A study of the social and economic conditions of child in care families

This study examined the social and economic conditions of child in care families in Regions 1 and 15 of the Ministry of Human Resources, Vancouver, British Columbia. The relationships between the social and economic conditions of the families and the legal status of the children in care were analyzed. In addition, the relationships between the changes of the social and economic conditions of the families and the changes of the legal status of the children in care were also examined. A total of sixty child in care cases were used, with twenty cases from each of the legal status groups - from temporary custody to discharge, temporary custody order extended, and from temporary custody order to permanent custody order. The findings illustrated that the vast majority of the child in care families were from low social and economic class. Among the families of the three legal status groups, families with extreme low social and economic position were more vulnerable to permanent removal of their children. In contrast, families to which the children were returned had better social and economic conditions than the temporary custody extended and permanent ward families.Arts, Faculty ofSocial Work, School ofGraduat