Is Contact with Birth Parents Beneficial to Children in Non-Kinship Foster Care? A Scoping Review of the Evidence

Kevin J. Ruiz-Romero, María D.Salas Francisco, Javier Fernández-Baena, Lucía González-Pasarín

In this scoping review the authors analyze the findings of studies conducted over the past two decades that have specifically examined face-to-face contact with birth parents for children in non-kinship foster care, with the goal of determining more clearly when it may contribute positively to the child's well-being. The review involved a search of nine electronic databases in Spain, the U.S., Portugal, and the UK.

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To Identify and Limit the Risks of Neglect in Orphaned Students: Can France Manage It?

Jérôme Clerca, Kamilla Khamzina, Caroline Desombre

In this theoretical paper, the authors argue that, due to the detrimental impact of parental loss on academic achievement in France, orphaned students should be considered as students with special educational needs. This is important to provide appropriate educational responses consistent with inclusive education.

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Youth at the Intersection of Parental Incarceration and Foster Care: Examining Prevalence, Disparities, and Mental Health

Luke Muentner, Katie J. Stone, Laurel Davis, Rebecca Shlafer

This U.S.-based study details the prevalence of youth at the intersection of parental incarceration and foster care, their demographic characteristics, and heterogeneity in their mental health.

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Child Abuse and Neglect - The International Journal

What About the Children? Co-Occurrence of Child Maltreatment and Parental Separation

Sheila R. van Berkel, Marielle J. L. Prevoo, Marielle Linting, Fieke Pannebakker, Lenneke R. A. Alink

The aim of this study was to investigate (a) the extent to which child maltreatment co-occurs with parental separation and (b) associations between different types of child maltreatment and various types of separation-associated interparental conflict. This cross-national comparative study on family dynamics was based on National survey data of the US, Russia and 17 European countries indicates that in these countries 10–44% of the couples with children had separated before one of their children reached the age of 15 years.

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Attachment of Young Foster Children

Delphine West, Laura Gypen, Johan Vanderfaeillie

Family foster care is the option of choice in case of out-of-home placements in Flanders, Belgium, resulting in rising numbers of family foster care placements. As a number of the foster children experienced traumatic events and all of them were separated from their primary caregivers, concerns can be raised about the quality of attachment between foster children and their foster carers. In this study, the attachment behavior was scored by the foster mothers on the Attachment Insecurity Screening Index.

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Developmental Child Welfare

Grandparents Raising their Grandchildren: Implications for the Vulnerable Children of Eswatini

Ncamsile D. Motsa, Pholoho J. Morojele

The study aims to comprehend the ways in which being raised by grandparents, influence the vulnerable children’s schooling. The aim is to contribute insights to our understanding on how these children’s education towards academic success could be enhanced.

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Children’s Experiences of the Pandemic Across Europe: Inequalities and the Potential of Participation

Cath Larkins, Lucía del Moral-Espín

This chapter examines practical insight from research conducted across the UK and elsewhere in Europe of the contexts that children were experiencing, the pre-existing causes of some of the challenges and examples of children providing evidence about their experiences and insights into how policy and services could better respond to the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Children's Experiences, Participation and Rights During COVID-19

The Unfinished Democratisation of Family Service Systems: Parental Consent and Children’s Viewpoints on Receiving Support in Child and Family Welfare in Sweden

Maria Heimer, Camilla Pettersson

This article addresses the predicament of family service systems being built on parents’ voluntary participation and the need for parental consent, which may block children’s right to services. It examines parental consent and the impact of parental non-consent for children’s opportunities to receive protection and support in Swedish child and family welfare.

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An Exploration of Poverty as a Consumption Object: Voluntourist’s Stories from an Orphanage in Nepal

Amira Benali, Olga Kravets

This paper examines the understanding of poverty emerging in voluntourists’ accounts of their first-hand experiences of poverty alleviation. Based on the ethnography of an orphanage in Nepal, the authors show that despite voluntourists’ good intentions and even (self-)criticism of the volunteer tourism approach to poverty relief, their accounts tend to consolidate rather regressive ideas about poverty.

