0501-O

Child Maltreatment in Foster Care: A Study of Retrospective Reporting
Gail Tittle, John Poertner, & Philip Garnier

Children who are maltreated by their birth families are often removed from these families by the state to protect them from further harm. However, while under the care of the state, some foster children receive further harm. There is anecdotal evidence that some of the maltreatment attributed to foster care may, in fact, be retrospective events that occurred before the child entered care. This study attempts to identify the degree to which retrospective reports might be counted in a safety indicator of abuse and neglect of children in foster care.