Parents Whose Children are Placed in Out of home-care Face Persistent Labour-market Exclusion

Around 20,000 children and young people (aged 0–20) are placed in some form of out-of-home care in Sweden. When a child is placed in out-of-home care, attention naturally focuses on the child’s wellbeing but the parents’ own social and economic circumstances are also fundamental when considering the possibility of returning home.

A new study from researchers of Public Health Sciences at Stockholm University shows that many parents whose children are placed in out-of-home care face long-term labour-market exclusion. Nearly three in five were classified as not in employment, education or training before their child was placed in care.

“Our findings reflect real families living with long term insecurity. When a child enters care, the parents’ own situation is often already fragile, and many struggle to regain a foothold in work or education”, says Viviane Schultz Straatmann, associate professor and researcher at the Department of Public Health Sciences at Stockholm University.

The researchers used data from the Swedish Families of the 1990s (SWIFT90) – a large, population-based national register cohort that tracks individuals born in Sweden between 1990 and 1999, along with their parents and siblings – linking information on children’s placements in out-of-home care with parents’ employment and income records.

This is the first population-based Swedish study to examine the association between family reunification and parents’ labour-market attachment. 9,492 parents and 11,907 parent–child observations were made in the study.
The study followed parents for three years before and three years after their child’s first placement.

The results show that labour-market disadvantage was remarkably persistent.

Among parents who were already not in employment, education or training before their child entered care, 76.8 per cent remained so after the placement. Parents who were in insecure employment were also vulnerable. 43.1 per cent of them moved into a status of not in employment, education or training during the period after placement.

Parents Not Reunited with their Children Most Vulnerable

The study also found an association between family reunification and parents’ labour-market situation. Around 82 per cent of the parents in the study were reunited with their child within three years of placement, while 18 per cent were not.

Parents who were not reunited had a more vulnerable labour-market position and were more likely to be NEET than those who were reunited.
The differences were relatively small, however, and the researchers stress that the study cannot show that reunification itself causes changes in labour-market attachment.

“The link between reunification and labour-market attachment is complex. It is possible that parents with stronger labour-market attachment are better placed to meet reunification requirements,” says Viviane Schultz Straatmann. “It is also possible that reunification provides greater stability and well-being, thereby supporting participation in work. The study cannot determine the direction of these relationships.”

Parents of Children in Out of home-care a Neglected Dimension of Child Welfare

According to the researchers, the findings highlight an often overlooked aspect of child welfare. The parents themselves are a socially and economically disadvantaged group.

The high levels of parents not in employment, education or training – many of whom are around 35 years old – suggest that labour-market exclusion is not simply a temporary problem following a child’s placement. Instead, it often reflects disadvantage that was already established before the family came into contact with child welfare services.

The researchers argue that this points to the importance of addressing parents’ socioeconomic circumstances alongside questions of child welfare and family reunification.

Employment-related support, vocational guidance and opportunities to return to education could potentially be integrated more closely into child welfare services, the researchers conclude. Such support could be particularly important for parents facing persistent labour-market exclusion.

“Labour market exclusion among parents is not an isolated issue—it is part of the broader context in which child welfare decisions are made,” says Viviane Schultz Straatmann. “If we want to improve long term outcomes for families, we need to recognise parents’ socioeconomic disadvantage as a core element of the child welfare landscape. Integrating employment and education support into child welfare strategies should be seen as part of reunification work itself, embedded within a broader family oriented approach to services.”

Håkan Soold