Screening for relational indices of care quality in applicant foster parents

Shirley-Ann Chinnery - Advances in Social Work and Welfare Education

This paper argues that assessment of relational quality of applicant foster parents must be a routine component of care practice evaluations, supported by assessment methods capable of distinguishing individual differences on the relational indices of interest. 

Educational risk, recidivism, and service access among youth involved in both the child welfare and juvenile justice systems

Rebecca A. Hirsch, Carly B. Dierkhising, Denise C. Herz - Children and Youth Services Review

Dually-involved youth represent a population of youth who receive some level of supervision from both the child welfare and juvenile justice systems concurrently. The current study examined education-related risk factors, recidivism, referrals for services, and service access among dually-involved youth in Los Angeles County, USA.

Suicide Attempts and Completions among Mothers Whose Children Were Taken into Care by Child Protection Services: A Cohort Study Using Linkable Administrative Data

Elizabeth Wall-Wieler, Leslie L. Roos, Marni Brownell, Nathan Nickel, Dan Chateau, Deepa Singal - The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry

The objective of this study is to examine suicide attempts and completions among mothers who had a child taken into care by child protection services (CPS). 

Running into the Arms of Expatriation: America's Failure Addressing the Rights of Unaccompanied Migrant Children From Central America

Rebeca Garcia Gil - Maryland Journal of International Law

This Note focuses on an Advisory Opinion issued by the InterAmerican Court of Human Rights (“the Court”) regarding the rights and guarantees of migrant children and their need for international protection.

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Estimating minimum adequate foster care costs for children in the United States

Haksoon Ahn, Diane DePanfilis, Kevin Frick, Richard P. Barth - Children and Youth Services Review

The objectives of this study are to: use the methodology of a 2007 study to establish foster care minimum adequate rates for children (MARC) based on the child's age and geographical location in every state; update the MARC with cost of living adjustments to 2016; examine changes in gaps between the MARC and the current foster care rates; and identify states that have made increases to their reimbursement rates, relative to the MARC over time. 

Risk of maltreatment for siblings: Factors associated with similar and different childhood experiences in a dyadic sample of adult siblings

Susanne Witte, Jörg M. Fegert and Sabine Walper - Child Abuse and Neglect

This study sought to investigate similarities and differences in maltreatment in siblings and risk factors associated with the maltreatment of more than one child from the same family. 

Childhood in Africa: An Interdisciplinary Journal (Volume 4 . Issue 1, Spring 2017 )

The Institute for the African Child, Ohio University

This issue of Childhood in Africa includes several articles related to children's care, including 'Embedding social justice in Ugandan adoption and legal guardianship cases' and 'The care and support of vulnerable children by foster care families in Uganda: Lessons in social justice and social protection.' 

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Placing Children with Relatives: The Case for a Clear Rationale for Separate Foster Care Licensing Standards, Background Check Procedures, and Improved Relative Placement Statutes in Alaska

Courtney Lewis - Alaska Law Review

This Article argues that Alaska should adopt a threestep approach to achieve better outcomes based on the American Bar Association’s model licensing standards, which are narrowly tailored to evaluate whether a child should be placed with a relative. 

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Partnerships with Overseas 'Orphanages': Implications of the proposed Modern Slavery Act for Australian Charities

ACCI Missions & Relief

This briefing note has been written to give Australian charities currently engaging with overseas residential care institutions an overview of the issue and an understanding of some of the potential ramifications of the proposed Modern Slavery legislation.

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Developing Social Care and Support Services in Uganda: A Literature Review of International Experience in Implementing Social Care and Support Services: Considerations for the Ugandan Context

Prof Andy Bilson, Dr Jolly Nyeko, Joanna Baskott and Chris Rayment - Oxford Policy Management

This paper provides a review of international and Ugandan literature on social care and support services particularly focussing on identifying key lessons that are relevant to the Ugandan context. 

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Supporting Successful Reunifications

Child Welfare Information Gateway

This bulletin offers information to help US child welfare agency managers by providing strategies for achieving reunification and preventing reentry and includes examples of promising practices being implemented by States and localities.

