Failure to Escape: A Longitudinal Study of Foster Children's Educational Attainment

Abstract

Previous research has shown that children in care have low educational attainment. The present paper demonstrates that even those foster children in long-term, settled placements in middle-class environments fail to ‘escape from disadvantage’. Various explanations for this are considered. The notion of ‘self-fulfilling prophecies’ arising from low teacher expectations is rejected, but a history of child abuse or neglect before entering care appears to have lasting effects. The results are compared with French work on adoption, where an escape from disadvantage does seem to occur. The implication is that exceptional educational inputs are required.

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