2 verifications about Foster Care Foster Care ×
“Children in foster care may experience trauma that severely impacts their emotional health and well-being, including difficulty trusting caregivers and feelings of abandonment.”
Evidence strongly supports this statement. Children in foster care are disproportionately exposed to abuse, neglect, instability, and other traumatic experiences, and research links those experiences to emotional distress, attachment problems, difficulty trusting caregivers, and feelings of abandonment. The main caveat is that the trauma often predates foster placement, and outcomes can improve in stable, trauma-informed homes.
“Foster children often experience trauma that affects their emotional and psychological health, including grief and fear.”
Authoritative pediatric and research evidence supports the claim. Children in foster care are disproportionately exposed to trauma, and major pediatric guidance explicitly links that trauma to emotional and psychological effects, including grief and fear. The main caveat is that studies do not always separate trauma before foster care from trauma related to removal or placement instability.