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Determinants of child maltreatment in Nepal: Results from the 2014 Nepal multiple indicator cluster survey (the 2014 NMICS)

Madhu Sudhan Atterayaa, Nasser B. Ebrahimb, Shreejana Gnawali - Child Abuse and Neglect

This study examined the prevalence of child maltreatment as measured by the level of physical (moderate to severe) and emotional abuse and child labor, and the associated household level determinants of child maltreatment in Nepal. 

Peer mentoring services, opportunities, and outcomes for child welfare families with substance use disorders

Ruth A. Huebnera, Martin T. Hallb, Erin Smeadc, Tina Willauerd, Lynn Posze - Children and Youth Services Review

This is a prospective study of 28 family mentors providing peer recovery support services to 783 families with child maltreatment and parental substance use disorders (SUD) over 8 years in a family-centered integrated program with SUD treatment providers.

Joint general comment on the general principles regarding the human rights of children in the context of international migration

Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families & Committee on the Rights of the Child

This joint comment lays out recommendations for protecting the rights of unaccompanied minors as well as those who have been separated from their families due to migration.

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The Problem of Orphanages

World Travel Market London

This session of the World Travel Market in London focused on orphanage tourism and featured speakers from the Better Volunteering Better Care Initiative and other partners, including Save the Children, Friends International, Lumos, and People and Places.

Inquiry into establishing a Modern Slavery Act in Australia - Opening Statements from the Briefing on Orphanage Tourism

Parliament of Australia

On 17 August 2017, the Australian Foreign Affairs and Aid Sub-Committee was briefed by representatives from the Cambodian Children’s Trust and Forget Me Not Foundation on the issue of orphanage tourism. This link includes a video of the opening statements from this briefing.

Official Committee Hansard, Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade: Adopting a modern slavery act in Australia

Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade - Commonwealth of Australia

This document includes the full transcript of the public hearings of the Australian Parliamentary Inquiry in preparation for a Modern Slavery Act. 

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“I did not know there was another life”: Meanings of life in the out-of-home Mothers Unit reunification programme

Dafna Tener, Yoa Sorek, Ella Schwartz - Child and Family Social Work

The current qualitative study examines the lived experiences of the women and children in the Mothers Unit from the subjective perspective of the women currently or previously involved in the programme and of the professionals working with them. 

Expert Paper: Voluntourism and Trafficking into Orphanages

Kate va Doore, Andrea Nave, Emmalene Travers - Global Study on Sexual Exploitation of Children in Travel and Tourism

This expert paper by Forget Me Not Australia was published as a part of the Global Study on Sexual Exploitation of Children in Travel and Tourism and it presents as a case study the story of the organization from its founding to its current work. 

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Authors of accountability: Paperwork and social work in contemporary child welfare practice

Katherine Gibson, Gina Samuels, Julia Pryce - Children and Youth Services Review

This analysis drew from a study in which child welfare professionals were interviewed about their definitions of “well-being” and the barriers and facilitators to promoting well-being in their daily practices. 

‘It’s So Complex!’: Understanding the Challenges of Child Protection Work as Experienced by Newly Graduated Professionals

Anne Jansen - The British Journal of Social Work

The present study is based on life mode interviews with social workers who started their careers in child protection services, focusing on their daily lives as newly graduated professionals. 

Dealing with difference: a scoping review of psychotherapeutic interventions with unaccompanied refugee minors

Gwladys Demazure, Sydney Gaultier, Nicolas Pinsault - European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry

This paper summarizes the different interventions used with URMs to get an overview of techniques used for reducing psychopathologies and difficulties of URMs and to give recommendations to help professionals. 

Factors Influencing Civil Registration of Household in Cash Transfer for Orphans and Vulnerable Children Programme in Karaba Location, Mbeere South Sub-County

Miako Grace Nyawira & Dr. John M. Wanjohi - International Academic Journal of Information Sciences and Project Management

The purpose of the study was to establish the influence of cash transfer for orphans and vulnerable children programme on civil registration in Karaba Location of Mbeere South Subcounty. The study sought to determine how demographic characteristics of the caregivers, challenges faced by caregivers, household priorities of caregivers and household size affect civil registration. 

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Voluntourism Information Sheet – Support families, not orphanages

Linda Reynolds, Senator for Western Australia & Kate van Doore

This newsletter issue from Senator Linda Reynolds of Western Australia, written in conjunction with Kate van Doore of Griffith Law School, was written in preparation for the Australian Parliamentary inquiry on modern slavery and describes the ways in which orphanage trafficking constitutes modern-day slavery. 