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Consumption Markets and Culture

Family-Based Mental Health Interventions for Refugees Across the Migration Continuum: A Systematic Review

Mary Bunna, Nicole Zolman, Chloe Polutnik Smith, Deepika Khanna, Rosie Hanneke, Theresa S. Betancourt, Stevan Weine

This global study reviewed the literature on family-based mental health interventions for refugees across migration contexts and settings to identify types of interventions and intervention components, implementation approaches and to assess effectiveness. The review used a systematic approach, and ten intervention studies were retained for analysis.

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Practice and Policy Regarding Child Neglect: Lessons from Studies of Institutional Deprivation

Charles H. Zeanah, Lucy S. King

This report reviewed evidence for the effects of psychosocial neglect on development derived from studies of young children raised in U.S. institutions. In these caregiving environments, children are physically safe and receive instrumental care, but the social, emotional, and cognitive components of caregiving are impoverished. The damaging and often lasting effects of these caregiving environments on young children's development underscore that psychosocial neglect should be considered as dangerous to child well-being as physical maltreatment.

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annual review of developmental psychology

Disability-Inclusive Sustainable Services: The Role of Social Workers

Augustina Naami, Rita Adoma Parry, Alfred Ofori

While several interventions have been put in place to address the needs of persons with disabilities in developed countries, their counterparts in low-income countries, such as Ghana, continue to face marginalisation and exclusion. Using user-perspective and co-production approaches, this report analyses existing services for Ghanaians with disabilities and the relevance and usefulness of these services.

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Social Work Perspectives on Leadership and Organization

Buenas prácticas en la prestación de servicios de cuidado residencial de la niñez y adolescencia en Guatemala (Resumen Breve)

Changing the Way We Care

OBJETIVOS DEL ESTUDIO: Identificar y documentar mejores prácticas en la prestación de servicios residenciales de cuidado, orientados a la transformación de servicios de cuidado de la niñez y adolescencia en Guatemala.

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Buenas prácticas en la prestación de servicios de cuidado residencial de la niñez y adolescencia en Guatemala

Changing the Way We Care

Cambiando la Forma en que Cuidamos (o sus siglas en inglés, CTWWC) Guatemala realizó un estudio con el objetivo de identificar y documentar buenas prácticas en la prestación de servicios de cuidado residencial, con el objetivo de transformar los servicios de cuidado a la niñez en Guatemala.

Reinstating Parental Rights That Have Been Terminated: Finding Ways to Restore Legal Connections for Children Who Had Been in Foster Care

Linda-Jeanne M. Mack, Richard P. Barth

This paper reviews the range of factors state legislation includes in the U.S., reviews scant existing literature on how termination of parental rights (TPRs) may effect youth, and proposes several options for ways that unproductive TPRs can be reduced, and timely reinstatements increased.

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Journal of Public Child Welfare

Outsourcing and Children's Social Care: A Longitudinal Analysis of Inspection Outcomes Among English Children's Homes and Local Authorities

Anders Malthe Bach-Mortensen, Benjamin Goodair, Jane Barlow

Most residential children's social care services in England, including children's homes, are operated by for-profit companies, but the implications of this development are not well understood. This paper aims to address this gap by undertaking the first longitudinal and comprehensive evaluation of the associations between for-profit outsourcing and quality of service provision among English local authorities and children's homes.

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Social Science and Medicine Journal

Family Strengthening in the Context of COVID-19: Adapting a Community-Based Intervention from Kenya to the United States

Eve S. Puffer, Savannah L. Johnson, Kaitlin N. Quick, Amber D. Rieder, Mahgul Mansoor, Rae Jean Proeschold-Bell, Sierra Jones, Shaneeka Moore-Lawrence, Justin D. Rasmussen, Cameron Cucuzzella, Francelia Burwell, Latoria Dowdy, Florine Moore, Nancy Rosales

COVID-19 led to widespread disruption of services that promote family well-being. Families impacted most were those already experiencing disparities due to structural and systemic barriers. Existing support systems faded into the background as families became more isolated. New approaches were needed to deliver evidence-based, low-cost interventions to reach families within communities. The authors adapted a family strengthening intervention developed in Kenya (“Tuko Pamoja”) for the United States.

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Adverse Childhood Experiences in Residential Care: Predicting Accumulation and Exploring Clustering of Adversity in Romanian Care Facilities

Ioana M. Neagoe, Claudiu C. Papasteri

The purpose of this study was to establish the prevalence of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) in child residential care and to explore predictors of accumulation and clustering patterns.

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Child and Youth Care