The hidden cost of foster-care: New evidence on the inter-generational transmission of foster-care experiences

Abstract

This study investigates inter-generational transmission of foster-care, to test the extent to which an overrepresentation of children of foster-care alumni in a group of children in care persists after controlling for parents' additional resources (such as criminal history, crime and labour market attachment). For this purpose, we use administrative data from Statistics Denmark, which we analyse using simple descriptive statistics and probit models. Results show that, while children of foster-care alumni are seven to ten times more likely than other children to experience foster-care, this overrepresentation is halved when we control for parental resources.