Girls in foster care: a vulnerable and high-risk group

 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19550260/

Results: Findings indicated that these girls had significant histories of maltreatment, chronic health issues, and foster care placement instability; 84% of the girls had been physically abused; 95% were victims of ongoing abuse by the biological parents (78%). Sexual abuse was reported by 81%, and 68% were sexually abused by more than one individual. Ninety-five percent were neglected; 51% of the neglect was classified as severe and chronic. All of the girls (100%) had been shown to exhibit sexually abusive and inappropriate behaviors toward other children, including exposing themselves to age-mates, violation of body space, sexually aggressive remarks, sexual touching without permission, and sexual touching of much younger children. Ninety-two percent of the girls had two or more changes in caregivers by age 16 years. Over one-third of the girls (39.2%) experienced four or more different living situations that lasted less than 1 month.