School of Social Work researcher examines I/DD youth in foster care system

By Matthew Smith

Research into how youth with disabilities interact with the foster care system has been understudied, but University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Social Work Associate Professor Amy Blank Wilson is determined to change that.

Blank Wilson is a co-author on the paper “Foster Care Involvement Among Youth With Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities” published this week by the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Pediatrics. UNC School of Social Work graduate and George Mason University Assistant Professor Melissa L. Villodas was also an author on the paper.

Led by Lindsay Shea with Drexel University’s A.J. Drexel Autism Institute, the study provided an intersectional analysis that examined foster care involvement among youth with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD) using a cross-section of 2016 national Medicaid claims data.

Data shows that in 2016, there were more than 430,000 youth in the United States foster care system and the rates of autism and intellectual disability among youth in foster care were two to five times greater than the rates found in the general U.S. population. Understanding the scope of this population and who makes up the group will help researchers better understand its needs.

We asked Blank Wilson to share more about the paper and the insights the research team found.

Your recently published article analyzed foster care involvement among youth with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD). What are some of the major findings?

This research highlights the overrepresentation of youth with intellectual and developmental disabilities in the foster care system. It shows that in 2016 nearly 10% of youth in foster care had an intellectual and developmental disability and that the rates of intellectual and developmental disability among youth in foster care were two to five times greater than the rates found in the general U.S. population during the same time period. This research also demonstrates that among youth with intellectual and developmental disabilities, Black youth and female youth faced increased risk of foster care placement. 

Why is highlighting and sharing the experiences of I/DD youth in the foster care system important?

First, this research is personal to me. I worked as a foster care case worker early in my career. I carry in my heart both the adversities that the children and youth I worked with faced and their hope for the future. It has always been notable to me that many of the children I worked with in foster care had an intellectual disability, a developmental disability, or both and yet their specific experiences in this system are often not talked about in research and policy.

I think this research is important because it helps to elevate awareness of the experiences of a particularly vulnerable population of youth in foster care. This is a critical step toward developing policies and services to support the health and well-being of youth with intellectual and developmental disabilities in foster care. We also hope this research will help to catalyze more attention among policy makers and researchers to the needs of youth with intellectual and developmental disabilities in foster care. 

How do you hope this knowledge helps change policies or programs targeted toward the foster care system, particularly with Medicaid?

Medicaid plays a pivotal role in policy making for both youth with intellectual and developmental disabilities and youth in foster care. We hope this research helps to generate discussions of how these policies can be integrated and coordinated both within and across states to support the health and well-being of youth with intellectual and developmental disabilities in foster care. 

This publication starts a great conversation on the intersection of race, gender and disability when it comes to the foster care system. What do you hope comes next out of it? Where will your research lead you next?

I hope this research stands as an invitation to others to join us in this research and this conversation. As my colleague and co-author Melissa Villodas said, “The more we know about the unique challenges that are compounded by marginalization, the more responsive we can be in our efforts toward equitable policies and practices.”

Read more from Drexel University and the full study online.

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