Left Behind in the War: Dangers Facing Children with Disabilities In Ukraine’s Orphanages

Disability Rights International

Disability Rights International (DRI) published these recommendations in response to a visit to Ukraine’s institutions for children with disabilities in late April 2022. DRI visited three facilities for children aged six to adult, and one “baby” home for children from birth to age six.

DRI found that Ukraine’s children with disabilities with the greatest support needs are living in atrocious conditions – entirely overlooked by major international relief agencies and receiving little support from abroad. 

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Child Protective Custody Placement for Children with Developmental Disorders

Jennifer Lapin, Sarah Beal, Ryan Adams, Jennifer Ehrhardt, Ernest Pedapati, Tanya Froehlich

The purpose of this U.S.-based study was to determine whether children with developmental disorders (DDs) in protective custody are more likely to experience specific placement types and stay in care longer than their typically developing peers. Furthermore, in the DD-only group, the authors examined whether the likelihood of each placement type differed by specific DD diagnosis.

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Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics

Attachment Trauma: How to Tailor Coaching for Parents of Children in Foster Care

Beth Troutman

This chapter in the "Attachment-Informed Parent Coaching" book discusses how to use attachment-informed parent coaching to help children in foster care heal from the multiple layers of attachment trauma they have experienced. The author describes how to help children in foster care develop healthier relationships with both foster and biological parents.

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Attachment-Informed Parent Coaching

Towards a More Comprehensive Understanding of Fostering Connections: The Trauma-Informed Foster Care Programme - A Mixed Methods Approach With Data Integration

Maria Lotty, Eleanor Bantry-White, Audrey Dunn-Galvin

This paper describes a mixed methods approach that was applied to evaluate the complex intervention Fostering Connections: The Trauma-Informed Foster Care Programme, a recently developed trauma-informed psychoeducational intervention for foster carers in Ireland.

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Addressing Legal Needs of Young People in Out-of-Home Care: Practitioners Call for Radical Change

Stacey McMillan, Holly Lawson, Kath McFarlane

Young Australians exiting Out-of-Home Care (OOHC) face some of the most challenging access to justice issues due to experiences of trauma, increased interactions with the justice system, distrust of government services, high rates of socioeconomic disadvantage and a lack of accessible support services. This article outlines the experience of the Mid North Coast Legal Centre (MNCLC) which, through the LevelUP Project, aimed to bridge this access to justice gap with a shake-up of the traditional legal services model. Through this experience, MNCLC offers some suggestions for legal centres seeking to improve access to justice for this disadvantaged group.

Thresholds for Intervention in Child Neglect by Ordinary Citizens: Implications for Measuring Informal Social Control of Child Neglect

Alhassan Abdullah

This article explores neighbour protective intervention (protective informal social control) in child neglect. It draws on narrative interviews with seventeen female parents from seven settlements in Ghana.

Mental Health, Quality of Life and Coping Strategies in Vulnerable Children During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Laura Vallejo-Slocker, Jesús Sanz, María Paz García-Vera, Javier Fresneda, Miguel A. Vallejo

The aim of this study is to analyse the consequences after one year of the pandemic on a group of children and adolescents assessed at the beginning of the pandemic in 2020 and to determine the most effective ways of psychologically coping with this pandemic.

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Children of Mothers in Jail: Where Do They Go? How Do Mothers Perceive Their Placements?

Susan J. Rose

This study examines the perceptions of 145 incarcerated mothers of minor children in a large Midwestern jail to understand the correlation between where their children are living during their incarceration and the mothers’ feelings about these placements and relationships with their children. Mothers were most satisfied if children lived with maternal grandparents, and least satisfied if children were in foster care. Women with higher scores for the relationship with close relatives, those having contact with their child(ren) while incarcerated, and mothers with no children in foster care reported feeling better about these placements. The findings highlight the importance of women maintaining contact with their children and their children’s caretakers while incarcerated.

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Women and Criminal Justice

The Housing Pathways and Experiences of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Youth as They Transition from Out-of-Home Care in Victoria and Western Australia

Jasmin Jau, Philip Mendes, Jacinta Chavulak, Robyn Martin

This study, based on interviews with 10 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youth from Victoria and Western Australia (who were a sub-set of a larger study of 34 care leavers), examined their transition experiences and outcomes in relation to accessing stable and affordable housing. While all care leavers spoke of poor or non-existent transition planning, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander participants were more likely to report incidences of homelessness and more complex experiences in a range of areas. Importantly, the group identified a need for culturally appropriate service models which built on and enhanced cultural and kinship connections.

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International Journal on Child Maltreatment