FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH THE REUNIFICATION OF FOSTER-CHILDREN WITH THEIR FAMILIES

This article reports the results of a study of the family reunificatio n process for a sample of children placed in foster care in California . A Cox proportional-hazards model was developed to explore the effect s of child, family, and system variables on the hazard rate for family reunification. Children initially placed in kinship care were less li kely to go home in the first few months than other children. The effec ts of explanatory variables and interactions between those variables w ith respect to reunification rates are discussed.