Understanding and Measuring the Cost of Foster Care

This book is primary talking about the costs of foster care adoption and all the details that go between costs and after the child has been adopted. It’s stating that it is bad for future parents thinking to adopt to base their decision only in cost because kids cannot be viewed as an object that you can buy. The costs of foster care adoption can vary depending on the area you are located at. There are a few concepts to consider in measuring the direct cost of adopting a child which are;

Age of child – usually if the child is older the adoption cost is greater. From the time that they start walking all the way through adolescence.

Regional Parts of the Country – if living in the north side of the country, children are going to need winter and summer clothing and usually leaving in the Northeast is less expensive than in other parts of the country.

Sex of child – There is a say that boys never stop eating when they are teenagers and girls require larger wardrobes.

Family composition – the bigger the family and the closest those siblings are the less expensive it is.

In fact, adopting a foster care child, can be more expensive or the same as having your own. Foster parents believe that most food, clothing and medical expenses are reimbursed but that is not always the case. This book is only focusing on one area, and other foster parents may be very different than that ones from this study, it is also focusing on secondary date sources which to their point of view are the best way to get a perfect sample. The cost of having a foster care child can depend on the lifestyle that the foster parents are used to living.

Five of the most important factors that influence quality for foster care adoption are as follow;

The change in standards

The relationship between foster car and welfare

The policies that different agencies have

How much the foster parent group is growing

And the reaction between payments and costs in foster care

How well the book aligns with research: I think this book is very good at showing real date from the real world, it has been tested more than once and they use secondary data which are people that have been through foster care adoption to estimate the cost.

The quality of application: The application of this book is excellent with real examples showing the true cost of foster care adoption.

The quality of writing: The writing in this book is very precise, it has a lot of pictures, date, graphs and tables showing today’s research and it also has a very easy way to understand the point of the book.

Culley, J., Settles, B., & Van Name, J. (1975). Understanding and measuring the cost of foster care. University Of Delaware

Jessica M.