Behavioral health and legal system involvement among transition-age youth in foster care: a longitudinal analysis of youth in California

ABSTRACTResearch shows that young people in foster care experience high levels of behavioral health problems that may lead to life obstacles, including legal system involvement (LSI) during the transition to adulthood. However, few longitudinal studies have examined LSI among foster youth from a behavioral health perspective during the transition to adulthood. To understand adolescent behavioral health conditions associated with adult LSI, we used longitudinal survey data of young people in foster care (n = 540) to compare the prevalence of different behavioral health disorders (age 17) between youth who later reported LSI and those who did not (ages 19–21). We also examined associations between adolescent behavioral health disorders and adult LSI, accounting for other covariates. We find that compared to those who did not, youth who reported later LSI in early adulthood had significantly higher rates of four behavioral health disorders at age 17: alcohol use, drug use, conduct disorder, and oppositional defiant disorder. Regression results showed drug use disorder at age 17 to be a particularly strong predictor of later LSI after accounting for other covariates. Many individuals experience various risk factors for LSI, including behavioral health needs. We discuss implications for practice, policy, and research in the child welfare context.KEYWORDS: Behavioral healthlegal system involvementtransition to adulthoodfoster carechild welfare AcknowledgmentsThe authors would like to thank partners at the California Department of Social Services and CalYOUTH Study project funders—the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, the Reissa Foundation, the Walter S. Johnson Foundation, the Zellerbach Family Foundation, the William T. Grant Foundation, and the California Wellness Foundation—for the support for administrative data used in this study and commitment to policy evaluation and program development for youth.Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.Additional informationFundingThe findings reported herein were performed with the permission of the California Department of Social Services. The opinions and conclusions expressed herein are solely those of the author and should not be considered as representing the policy of the collaborating agency or any agency of the California government.Notes on contributorsKeunhye ParkKeunhye Park is an Assistant Professor at Michigan State University’s School of Social Work. Park’s research interests include child welfare services and policy, juvenile justice services and policy, educational experiences of marginalized youth, and the transition to adulthood among foster youth. Park’s work builds upon her field practice in public schools, juvenile detention centers, state departments of children and family services, and research institutes.Michelle R. MunsonMichelle Munson is a Professor at NYU Silver School of Social Work. She has professional interests in mental health services research and intervention development and testing, and her work centers on adolescents and young adults. Dr. Munson’s research seeks to understand how society’s structural conditions and social relationships, through both verbal and non-verbal communication, shape young adults’ decisions to seek (or not seek) professional mental health services. Her research and scholarship also seeks to develop, refine, adapt, and test engagement and treatment interventions for adolescents and young adults with serious mental health conditions.Mark E. CourtneyMark E. Courtney is the Samuel Deutsch Professor emeritus in the Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice at the University of Chicago and Distinguished Researcher at the California Child Welfare Indicators Project at the University of California, Berkeley, where he co-directs The Transition Age Youth Research and Evaluation Hub (TAY-Hub). His fields of special interest are child welfare policy and services, the connection between child welfare services and other institutions serving families living in poverty, the transition to adulthood for marginalized populations, and the professionalization of social work.Kierra BlairKierra Crisswell is a research assistant and received an MSW degree from the Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice at the University of Chicago.