Sarah A. Font, Ph.D.

Projects

Emerging Adulthood for Maltreated and Foster Youth (R21 HD091459)

The Emerging Adulthood for Maltreated and Foster Youth project (1 R21 HD091459-01) uses a statewide, longitudinal, administrative dataset that includes the entire population of CPS-involved youth and youth whose families participated in social welfare benefit programs in Wisconsin to examine how a range of maltreatment and OHC experiences are associated with social, educational, and economic outcomes in emerging adulthood, including employment and earnings, benefit receipt, educational attainment, fertility timing, incarceration, paying close attention to the type(s) of maltreatment experienced as well as OHC placement characteristics (type, length, number of placements) and type of exit from OHC (aging out, reunification or adoption). This research extends prior work in this area by using multiple identification strategies and comparison (counterfactual) groups to reduce bias in estimated associations of both maltreatment and OHC with subsequent outcomes. It has implications for informing policy and practice to better prepare CPS-involved youth to successfully transition to adulthood and, thereby, for reducing subsequent public expenditures on this population. Dr. Font is a co-investigator on this project, which is led by Dr. Lawrence Berger at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

System and Social Determinants of the Health of Foster Children project (R01 HD095946)

The System and Social Determinants of the Health of Foster Children project (1 R01 HD095946-01) will investigate the impact of specific foster care experiences on a range of health outcomes over time. In doing so, this proposal will inform efforts to improve longstanding problems of poor health among of one of the country’s most vulnerable populations. We will provide sound empirical evidence on the importance of current state and federal foster care priorities for foster children’s health. The investigative team for this project is Drs. Font (primary investigator), Noll, and Crowley (co-investigators).

Incidence Rates and Risk Factors for Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children (CSEC) in Rural and Urban Counties in Pennsylvania

The Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children (CSEC) project seeks to estimate the prevalence and typologies of CSEC in Pennsylvania. Funded by the Center for Rural Pennsylvania, the CSEC study involves reviewing and coding over 2,000 Pennsylvania's Children and Youth Services investigation records over a 2-year span. The goals of this study are to estimate the incidence of CSEC in the participating counties, to assess rural and urban differences in the incidence and typologies of CSEC, and to identify risk and protective factors for CSEC.  This research aims to inform current statewide efforts to develop and implement screening tools to detect children vulnerable to or affected by CSEC. Drs. Miyamoto, Pinto, and Font lead this project, and are assisted by undergraduate research assistants involved with the Child Maltreatment and Advocacy Studies (CMAS) minor at Penn State.

Selected Publications

• Font, S. A., & Cage, J. (2018). Dimensions of physical punishment and their associations with children’s cognitive performance and school adjustment. Child Abuse & Neglect, 75, 29–40. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2017.06.008

• Font, S. A., Sattler, K. M. P., & Gershoff, E. T. (2018). Measurement and correlates of foster care placement moves. Children and Youth Services Review, 91, 248–258. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2018.06.019

• Font, S. A., Sattler, K., & Gershoff, E. T. (2018). When Home is Still Unsafe: From Family Reunification to Foster Care Reentry. Journal of Marriage and Family, 80(5), 1333–1343. https://doi.org/10.1111/jomf.12499

• Font, S. A., Berger, L. M., Cancian, M., & Noyes, J. L. (2018). Permanency and the educational and economic attainment of former foster children in early adulthood. American Sociological Review, 83(4), 716–743. https://doi.org/10.1177/0003122418781791

• Font, S. A., Cancian, M., & Berger, L. M. (in press). Prevalence and risk factors for early motherhood among low-income, maltreated, and foster youth. Demography.