Parents' perceptions of changes in family functioning after participation in a strengthening families intervention: A qualitative analysis

Michele Burn, Tess Knight, Lisa Taylor, John W. Toumbourou - Children and Youth Services Review

This paper reports a qualitative study of parents' experiences of participating in an Australian adapted trial of the Strengthening Families Program (SFP).

Wise Short-Term Missions: 8 Principles to Benefit Vulnerable Children & Families

Christian Alliance for Orphans (CAFO)

These principles have been developed and approved by the Christian Alliance for Orphans in an effort to empower every church, organization, and volunteer participating in short-term missions to be more thoughtful and effective, particularly in respect to vulnerable children.

Transitioning Donors: 5 Steps to bring your supporters on the journey to a new model

Christian Alliance for Orphans (CAFO)

CAFO engaged with markempa to study how OVC-serving organizations inspired donors to give toward a new model of family-based care. In this guide, you’ll learn the five steps to help transition your donors to improve fundraising outcomes and create the financial capacity to provide better care for vulnerable children and families.

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Children’s rights and residential care in Taiwan: An exploration of the tensions between global standards and culturally situated practices

Wan-Yu Chiu & Helen Charnley - International Social Work

This article examines the tension between the rhetoric of children’s rights and the realities of residential care for children in Taiwan.

What makes kinship caregivers unprepared for children in their care? Perspectives and experiences from kinship care alumni in Ghana

Ebenezer Cudjoe, Alhassan Abdullah, Marcus Y. L. Chiu - Children and Youth Services Review

This study reports on a qualitative investigation involving 15 young kinship care alumni in Ghana to explore what kinship caregivers' unpreparedness means and what causes them to be unprepared.

The Buffering Role of Social Support on the Psychosocial Wellbeing of Orphans in Rwanda

Tehetna Alemu Caserta, Raija‐Leena Punamäki, & Anna‐Maija Pirttilä‐Backman -

This study examined (1) how perceived social support (PSS) varied across orphan‐related characteristics (e.g., orphan status, such as single, maternal or paternal, and their living environments, such as in child‐headed households, on the street, in an orphanage or in a foster home) and (2) the relative importance of sources of PSS (relatives/community/adults and peers) and functional social support (emotional/informational/instrumental and social) and its association with emotional well‐being and mental distress.

Increasing Social Support for Child Welfare-Involved Families Through Family Group Conferencing

Tyler W Corwin, Erin J Maher, Lisa Merkel-Holguin, Heather Allan, Dana M Hollinshead, John D Fluke - The British Journal of Social Work

This study uses a randomised controlled trial to examine the impact of Family Group Conferencing on caseworkers’ perceptions of families’ levels of social support.

Social Workers’ Reflections on Ethics in Relation to Adoption in the UK: Everywhere but Nowhere?

Brid Featherstone & Anna Gupta - The British Journal of Social Work

Empirical research with social workers exploring their understandings and use of codes or ethical theories in practice remain underdeveloped in the UK. This article, based on the British Association of Social Work commissioned Enquiry into the role of the social worker in adoption with a focus on ethics and human rights, provides an important contribution in this context.

First Nations children and disparities in transfers to ongoing child welfare services in Ontario following a child protection investigation

Jennifer Ma, Barbara Fallon, Ramona Alaggia, Kenn Richard - Children and Youth Services Review

The current study comprises a secondary analysis of the 2013 Ontario Incidence Study of Reported Child Abuse and Neglect and focuses on the decision to provide ongoing child welfare services.

Guidelines to Strengthen the Social Service Workforce for Child Protection

UNICEF & Global Social Service Workforce Alliance

These guidelines are informed by evidence of ‘what works’ and lessons learned in the field. They are designed to accelerate UNICEF regional and country offices’ programming on social service workforce strengthening, and support work to better plan, develop and support the social services workforce with national and regional partners.

