Abortion restrictions linked to increase in foster care

More children enter foster care system in states with abortion bans and strict regulations

Restricted abortion access is correlated to an 11 percent increase in the U.S. Foster Care System. 

The Journal of the American Medical Association published those findings earlier this month. That trend was even more pronounced among Black children and children of racial and ethnic minority groups when compared with White children. 

The US Department of Children and Families (DCF) places children in foster care who cannot be safely and stably cared for by their parents. Since the foster care system is overburdened, the researchers wanted to study what impact those abortion restrictions had on it. 

The authors, Dr. Savannah Adkins, Noa Talmor, Molly H. White, Dr. Caryn Dutton and Dr. Ashley O’Donoghue, studied 4,179,701 children in the US foster care system between 2000 and 2020. Data on the enactment of TRAP laws and case-level data on foster care entries were used to estimate the association between restricted abortion access and foster care entries in each of the 50 US states and the District of Columbia.

“Restricted abortion access can have numerous consequences, and these findings reveal a heightened strain on the US foster care system, particularly affecting marginalized racial and ethnic communities and financially vulnerable families,” the authors wrote. “These placements have been shown to have lifelong consequences for children and substantial costs for both states and the federal government.” 

The authors said that this trend was mainly attributable to housing inadequacy, and the consequences were particularly significant for Black children and children in racial and ethnic minority groups.

According to the article, the results also suggest that the link between abortion access and DCF involvement is primarily through economic consequences, further echoed by the fact that women seeking an abortion are, on average, more likely to be living below the federal poverty level. 

“These findings have important potential implications in the current policy landscape,” the authors wrote. “Our findings suggest that overturning Roe v Wade could have sizeable implications for the foster care system in years to come.”