Material hardship and parenting stress among grandparent kinship providers during the COVID-19 pandemic: The mediating role of grandparents’ mental health

Yanfeng Xu, Qi Wu, Sue E. Levkoff, Merav Jedwab - Child Abuse & Neglect

This study examined the relationship between material hardship and parenting stress among grandparent kinship providers, and assessed grandparents’ mental health as a potential mediator to this relationship during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States.

Child Maltreatment during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Consequences of Parental Job Loss on Psychological and Physical Abuse Towards Children

Monica Lawson, Megan H. Piel, Michaela Simon - Child Abuse & Neglect

The current study investigated factors associated with child maltreatment during the COVID-19 pandemic, including parental job loss, and whether cognitive reframing moderated associations between job loss and child maltreatment.

Children on the move, including from the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, and people affected by COVID19

UNICEF

This edition of Humanitarian Action for Children – UNICEF’s annual humanitarian fundraising appeal – describes the ongoing crises affecting children on the move, including from the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, and people affected by COVID-19; the strategies that UNICEF is using to respond to these situations; and the donor support that is essential in this response.

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Children on the move and COVID-19 in Mexico and Central America

UNICEF

This edition of Humanitarian Action for Children – UNICEF’s annual humanitarian fundraising appeal – describes the ongoing crises affecting children on the move and COVID-19 in Mexico and Central America (including unaccompanied and separated children); the strategies that UNICEF is using to respond to these situations; and the donor support that is essential in this response.

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Lessons from the field: An evidence-informed resiliency model for child abuse organizations

Karen Irene Kalergis and Debra Anderson - Child Abuse & Neglect

This article reviews the research basis for the Organizational Resiliency Model (ORM) and new research supporting the model, and offers lessons learned through structured interviews with 10 child abuse leaders who piloted the ORM and continue to use it ten years later.

Preparing the child welfare workforce: Organizational commitment, identity, and desire to stay

Kathryn C. Trujillo, Lara Bruce, Annade Guzman, Carole Wilcox, Aurora Melnyk, Kathy Clark - Child Abuse & Neglect

For this study, a ten-year cohort study was conducted to understand program graduates' experiences with organizational commitment, the impact of stipends on child welfare professional identity and desire to remain in the child welfare field.

Frontline Staff Characteristics and Capacity for Trauma-Informed Care: Implications for the Child Welfare Workforce

Emily A. Bosk, Abigail Williams-Butler, Debra Ruisard, Michael J. MacKenzie - Child Abuse & Neglect

The purpose of this study was to understand the relationship between staff characteristics, endorsement of Trauma-Informed Care (TIC) and intent to turnover.

Vicarious traumatization among child welfare and child protection professionals: A systematic review

Beth E. Molnar, Samantha A. Meeker, Katherine Manners, Lisa Tieszen, Karen Kalergis, Janet E. Fine, Sean Hallinan, Jessica D. Wolfe, Muriel K. Wells - Child Abuse & Neglect

For this study, a review of research literature on the epidemiology of vicarious traumatization among child welfare professionals was conducted.

Linking Up Again: Views of Barnardo’s Elders on Being Separated from Their Siblings and How They Reconnected in Old Age

Ann Buchanan - Brothers and Sisters

This chapter will record the views of a small sample of elders (now in their 70s, 80s and 90s), who grew up in Barnardo’s facilities in the UK, on being separated from their siblings and how they re-connected with their brothers and sisters in old age.

The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on children who become looked after in Derby City

Heather Peet and Corina Teh - Adoption & Fostering

This article compares the needs and background characteristics of children who became looked after by an English local authority between April and July in 2019 and the same three months in 2020, with the aim of identifying any impact of the Covid-19 pandemic which broke out in March 2020 and continued for some months thereafter.

The Mission Mentoring Programme: an initiative for council employees to become mentors to looked after children

Pandelitsa Cosma, Anita Soni - Adoption & Fostering

This article presents a case study of a young man who participated in the Mission Mentoring Programme - an innovative scheme that supports council employees to become mentors for looked after children - and found it helpful for his transition to adulthood and intended employment.