In Brief: Voluntourism

Global Study on Sexual Exploitation of Children in Travel and Tourism - ECPAT

This brief from ECPAT's Global Study on Sexual Exploitation of Children in Travel and Tourism defines the term "voluntourism" and its risks to children, with a focus on orphanage voluntourism.

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Opening up communities, closing down institutions: Harnessing the European Structural and Investment Funds

Neil Crowther, Gerard Quinn & Alexandra Hillen-Moore - Community Living for Europe: Structural Funds Watch

This report from Community Living for Europe: Structural Funds Watch reviews findings of an examination of the EU financial framework as it relates to the promotion of community-based care of children and adults and offers key recommendations for the EU and Member States to facilitate the transition from institutional to community-based care.

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Position Paper to the European Union in Preparation for the next Multiannual Financial Framework

Opening Doors for Europe's Children

This position paper from Opening Doors for Europe's Children explains the position of the organization in regards to the EU's Multiannual Financial Framework and the measures within it to support or inhibit the transition from institutional care to family-based care of children.

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Ending legalised violence against children: Global Progress to December 2017

Global Initiative to End All Corporal Punishment of Children & Save the Children Sweden

This latest edition highlights the major achievements of 2017 – yet another big year in the journey to end all corporal punishment; it provides an update on the work of the Global Initiative, and looks forward to what is coming up in 2018. 

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Academic Interventions for Children in Foster Care in the Professional Literature

Tracy Carpenter-Aeby, Victor G Aeby, Amy Cooper, Crystal Kellam and Lacy Salter - ACTA PSYCHOPATHOLOGICA

The purpose of this systematic literature review is to determine the number of articles and provide a summary of the academic needs of youth in foster care, to explore the barriers those children and caregivers face within the educational system and to highlight to successful interventions. 

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Late-adoptions in adolescence: Can attachment and emotion regulation influence behaviour problems? A controlled study using a moderation approach

Cecilia Serena Pace, Simona Di Folco, Viviana Guerriero - Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy

The current study explores (a) a moderation model of adoption status on the association between attachment representations (secure, dismissing, preoccupied, and disorganized) and behavioural problems and (b) a moderation model of adoption status on the association between emotion regulation processes (cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression) and behavioural problems.

Methodological Challenges to the Evaluation of Interventions for Foster/Kinship Carers and Children: A Systematic Review

Adam Dickes, Jacqueline Kemmis-Riggs, John McAloon - Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review

This review aims to systematically review methodological challenges and limitations of interventions designed to help foster carers meet the needs of children, to provide an analysis of the current state of the evidence base for these interventions. 

Developmental Trauma Disorder: Identifying Critical Moments and Healing Complex Trauma

National Child Traumatic Stress Network & Center for the Treatment of Developmental Trauma Disorders

This webinar series provides clinicians, counselors, and other helpers with insights on recognizing and dealing with the most difficult crises and turning points that occur in therapy with traumatized children and families. 

The Family Matters Report 2017

SNAICC – National Voice for our Children, the University of Melbourne, Griffith University, and Save the Children Australia

Measuring trends to turn the tide on the over-representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in out-of-home care in Australia

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An exploratory study on children at risk: a case of orphans’ social and intellectual wellness in Masvingo urban, Zimbabwe Zimbabwe

Racheal Mafumbate, Tsediso Makoelle, & Meahabo Dinah Magano - The 40th Annual International Conference of SASE

The study gathered data from 16 purposively sampled orphans, 4 guidance teachers and analysed documents within a primary school in Masvingo Urban in Zimbabwe.

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Tracking Progress Initiative Tool

Inter-Agency Tracking Progress Initiative Steering Group

The Tracking Progress Tool is a free, web-based, interactive diagnostic and learning tool designed to enable national actors to determine the extent to which their country has effectively implemented the Guidelines for the Alternative Care of Children and to identify the priorities for change still ahead.

Joint General Comment on State obligations regarding the human rights of children in the context of international migration in countries of origin, transit, destination and return

Committee on the Rights of the Child & Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families

The Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC Committee) and the Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families (CMW Committee) jointly adopted two general comments on the human rights of children in situations of international migration.