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Placing children in care at centre stage : exploring the experiences and perceptions of children in care about their pathways into offending behaviour

Anne-Marie Day - University of Salford

This PhD thesis focuses on the perceptions of children in care whilst they are still in care and subject to youth justice supervision. The findings are based on semi-structured interviews with 19 children in care attending various Youth Offending Teams in the North West of England. 

Catalyzing Business Skills: For Children - Trainer's Guide

Making Cents International

Making Cents International (Making Cents), in partnership with ChildFund International, developed the Catalyzing Business Skills curriculum for the Economic Strengthening to Keep and Reintegrate Children into Families (ESFAM) project in Uganda. This Trainer’s Guide is intended to be used with children participating in savings groups who are interested in engaging in successful income generation activities.

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Catalyzing Business Skills: For Youth - Trainer's Guide

Making Cents International

Making Cents International (Making Cents), in partnership with ChildFund International, developed the Catalyzing Business Skills curriculum for the Economic Strengthening to Keep and Reintegrate Children into Families (ESFAM) project in Uganda. This Trainer’s Guide is intended to be used with youth participating in savings groups who are interested in engaging in successful income generation activities.

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Catalyzing Business Skills

Making Cents International

Catalyzing Business Skills is a suite of three financial literacy and business skills curricula developed by Making Cents International and Child Fund's Economic Strengthening to Keep and Reintegrate Children into Families (ESFAM) project in Uganda.

Outcomes from early child maltreatment prevention program in child protective services

Lina Sapokaite Millett - Children and Youth Services Review

This study sought to determine whether the Parent Support Outreach (PSO) program, an early Child Protective Services (CPS) response and service model to screened-out reports and other high-risk families in Minnesota's child welfare system, resulted in less subsequent CPS involvement, increased use of mental health and substance abuse services, and improvement of family's economic well-being.

Young people’s suggestions for the assets needed in the transition to adulthood: Mapping the research evidence

Ann Hagell, Rakhee Shah, Russell Viner, Dougal Hargreaves, Jennifer McGowan, Michelle Heys - Health Foundation

This paper explores the extent to which the existing research literature has addressed four key assets to a successful transition to adulthood identified by care-experienced young people - skills and qualifications, personal connections, financial and practical support, and emotional support - and if so, what it showed about the asset’s role in a transition to adulthood.

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Looked After Children: The Reluctant State and Moral Salvation

Mark Cronin - Genealogy

The main argument in this article is that the rationale for the state’s growing interest in children (in particular those children who are considered a social problem) and the emerging social policy solutions, i.e., foster care, are driven by particular political and economic agendas which have historically paid little attention to the needs of these children and young people.

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Stop the War on Children: Protecting Children in 21st Century Conflict

George Graham, Mariam Kirollos, Gunvor Knag Fylkesnes, Keyan Salarkia and Nikki Wong - Save the Children

This report from Save the Children provides an overview of the impacts of armed conflict on children, the efforts that Save the Children and others are making to address the needs of children affected by armed conflict, and a series of recommendations for governments and others.

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Out of the Shadows: Supporting LGBTQ Youth in Child Welfare through Cross-System Collaboration

Martin, M., Down, L., & Erney, R. - The Center for the Study of Social Policy (CSSP)

This report highlights the research on the disparities that exist between LGBTQ foster youth and their nonLGBTQ peers, as well as the compounding effects these factors have in relation to other intersecting factors including race, ethnicity, culture and language.

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Maltreatment history, trauma symptoms and research reactivity among adolescents in child protection services

Randall Waechter, Dilesha Kumanayaka, Colleen Angus-Yamada, Christine Wekerle, Savanah Smith and The MAP Research Team -

This open access study compared self-reported impact of research participation against maltreatment history and current post-traumatic stress symptomatology among a randomly selected group of adolescents (< 18 years old) in the child protection service (CPS) system.

