Science backs how much foster care sucks — kids suffer more health problems [NYDailyNews.com]

Children in the U.S. foster care system suffer significantly higher risks of emotional and physical health problems, the journal Pediatrics reported Monday, such as depression, asthma and obesity.

University of California, Irvine sociologists surveyed more than 900,000 children. They found those in foster care were seven times more likely to be depressed, five times more likely to be anxious, and six times more prone to behavior problems than other kids in the general population, including those in single-mother and economically disadvantaged families. Foster kids were also three times more likely to have attention deficit disorder.

“No previous research has considered how the mental and physical well-being of children who have spent time in foster care compares to that of children in the general population,” said study co-author Kristin Turney, UCI associate professor of sociology, in the report.