‘One Hand Does Not Bring Up a Child:’ Child Fostering Among Single Mothers in Nairobi Slums

Cassandra Cotton, Shelley Clark, Sangeetha Madhavan

Childrearing in sub-Saharan Africa is often viewed as collaborative, where children benefit from support from kin. For single mothers living in informal settlements, kin networks may be highly dispersed and offer little day-to-day childrearing support, but may provide opportunities for child fostering. This study conducted in Nairobi, Kenya, uses a linked lives approach, where single mothers’ connections with kin and romantic partners may influence whether – and what type of – kin are relied on to support child fostering.

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Cognitive Flexibility Moderates the Association Between Maltreatment and Emotion Regulation in Residential Care Children of the Middle Childhood Period

Laetitia Melissande Amedee, Laurence Cyr-Desautels, Houria Benard, Katherine Pascuzzo, Karine Dubois-Comtois, Martine Hebert, Celia Matte-Gagne, Chantal Cyr

The purpose of this study was to examine, in a sample of residential care children, the moderating role of cognitive flexibility in the association between maltreatment and emotion regulation competencies. The sample included 69 children aged 8 to 12 and their group home educator as their primary caretaker. Educators completed questionnaires evaluating child emotion regulation competencies and cognitive flexibility.

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Honouring Care-Experienced Mokopuna Māori: Creating Conditions for Wellbeing

Tahirah Materoa Moton

This article presents Kaupapa Māori research undertaken by a mokopuna Māori with the lived experience of state care in New Zealand, alongside established Kaupapa Māori researchers. Literature containing the voices of care-experienced mokopuna Māori was reviewed to explore what conditions exist and are needed to uphold wellbeing.

Associations Between Out-of-Home Care and Mental Health Disorders Within and Across Generations in a Swedish Birth Cohort

Viviane S. Straatmanna, Josephine Jackischa, Lars Brännström, Ylva B. Almquista

Previous studies have shown that mental health disorders (MHD) among parents might be an important mechanism in the intergenerational transmission of out-of-home care (OHC). The current study aimed to further study this interplay by investigating the associations between OHC and MHD within and across generations in a Swedish cohort.

Preventing Human Trafficking of Refugees from Ukraine: A Rapid Assessment of Risks and Gaps in the Anti-Trafficking Response

Suzanne Hoff, Eefje de Volder

This report aims to provide a rapid assessment of the risks of trafficking and exploitation created by the war in Ukraine and the gaps in the current anti-trafficking response, in order to identify what needs to be done now to reduce and prevent trafficking before it is too late. This rapid assessment is based on desktop research; interviews/discussions with organisations, experts and participants in the anti-trafficking response including volunteers, translators, refugees, and displaced people; and a field visit to Poland.

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Discrepancies Between Foster Care Entry and Mental Health Service Use for Black and Latinx Youth

Mehar N. Singh, Omar G. Gudiño

Black and Latinx youth are more likely to be placed into foster care compared to non-Latinx white youth. Foster care placement can facilitate mental health service use, yet youth from marginalized and oppressed racial and ethnic groups in foster care are still less likely to receive mental health services compared to non-Latinx white youth. This study aims to examine this discrepancy Black and Latinx youth face by testing (a) whether mental health need moderates the relationship between race or ethnicity and foster care placement and (b) whether race or ethnicity moderates the relationship between foster care placement and mental health service use.

‘Learning to Hold a Paradox’: A Narrative Review of How Ambiguous Loss and Disenfranchised Grief Affects Children in Care

Jude Leitch

Separation and loss characterise a child’s experience in care, yet losses in the care-experienced population have rarely been studied as a possible source of trauma or as events that may justify a grief response. A literature search of five databases yielded 592 publications. 41 full text articles were reviewed, 16 publications were included. Thematic analysis revealed: children in care are affected by two broad type of ambiguous loss, relationship losses and psychosocial losses; behaviours labelled as ‘problem’ behaviours may in fact be indicators of the manifestations of ambiguous loss and disenfranchised grief; manifold ambiguous losses associated with multiple placement moves has a cumulative effect that can generate long-term negative consequences; the effects of ambiguous loss can be offset by supporting children in care to understand that their losses may not be resolvable, to build tolerance to this ambiguity, to rebuild their identity through forging permanent connections, and to make meaning of their situations.