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Hurdles impeding the provision of holistic services to children in need of care and protection : a study of selected child and youth care centres in Soweto, South Africa

Leonard M. Agere, Pius T. Tanga, and Simon Kang’ethe - Child Abuse Research in South Africa

The aim of the paper is to explore selected pertinent challenges that impede child and youth care centres (CYCCs) from providing holistic support and care to children found in need of care as stated in the Children’s Act No. 38/2005. 

How wealthy are orphans and vulnerable children households in a metropolitan community, South-West Nigeria?

Oyindamola B Yusuf, Temitayo Odusote, Olusanmi Iyabode, Joanna Nwosu, Tessie Phillips–Ononye, Ayo S Adebowale, Elijah A Bamgboye - African Population Studies

This study determined the socio-economic status of Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC) in relation to service areas in Lagos Nigeria.

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Achieving positive change for children? Reducing the length of child protection proceedings: lessons from England and Wales

Judith Masson, Jonathan Dickens, and Kay Bader - Adoption and Fostering

This article will discuss the impact of reforms on time limits in decision-making for children, questioning whether they achieve both good decisions for children and justice for families. 

Country Care Review: Cyprus

Better Care Network

This country care review includes the care-related Concluding Observations adopted by the Committee on the Rights of the Child as part of its examination of Cyprus’s periodic report to the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

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Country Care Review: Vanuatu

Better Care Network

This country care review includes the care-related Concluding Observations adopted by the Committee on the Rights of the Child and the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

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Country Care Review: Tajikistan

Better Care Network

This country care review includes the care-related Concluding Observations adopted by the Committee on the Rights of the Child as part of its examination of Tajikistan’s periodic report to the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

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The Children Act Amendment 2016: Key Objectives, the Journey, Key Amendments, Next Steps

Uganda's National Council for Children, Uganda Parliamentary Forum for Children (UPFC), and Private Sector Foundation Uganda

This bulletin highlights the key objectives and key amendments of Uganda's Children Act Amendment of 2016. It also outlines the process by which the Bill was developed and approved and lays out next steps for implementing the Act and ensuring the rights of children in Uganda.

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Impact of Nutritional Status on Cognition in Institutionalized Orphans: A Pilot Study

Sanjana M Kamath, Kavana G Venkatappa, and Ergod Manjunath Sparshadeep - Journal of Clinical and Diagnostic Research

The aim of this study is to assess the nutritional and cognitive status in institutionalized orphans which might help to formulate effective interventions for improving the nutritional status of vulnerable children in future.

Parenting, Environment, and Early Child Development in Sub-Saharan Africa

Marc H. Bornstein, Diane L. Putnick, Paul Oburu, Jennifer E. Lansford, Kirby Deater-Deckard, Robert H. Bradley, Riku Moriguchi, Pia Rebello Britto - Handbook of Applied Developmental Science in Sub-Saharan Africa

This chapter describes the contemporary situation of children in sub-Saharan Africa with successive foci on child growth, the home environment, parenting, and discipline using data from the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS).

The Effects of Socioeconomic Vulnerability, Psychosocial Services, and Social Service Spending on Family Reunification: A Multilevel Longitudinal Analysis

Tonino Esposito, Ashleigh Delaye, Martin Chabot, Nico Trocmé, David Rothwell, Sonia Hélie and Marie-Joelle Robichaud - International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health

This paper examines the extent to which socioeconomic vulnerability, psychosocial service consultations, and preventative social services spending impacts the reunification for children placed in out-of-home care.

Child Welfare and Successful Reunification through the Socio-Educative Process: Training Needs among Biological Families in Spain

M. Angeles Balsells, Crescencia Pastor, Pere Amorós, Ainoa Mateos, Carmen Ponce and Alicia Navajas - Social Sciences

This study investigates the specific training needs of the biological family during the transition phase of the reunification process in which the child prepares to return home.

Placement Stability, Cumulative Time in Care, and Permanency: Using Administrative Data from CPS to Track Placement Trajectories

Sonia Hélie, Marie-Andrée Poirier, Tonino Esposito, and Daniel Turcotte - International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health

The purpose of this study is (1) to examine trends in placement use and placement stability since the reform and (2) to document the current frequency of each type of placement setting, the cumulative time in care before the exit to permanency, and the sustainability of the permanency outcome.