American Economic Journal: Applied Economics · 2022 · Max Gross、E. Jason Baron
中文摘要
美国有6%的儿童在18岁前进入寄养系统。我们利用密歇根州儿童福利调查员的准随机分配来估计寄养照护对儿童结果的影响。我们发现寄养照护改善了儿童的安全与教育结果。这些改善出现在儿童退出寄养系统之后，此时大多数人已与亲生父母重新团聚，表明父母自身的改善是一个重要机制。这些结果表明，若要安全地减少寄养照护的使用——这也是近期联邦立法的目标之一——就需要更有效的、以预防为重点的居家干预措施。（JEL H75, I21, J13, K42）
Abstract
Six percent of children in the United States enter foster care by age 18. We estimate the effects of foster care on children's outcomes by exploiting the quasi-random assignment of child welfare investigators in Michigan. We find that foster care improved children's safety and educational outcomes. Gains emerged after children exited the foster system when most were reunified with their birth parents, suggesting that improvements made by their parents were an important mechanism. These results indicate that safely reducing the use of foster care, a goal of recent federal legislation, requires more effective in-home, prevention-focused efforts. (JEL H75, I21, J13, K42)