Every year, a large number of children in the United States enter the foster care system. Many of them are eventually reunited with their biological parents or quickly adopted. A significant number, however, face long-term foster care, and some of these children are eventually adopted by their foster parents. The decision by foster parents to adopt their foster child carries significant economi...

Title of Document: AMBIGUOUS LOSS, NUMBER OF FOSTER CARE PLACEMENTS, CHILD AGE AND CHILD SEX AS PREDICTORS OF THE BEHAVIOR PROBLEMS AND POSTTRAUMATIC STRESS SYMPTOMS OF CHILDREN IN FOSTER CARE. Lisa JoAnn Benson, Master of Science, 2006 Directed By: Associate Professor Jacqueline Wallen, Department of Family Studies This study examined four factors that may predict the behavior problems and pos...

In the current study, sleep actigraphy and parent-report measures were used to investigate differences in sleeping behavior among four groups of 3- to 7-year-olds (N = 79): children in regular foster care (n = 15); children receiving a therapeutic intervention in foster care (n = 17); low income community children (n = 18); and upper middle income community children (n = 29). The children in th...