NOTE 34p.; Paper presented at the Annual Child Abuse and Neglect

Neither public nor private agencies address the extensive religious involvement that children and youth receive in child care facilities and foster home placement situations. In a five-state mid-west study (N=252), this paper examines religious practices in foster homes. The study identifies a strong Christian-based affiliation of foster homes. The findings illustrate the daily, weekly, and monthly religious rituals practiced in foster homes including grace at meals, bedtime prayers, church-going, and religious social groups activities. These activities complement the process of moral development in children through religious involvement. The pervasiveness of religious practices and beliefs as reported suggests that even when both parents of these out-of-home children do not stipulate a preference for a specific religiously-affiliated foster home, the experience of the foster child will probably include practices and education in a specific religious persuasion. Though foster parents generally stat