

Journal articles

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Park, S., Okpych, N. J., Harty, J. S., & Courtney, M. E. County-Level factors matter: The role of contextual factors in foster youths’ extended foster care participation and human capital outcomes. Child Maltreatment.

Child welfare and systems

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@article{park2022a,
  title = {County-Level Factors Matter: The Role of Contextual Factors in Foster Youths’ Extended Foster Care Participation and Human Capital Outcomes},
  shorttitle = {County-Level Factors Matter},
  author = {Park, Sunggeun and Okpych, Nathanael J. and {Harty, Justin S.} and Courtney, Mark E.},
  date = {2022},
  journaltitle = {Child Maltreatment},
  shortjournal = {Child Maltreat.},
  issn = {1077-5595, 1552-6119},
  doi = {10.1177/10775595221088226},
}

Abstract

Extended foster care (EFC) is an important policy that supports human capital attainment for foster youth transitioning to adult independence. Previous studies have examined youth- and policy-level factors’ influence on EFC participation and human capital outcomes (e.g., education, employment). Still, few studies have examined contextual factors (e.g., county characteristics). We explore how local contexts, or county-level attributes, influence youths’ EFC participation and human capital outcomes (i.e., postsecondary education enrollment and earnings). We analyze two datasets from California Youth Transitions to Adulthood Study: survey data with rich youth-level information ( n = 529) and state child welfare administrative data with a larger sample size ( n = 2392). After controlling for a wide range of youth characteristics and adjusting between-county variations, regression results find that several county characteristics predict youths’ EFC participation and human capital outcomes at age 21, such as political atmosphere and worker’s satisfaction with cross-system collaboration. We conclude with a discussion of implications for research and practice.