Relationships of young adults with foster care backgrounds: Tensions and management strategies

Elli‐Maria Tahkola, Riitta‐Leena Metsäpelto, Maria Ruohotie‐Lyhty, Anna‐Maija Poikkeus - Child & Family Social Work

The present study focuses on experiences of relational tensions and management strategies in family relationships among 18 young adults with foster care backgrounds who participated in interviews.

Specific effects of neglect and physical abuse on adolescent aggressive behaviors by gender: A multicenter study in rural China

Chun Kang, Hongjuan Chang, Yanmei Zhang, Juan Han, Heng Meng, Chang Peng, Fajuan Rong, Mengni Wang, Yizhen Yu - Journal of Affective Disorders

This study aimed to examine the specific effects of neglect and physical abuse on adolescent aggressive behaviors and to further explore the potential sex-specific effect.

Experiences of Children Living in Foster Families in Kajiado County, Kenya

Josephine Naita Waweru, Henry Tucholski, Catherine Kisasa, Catherine Mwarari, Anatasio Nyagah, Beatrice Churu - Institute of Youth Studies Tangaza University College

This study adopted a phenomenological research design, purposively sampling 26 preteens and teenagers living, during the school term, in a Charitable Children's Institution (CCI) that doubles up as their School and then moving to live with foster families during the school holidays. The focal areas of the field study were the young people's experiences in the CCI, the transition to the foster families, and the young people's experiences in foster care.

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Abuse after abuse: The recurrent maltreatment of American Indian children in foster care and adoption

Ashley L. Landers, Sharon M. Danes, Avery R. Campbell, Sandy White Hawk - Child Abuse & Neglect

This study examined the recurrent maltreatment of American Indian children in foster and adoptive homes, specifically the physical, emotional, sexual, and spiritual abuse subtypes, as well as poly-victimization of American Indian children in comparison to their White peers.

Redistribution and recognition in social work practice: Lessons learned from providing material assistance in child protection settings

Saar-Heiman, Yuval Krumer-Nevo, Michal - American Journal of Orthopsychiatry

The provision of material assistance, which is widespread in child protection settings, has received negligible scholarly attention. This article aims to describe and conceptualize this underresearched practice and to explore the challenges workers face when implementing it. The study described here included 20 in-depth interviews conducted with social workers working in an innovative Israeli child protection program called Families on the Path to Growth.

Experienced support from family, school and friends among students in out‐of‐home care in a school‐based community survey

Rikard Tordön, Gunilla Sydsjö, Marie Bladh, Jennie Svanström, Carl Göran Svedin - Child & Family Social Work

For this study, responses from 311 students in out‐of‐home care (OHC) were compared with peers living in birth parent care (BPC) and in single birth parent care (sBPC) in a regional school survey, directed to students in compulsory school eighth year and upper secondary school second year.

A Lifeline at Risk: COVID-19, Remittances and Children

Saskia Blume and Nour Moussa - World Bank Blogs

In this World Bank Blog Post, Saskia Blume and Nour Moussa of UNICEF's Children on the Move Team describe how "millions of ‘children left behind’ are taking the brunt of this fallout as their family members who moved internally or abroad in hopes of sustaining them, cut down on remittances" as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

An Examination of Past Trends in School Reports to Child Welfare: Considerations for Reported Child Maltreatment

Barbara Fallon, Joanne Filippelli, Nicolette Joh-Carnella, Delphine Collin-Vézina, Rachael Lefebvre, Brenda Moody, Nico Trocmé, Ashley Quinn - Child Maltreatment

This study examines whether increased interaction and observation of young children by school professionals leads to an increase in school-based reports to child welfare authorities and in the identification of child maltreatment victims.

Children of Shanghai

Care for Children

This documentary features China’s first generation of foster children. These young people reveal how they moved on from life in orphanages to achieve success and their foster parents recall their battles to help them overcome prejudice and serious developmental difficulties. The documentary also tells the story of the founding of Care for Children, an organization that has placed almost a million Chinese children from orphanages with local foster families.

Keep caring: Systemic inquiry into services for young people transitioning from out-of-home care

Commission for Children and Young People

With young people at the centre, this inquiry examines the needs and aspirations of young people leaving care and the capacity of the service system to respond to those needs and aspirations. The report makes 15 recommendation to enhance the service system’s capacity to improve the experiences and life outcomes for young people transitioning from care by responding to their needs, challenges and aspirations.

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