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Understanding the experience and outcomes of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in out-of-home care during the Twentieth Century

Elizabeth Fernandez, Jung-Sook Lee and Patricia McNamara - UNSW Sydney

This report details a component of the UNSW national Long-term Outcomes of Forgotten Australians Study reported in No child should grow up like this which explored the in-care and after-care experiences of adults who spent their childhoods in institutions and foster care during the period 1930 to 1989. In this report, the focus is on Stolen Generations survivors and other Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander individuals who participated in the research.

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A case study of policy inaction: Young people transitioning from out of home care in Victoria

Philip Mendes - Social Work and Policy Studies: Social Justice, Practice and Theory

This paper explores the leaving care policies of the Australian state of Victoria, and the reasons for policy "inaction" on providing post-care support to youth leaving care until the age of at least 21 years old.

Supporting LGBTQ+ Foster Teens: Development of a Relationship-Focused,Self-Guided Curriculum for Foster Families

Amy M. Salazar, Kevin P. Haggerty, Susan E. Barkan, Rachel Peterson, Madeline E. Furlong, Eunsaem Kim, Janice J. Cole, Jessica M. Colito - Sexuality Research and Social Policy

This study has three aims: (1) to provide an overview of a module designed to support relationship building between LGBTQ+ youth in foster care and their caregivers, (2) to describe the theater testing procedure used to assess usability of the developed module with foster caregivers and adults, and (3) to share the results of the theater test.

Repatriation of War Orphans in Bosnia: Narratives of Nationhood and Care in Refugee Crises

Burcu Akan Ellis - Migration Letters

This study highlights the plight of children in state orphanages during conditions of war and its aftermath, in order to explore how state narratives trap children between contested notions of the best interests of the child, national belonging, and familial rights.

Regulatory and Institutional Aspects of the Protection of Young People Leaving Alternative Care on the Grounds of Age

Mariana Ianachevici & Maria Orlov - Fiat Iustitia

In this paper, the authors analyze the national regulatory framework of the Republic of Moldova in light of its compliance with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, in the context of commitments made in support of young people who leave the alternative care on the grounds of age.

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Raising Government Children: A History of Foster Care and the American Welfare State

Catherine E. Rymph - The University of North Carolina Press

Analyzing the ideas, debates, and policies surrounding foster care and foster parents’ relationship to public welfare, this book reveals the framework for the building of the US foster care system and draws out its implications for today’s child support networks.

A Qualitative Exploration of Parental Separation and Coping: Attachment Disruptions Among Newcomer Immigrant Adolescents

Holly A. Muller, Thomas A. Brewer, Sita G. Patel, Dhru Desai - Journal of Adolescent Research

In this study, qualitative interview data were used to explore parental separation and coping strategies among newcomer immigrant adolescents in the US.

Corruption affects Ugandan children

The National Child Protection Working Group (NCPWG)

This brief from the National Child Protection Working Group (NCPWG) examines the types of corrupt practices experienced by children in Uganda and what can be done to close the loop holes that allow such corrupt practices. The brief highlights the impacts of corruption on children's wellbeing including "instances of falsifying birth histories of children to qualify for orphan status and consequently eligibility for international adoption."

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Courts, care proceedings and outcomes uncertainty: The challenges of achieving and assessing “good outcomes” for children after child protection proceedings

Jonathan Dickens, Judith Masson, Ludivine Garside, Julie Young, Kay Bader - Child & Family Social Work

This open access paper draws on empirical research into the outcomes of care proceedings for a randomly selected sample of 616 children in England and Wales, about half starting proceedings in 2009–2010 and the others in 2014–2015. The paper considers the challenges of achieving and assessing “good outcomes” for the children.

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Exploring the relationship between interparental conflict and emotional security: What happens with adolescents in residential care compared to those living with their families?

Silvia López-Larrosa, Paula Mendiri, Vanesa Sánchez-Souto - Children and Youth Services Review

In this study, the authors examined adolescents' emotional security and insecurity (preoccupation and disengagement) determined by dimensions of interparental conflict (IPC). These results have implications for researchers and for practitioners when addressing family reunification for adolescents in residential care (RC) or risks in community samples.