Returning children home from care: What can be learned from local authority data?

Elsbeth Neil, Lisanne Gitsels, June Thoburn - Child & Family Social Work

This study used 8 years of administrative data (on 2,208 care entrants), collected by one large English local authority, to examine how many children were returned home and to explore factors associated with stable reunification (not re-entering care for at least 2 years).

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Unaccompanied children in Flemish family foster care. Prevalence and associated factors of placement breakdown

FrankVan Holen, Cindy Blijkers, Lenny Trogh, Delphine West, Johan Vanderfaeillie - Children and Youth Services Review

This study aimed at investigating the incidence of placement breakdown in Flemish family foster care (Dutch speaking part of Belgium) for unaccompanied children (UC), and to explore the association of breakdown with foster child, foster family and case characteristics.

Policy as Social Ecological Resilience Scaffolding for Leaving Care: A Case Study of South Africa

John Pinkerton & Adrian Van Breda - Leaving Care and the Transition to Adulthood: International Contributions to Theory, Research, and Practice

This chapter’s authors argue that social policy on leaving care is a critical resilience process for promoting care leavers’ successful transition toward emerging adulthood.

Achieving Comprehensive Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect

Heather J. Risser, Kimberly Svevo-Cianci, Elba Jung Karim, Alexandra E. Morford - International Journal on Child Maltreatment: Research, Policy and Practice

The authors of this study propose a strategy that increases system collaboration, leverages existing infrastructure, and adopts multi-source funding models that invest in prevention services to inoculate society against child abuse and neglect (CAN).

Family-level factors to reintegrate street-involved children in low- and middle-income countries: A Scoping Review

Michael L. Goodman, Derrick C. Gibson, Larissa Baker, Sarah E. Seidel - Children and Youth Services Review

Through a review of implemented programs to reunite street-involved children and youth (SICY) with their families as well as relevant formative research on family-level risk factors for street migration, the authors of this study explore family-level factors relevant to successful family reintegration of SICY.

Early lexical development of children raised in institutional care in Russia

Marina A. Zhukova, Sergey A. Kornilov, Stella N. Tseitlin, Marina B. Eliseeva, Elena A. Vershinina, Rifkat J. Muhamedrahimov, Elena L. Grigorenko - British Journal of Developmental Psychology

To investigate the early language development of children raised in institutional settings in the Russian Federation, the authors of this study compared a group of children in institutional care to their age‐matched peers raised in biological families, who have never been institutionalized using the Russian version of the CDI.

Youth initiated mentors: Do they offer an alternative for out-of-home placement in youth care?

Van Dam, L., Neels, S., De Winter, M., Branje, S., Wijsbroek, S., Hutschemaekers, G., Dekker, A., Sekreve, A., Zwaanswijk, M., Wissink, I., & Stams, G. J. J. M. - Who and what works in natural mentoring?

The present study evaluates the Youth Initiated Mentoring (YIM) approach in which families and youth care professionals collaborate with an informal mentor, who is someone adolescents (12- 23) nominate from their own social network. The current study examined through case-file analysis of 200 adolescents (YIM group n = 96, residential comparison group n = 104) whether the YIM approach would be a promising alternative for out-of-home placement of youth with complex needs.

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