In this study, the effect of the care provided in foster homes was primarily examined in the context of the “New vision for alternative care and the role of society in child well-being.” Namely, the differences in the emotional and behavioral problems that children showed in these institutions were considered in terms of several factors, including the scale of the care unit, the age at which the child entered the unit, the duration of the care, and the changes of the institutions wherein they were cared for. The subjects of this study were 164 children, cared for in 5 foster homes in a prefecture of the Kanto-Koshinetsu region. The care workers in charge of them completed a Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL). Then the relationship between the CBCL total scale score and the abovementioned factors were examined. A statistically significant relationship was found only for the scale of the care unit, but the influence of other factors on the CBCL total standard score could not be confirmed.

From these results, we considered that the effect of the care in the foster homes must be examined, including other factors besides the factors stated in the “New vision for alternative care and the role of society in child well-being.”