the current study adopted an exploratory, descriptive approach: (a) to investigate the profiles of needs and strengths of children in out-of-home placements; (b) to examine if there are any age, gender, and placement differences in the profiles of needs and strengths; and (c) to examine the prevalence of school performance needs and if school performance needs
are positively associated with behavioral, emotional, and risk behavior needs. It is hypothesized that a high percentage of children in out of-home care in Singapore would have behavioral and emotional needs; younger children placed in out-of-home care would have higher levels of behavioral, emotional and academic needs as compared to older children; and that children placed in VCHs will have a higher overall level of needs when compared to children in foster care.
Lastly, as previous studies have indicated that children with academic needs tend to display more behavioral difficulties as compared to children without academic difficulties (e.g.,Troutetal.,2008), it is hypothesized that the children with academic difficulties in our Singaporean sample would have significantly higher behavioral and emotional needs than children without academic needs.