The AFCARS Report

US Administration on Children, Youth and Families, Children's Bureau

This report from the US Administration on Children, Youth and Families, Children's Bureau presents statistics and figures on foster care in the US for 2017, including the number of children in care disaggregated by age, sex, race/ethnicity, placement type, time in care, and more.

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A Randomized Controlled Trial on the Effectiveness of Family Group Conferencing in Child Welfare: Effectiveness, Moderators, and Level of FGC Completion

Sharon Dijkstra, Jessica J. Asscher, Maja Dekovic, Geert Jan J. M. Stams, and Hanneke E. Creemers - Child Maltreatment

The present study examined the effectiveness of Family Group Conferencing (FGC) in child welfare in the Netherlands.

Concept mapping the needs of Flemish nonkinship foster parents who care for unaccompanied refugee minors

Frank Van Holen, Lenny Trogh, Delphine West, Nina Meys, Johan Vanderfaeillie - Children and Youth Services Review

In this study, concept mapping was used to identify the needs of nonkinship foster parents from Caucasian ethnicity who care for unaccompanied refugee minors (URM) in Flanders (Dutch speaking part of Belgium).

Experimental evaluation of transitional living services for system-involved youth: Implications for policy and practice

Mark E. Courtney, Erin J. Valentine, Melanie Skemer - Children and Youth Services Review

The study reported here uses a random-assignment evaluation design to assess the impact of the YVLifeSet program on young adults transitioning to adulthood from the child welfare and juvenile justice systems in the state of Tennessee.

Parenting influences on adolescent sexual risk-taking: Differences by child welfare placement status

Marina Haddock Potter & Sarah A. Font - Children and Youth Services Review

This study sought to investigate associations of caregiver-child closeness, monitoring, and dating communication with youth's sexual initiation, sexual partners, and unprotected intercourse over the subsequent 12 months.

Realising children’s rights: A training manual for care professionals working with children in alternative care

SOS Children’s Villages International

The two-day course outlined in these pages is designed to familiarise groups of care professionals with the international standards and principles surrounding children’s rights – and above all, to relate this to the daily experience and challenges arising in the field of alternative care.

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European Recommendations on the Implementation of a Child Rights-Based Approach for Care Professionals Working with and for Children

SOS Children’s Villages International

The European Recommendations on the implementation of a child rights-based approach for care professionals working with and for children highlights the steps to be undertaken to develop a child care service workforce capable of applying a child rights-based approach to their work.

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Realising Children’s Rights: A training manual for care professionals working with children in alternative care

SOS Children’s Villages International

The two-day course outlined in these pages is designed to familiarise groups of care professionals with the international standards and principles surrounding children’s rights – and above all, to relate this to the daily experience and challenges arising in the field of alternative care.

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Prepare for Leaving Care – A Child Protection System that Works for Professionals and Young People

SOS Children’s Villages, CELCIS, EuroChild

‘Prepare for Leaving Care – A Child Protection System that Works for Professionals and Young People’, a two-year project co-funded by the Rights, Equality and Citizenship (REC) Programme of the European Union (2017-2018), aims to ensure that the rights of young people in alternative care are respected and that they are prepared for an independent life.

Towards the Right Care for Children: Orientations for reforming alternative care systems in Africa, Asia, Latin America

Samantha Chaitkin, Nigel Cantwell, Dr Chrissie Gale, Dr Ian Milligan, Catherine Flagothier, Claire O’Kane, Dr Graham Connelly - European Union, SOS Children's Villages, CELCIS

The general objective of this study was to conduct a research on the possible issue of institutionalisation in six South and Central American, Asian and African countries in order to strengthen the knowledge of the European Commission on the nature, the extent and scope of institutionalisation and feasibility of de-institutionalisation (alternative care for children).

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A Randomized Controlled Trial on the Effectiveness of Family Group Conferencing in Child Welfare: Effectiveness, Moderators, and Level of FGC Completion

Sharon Dijkstra, Jessica J. Asscher, Maja Deković, Geert Jan J. M. Stams, Hanneke E. Creemers - Child Maltreatment

The present study examined the effectiveness of Family Group Conferencing (FGC) in child welfare.

Vital few and useful many foster families from start to finish

Donna J. Cherry & John G. Orme - Children and Youth Services Review

This study replicated and extended previous research by conducting a follow-up study of 107 families (90% response rate) 17 years after pre-service training. Consistent with previous research we found a small proportion (10%) of families who provide a disproportionate amount of care in terms of length of service and number of children fostered, approved to foster, adopted, and removed at families' request.

Kinship Probate Guardianship: An Important Permanency Option for Children

Julia Hernández, Jill Duerr Berrick - Families in Society: The Journal of Contemporary Social Services

Although the extant literature provides rough estimates of the number and characteristics of children living in most care arrangements, research on kinship probate guardianship is especially scarce. This article focuses on kinship probate guardianship in an effort to build the literature on this understudied population.

Identifying Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD) and Disinhibited Social Engagement Disorder (DSED) in a clinical sample of high risk children

Maria G Kroupina, Rowena Ng, Claire M Dahl, Ann Nakitende, Kathryn C Elison - Journal of Psychology and Clinical Psychiatry

This descriptive study involved caregivers and their adopted children, under the age of 7 years old, referred by pediatricians to an outpatient clinic, which specializes in early mental health. The prevalence of toxic stress, measured as symptoms of Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD) and Disinhibited Social Engagement Disorder (DSED), was explored using clinical data collected during initial assessment.

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Child Neglect in Humanitarian Settings: Literature Review and Recommendations for Strengthening Prevention and Response

The Alliance for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action

The purpose of this literature review from the Alliance for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action is to synthesise evidence on the prevalence, patterns and impacts of child neglect in humanitarian contexts.

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Investigating ‘care leaver’ identity: A narrative analysis of personal experience stories

Craig Evans - Text & Talk: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Language, Discourse & Communication Studies

This paper investigates how ‘care leaver’ is discursively constructed as a group identity, by analyzing 18 written personal experience stories from several charity websites by people identified or who self-identify as care leavers.