Foster Care and Best Interests of the Child

Sarah A. Font, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor at Pennsylvania State University in the Department of Sociology and Criminology and is a faculty member of the Child Maltreatment Solutions Network. Her research focuses on how the child protective services and foster care systems work to further or undermine child well-being. She holds a Ph.D. in Social Welfare from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Elizabeth T. Gershoff, Ph.D., is a Professor of Human Development and Family Sciences and is Associate Director of the Population Research Center, both at the University of Texas at Austin. She has published extensively on the topic of physical punishment and is an internationally recognized expert on the effects that physical punishment by parents or by school personnel has on children. She earned her Ph.D. in Child Development from the University of Texas at Austin.

• Chapter 1. An Introduction to Foster Care.- Chapter 2. Current Use of the “Best Interests of the Child” Standard in Foster Care Policy and Practice.- Chapter 3. Foster Care as a Problem and a Solution.- Chapter 4. Reforming the Foster Care System: Legislative and Judicial Efforts.- Chapter 5. Reorienting the Foster Care System toward Children’s Best Interests.