Psychosocial Support

The best form of psychosocial support is a healthy family and supportive environment, preferably in the child's community of origin, or one that is culturally similar. Psychosocial well-being is a product of multiple support, which is rooted in the ability to form healthy relationships and participate in community networks.

However, certain considerations may be required in order to help children and caretakers come to terms with life-changing events, such as the loss of a parent. Separation can be highly stressful for children, particularly if it is unexpected, or repeated. Some children may experience anxiety, attachment problems, sleep disturbances, dependency issues, regression, and a range of other behavioural issues which threaten their mental health and development.

Specific types of support may be required for children suffering from loss, severe or chronic ill health, abuse or exploitation. The child’s experience, age, resilience, and the level of support received from the family and community will determine if a child needs external services. A child is far less likely to experience psychosocial stress if they have good natural support mechanisms and therefore protection efforts should focus on supporting families and communities to help each other.

When psychosocial support is needed, an assessment is important in determining the scope and type of issues, the existing family and community resources, and analysis of how these can be strengthened. Clinical mental health interventions such as therapy, psychiatry or psychological counseling, should only be provided by trained professionals after a clinical assessment and, in all cases, should be culturally relevant.

Psychosocial activities must promote the children’s development and their relationships with others, re-establish routines, increase self confidence and sense of control over their lives. Children’s activities, such as the provision of safe places, group work or referrals to specialists, should be designed around the child’s individual needs, age, gender, and cultural identity. Interventions should be empowering, inclusive, and fully integrated with wider community efforts. Children’s participation is essential in psychosocial work; children should be encouraged to express their opinions, and to have these taken into account.

The literature found here describes the psychosocial effects of separation, and other threats to children such as HIV/AIDS, conflict, abuse and exploitation, and provides guidance and examples of psychosocial interventions.

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Barriers and facilitators for access to mental health services by traumatized youth

April Joy Damian, Joseph J. Gallo, Tamar Mendelson - Children and Youth Services Review, 07 Jan 2018

The purpose of this study was to assess the perspective of social service providers who participated in a nine-month, trauma-informed care (TIC) training intervention on 1) their capacity to make referrals to trauma-specific services following the training, and 2) factors external to the training intervention that supported or hindered their ability to link traumatized youth with services.

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Effects of Early Neglect Experience on Recognition and Processing of Facial Expressions: A Systematic Review

Victoria Doretto and Sandra Scivoletto - Brain Sciences, 06 Jan 2018

This article reviews and analyzes data from recent literature about recognition and processing of facial expressions in individuals with history of childhood neglect.

The prevalence of mental disorders among children and youth staying in residential institutions, children’s homes – a review of epidemiological studies

Witold Pawliczuk, Anna Kaźmierczak-Mytkowska, Tomasz Srebnicki, Tomasz Wolańczyk - Psychiatria Polska, 2018

This article presents an overview of the few studies carried out so far in the European residential institutions, including children’s homes, over the years 1940–2011 in the UK, Germany, Romania, and Poland.

Voicing young and older adult care-leavers in Belgium: How the experience of being in care shapes narratives of the self

An Nuytiens, Ilse Luyten, Jenneke Christiaens, Els Dumortier - International Journal of Longitudinal and Life Course Studies, 2018

This paper discusses the results of a qualitative study on adult care leavers in Flanders (Belgium).

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Evaluation of the Treatment and Care for Kids Program (TrACK)

Lynne McPherson, Glory Gatwiri and Nadine Cameron - Southern Cross University and Australian Childhood Foundation, 2018

The Treatment and Care for Kids (TrACK) program is a therapeutic home-based care program providing intensive intervention for children and young people with complex needs in Australia. The findings of this evaluation demonstrate that TrACK produces tangible and lasting results for children.

Developing trauma informed practice in Northern Ireland: The child welfare system

Bunting, L., Montgomery, L., Mooney, S., MacDonald, M., Coulter, S., Hayes, D., Forbes, T. - y Queen’s University, School of Social Sciences, Education & Social Work, 2018

This paper provides an overview of the principles of Trauma informed care, describing how service user experiences of adversity and/or trauma relate to the child welfare system in Northern Ireland and outlining international and national policy and practice developments in creating more Trauma informed child welfare systems.

Trauma Responsive Child Welfare Systems

Virginia Strand and Ginny Sprang, 2018

This comprehensive reference offers a robust framework for introducing and sustaining trauma-responsive services and culture in child welfare systems.

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The long-term effects of out-of-home placement in late adolescence: A propensity score matching analysis among Swiss youths

Margit Averdijk, Denis Ribeaud, Manuel Eisner - Longitudinal and Life Course Studies: International Journal, 2018

The aim of this study was to examine the outcomes of out-of-home placement in adolescence.

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HIV and Caregiver Common Mental Disorder: Synergistic Impacts on Child Development and Entry Points for Interventions

Mark Tomlinson and Xanthe Hunt - 4Children, Catholic Relief Services, 2018

In this paper, the authors review published literature on the mental health status of mothers living with HIV (MLH) and how this affects their children; outline the pathways between maternal HIV, maternal mental health problems, and negative child outcomes; and then describe a number of intervention entry points that they argue have the potential to enhance impact across PEPFAR platforms.

Foster parents exposed to political violence: The role of social support in addressing emotional and functional difficulties

Ohad Gilbar, Rami Benbenishty, Miriam Schiff, Rachel Dekel - Children and Youth Services Review, 24 Dec 2017

The first goal of this study was to describe posttraumatic symptoms (PTS) and problems in functioning among foster parents following their exposure to the war.