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Foster Care

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Essay
How the Child-Welfare System Could Protect More Kids and Save Billions of Dollars
It costs billions of dollars each year to investigate child abuse reports, counsel and support families, and provide foster homes for kids at risk. A greater focus on preventing abuse and neglect, and on placing children with relatives rather than strangers, could improve thousands of young lives.
Apr 25, 2018
Journal Article
Association of Neonatal Opioid Withdrawal Syndrome and Infant Foster Care Entry
Researchers examined the association of county rates of neonatal opioid withdrawal syndrome (NOWS) and county-level characteristics with infant foster care entries. One in every ten diagnosed NOWS births was associated with a 41 percent higher rate of infant foster care entry.
Nov 1, 2021

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Blog
Truth Decay and National Security, Gun Violence, Blockading Crimea: RAND Weekly Recap
This weekly recap focuses on Truth Decay and national security, America's gun violence problem, how Ukraine could blockade Crimea, and more.
Apr 14, 2023
Report
Supporting Students in Foster Care
State and federal policymakers have passed legislation designed to promote collaboration between the education and child welfare systems with the goal of improving educational stability for youth in foster care and, in turn, their educational outcomes. But there are barriers to cross-system collaboration.
Apr 4, 2023
News Release
U.S. Opioid Crisis Best Viewed as Connected Ecosystem; Changing Policymakers' Approach Can Aid Solutions
The nation's opioid crisis, which kills thousands of Americans annually, is best viewed as an ecosystem where all parts of the vexing problem are interconnected, underscoring the need for holistic solutions that address the broad needs of those with substance use disorders, their families, and the communities where they live.
Mar 16, 2023
Report
America's Opioid Ecosystem
Patterns and consequences of opioid use are changing dramatically. Researchers provide a nuanced assessment of America's opioid ecosystem, highlighting how leveraging system interactions can reduce addiction, overdose, suffering, and other harms.
Mar 16, 2023
Visualization
The Ecosystem Approach to Opioid Policy
RAND researchers created a tool to help federal, state, and local policymakers better understand issues surrounding opioids as an ecosystem—and explore innovative policy ideas.
Mar 16, 2023
Research Brief
Estimating the Costs and Benefits of LifeSet
RAND researchers conducted a retrospective analysis of the costs and benefits of LifeSet, Youth Village's program for transition-age youth, as implemented and evaluated in Tennessee.
Feb 10, 2020
Report
Assessing the Costs and Benefits of LifeSet, the Youth Villages Program Model for Transition-Age Youth
The report presents a rigorous retrospective analysis of the costs and benefits of LifeSet, a program that provides case management and other services for young adults aging out of the foster care system, based on a prior impact evaluation.
Feb 10, 2020
News Release
Reforms to U.S. Child Welfare System Could Reduce Costs and Improve Outcomes
Expanding prevention and treatment services in the U.S. child welfare system could improve the lives of children and reduce total lifetime expenses of such services by 3 to 7 percent.
Dec 11, 2017
Project
Policy Options for Improving Child Welfare
Every year, about 3 million children in the U.S. face abuse or neglect. Expanding prevention and treatment services in the child welfare system could improve the lives of children and reduce lifetime expenses by 3 to 7 percent.
Dec 11, 2017
Research Brief
Improving Children's Lives: Balancing Investments in Prevention and Treatment in the Child Welfare System
Increasing prevention and treatment improves children's experience and long-term outcomes while paying for itself by reducing lifetime child welfare system costs.
Dec 11, 2017
Report
Improving Child Welfare Outcomes
Policies aimed at increasing prevention and kinship care in the child welfare system improve children's experience and long-term outcomes. This approach is also cost effective, reducing total spending by 3 to 7 percent.
Dec 11, 2017
News Release
News Release for RAND Report on U.S. Child Welfare Reforms
The report on the U.S. child welfare system described in RAND's May 23, 2017 news release has been withdrawn pending further review.
May 23, 2017
Research Brief
The Costs of Methamphetamine Use: A National Estimate
The economic cost of methamphetamine use reached more than an estimated $23 billion in 2005, mostly from the intangible burden that addiction places on dependent users and their premature mortality and from crime and criminal justice costs.
Apr 8, 2009
News Release
Methamphetamine Use Estimated to Cost the U.S. About $23 Billion In 2005
The economic cost of methamphetamine use in the United States reached $23.4 billion in 2005, including the burden of addiction, premature death, drug treatment and many other aspects of the drug.
Feb 4, 2009
Report
Methamphetamine Use Estimated to Cost the U.S. About $23 Billion in 2005
The economic cost of methamphetamine use in the United States reached $23.4 billion in 2005, including the burden of addiction, premature death, drug treatment and many other aspects of the drug.
Jan 27, 2009
Report
Benefit-Cost Analysis Rarely Captures the Full Economic Value of Social Programs
This study assesses the state of the art in determining the economic value of social programs for use in benefit-cost analysis (BCA). It finds that rarely are the benefits of social programs consistently or accurately monetized and suggests ways to advance the use of BCA in evaluating social programs' economic returns.
Oct 27, 2008
Research Brief
What Does Economics Tell Us About Early Childhood Policy?
This research brief describes how insights from the field of economics -- human capital theory and monetary payoffs -- provide science-based guidance for early childhood policy.
May 8, 2008
Report
Results from the First California Health and Social Services Survey
Presents results from the first wave of the California Health and Social Services Survey of 2,905 current and former CalWORKs recipients in six California counties.
Jun 3, 2004

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RAND Topic:
Foster Care

Topic Synonyms:
Foster Children;
Foster Parents

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