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Child Welfare System (child + welfare_system)
Selected AbstractsA CASE FOR REFORM OF THE CHILD WELFARE SYSTEMFAMILY COURT REVIEW, Issue 4 2007Miriam Aroni Krinsky There are more than half a million children in our nation's foster care system. While foster care is intended to provide a temporary safe harbor for abused and neglected children, too many of these youth spend years in foster care limbo,experiencing a turbulent life in motion as they move from placement to placement, community to community, and school to school. Youth in foster care commonly fail to receive basic health and psychological care, and nearly 20,000 youth age out of foster care every year to an adult path of homelessness, unemployment, and despair. Our entire community must work together to more responsibly parent these youth. This article will address how lawyers and child advocates can advocate for new approaches and enhanced support on behalf of the voiceless and most vulnerable members of our community. It will address existing hurdles and systemic challenges that have helped to create the current disheartening status quo. The article will then discuss strategies that advocates can employ to turn the corner on behalf of these youth at risk. [source] Predicting juvenile delinquency: The nexus of childhood maltreatment, depression and bipolar disorderCRIMINAL BEHAVIOUR AND MENTAL HEALTH, Issue 4 2009Christopher A. Mallett Background,It is important to identify and provide preventative interventions for youth who are most at risk for offending behaviour, but the connection between early childhood or adolescent experiences and later delinquency adjudication is complicated. Aim,To test for associations between specified mental disorders or maltreatment and later delinquency adjudication. Method,Participants were a random sample of youth before the juvenile courts in two Northeast Ohio counties in the USA (n = 555) over a 4-year time frame (2003 to 2006). Results,Logistic regression analysis identified a lifetime diagnosis of depression and/or bipolar disorder to be predictive of later youth delinquency adjudication, but found that childhood maltreatment (or involvement with the child welfare system) made delinquency outcomes less likely. Implications,Study implications are discussed as they relate to professionals working in the fields of child welfare, social work, mental health and juvenile justice. Awareness of risks associated with maltreatment may have led to effective interventions, while there may be less awareness of risks from depression in young people; however, studies tend not to take account of intervention variables. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Spaces of Encounter: Public Bureaucracy and the Making of Client IdentitiesETHOS, Issue 3 2010Lauren J. Silver I emphasize the material deficits, spatial barriers, and bureaucratic procedures that restrict the storylines clients and officials use to make sense of one another. This article is drawn from a two-year ethnographic study with African American young mothers (ages 16,20) under the custody of the child welfare system. I focus here on the experiences of one young mother and explore several scenarios in her struggle to obtain public housing. I argue that service deficits can be explained not by the commonly articulated narratives of client "shortcomings" but, rather, by the nature of the organizational and material conditions guiding exchanges between public service gatekeepers and young mothers. I suggest that this work advances narrative approaches to psychological anthropology by attending to the roles of social and material boundaries in framing the stories people can tell each other. [identity, adolescent mothers, public bureaucracy, service negotiation, narrative] [source] Assessment, intervention, and research with infants in out-of-home placementINFANT MENTAL HEALTH JOURNAL, Issue 5 2002Robert B. Clyman Infants constitute a large and increasing proportion of youth in out-of-home placement. These infants have very high rates of medical illnesses, developmental delays, and substantial risks for psychopathology. They receive varying amounts of services from a complex and poorly integrated service system that includes four principal service sectors: the child welfare, medical, early intervention, and mental health service sectors. These service systems are currently undergoing major changes in their policies, organization, and financing, such as the introduction of managed care into the child welfare system. In this article, we provide an overview of what is known about infants in out-of-home placement. We then summarize approaches to infant mental health assessment and intervention from a comprehensive perspective that addresses the infants' multiple problems and acknowledges that they need to receive services from multiple systems that are undergoing rapid change. We conclude by highlighting a number of critical areas in need of research. ©2002 Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health. [source] Explaining Black-White Disparity in Maltreatment: Poverty, Female-Headed Families, and UrbanizationJOURNAL OF MARRIAGE AND FAMILY, Issue 3 2005Amie M. Schuck The purpose of the current study was to assess a structural level explanation of racial disparity in child maltreatment. Using data from Florida counties (1998,2001) and the 2000 census, the effects of poverty, concentrated poverty, and female-headed families in poverty on Black, White, and the difference between Black-White rates of child maltreatment were assessed (N= 67). Results suggested that the structural covariates of maltreatment vary by race and that differences in female-headed families in poverty can explain some, but not all, of the Black-White racial disparity in child maltreatment. Increasing programs that focus on reducing poverty among female-headed Black families and the exposure of Black families to concentrated poverty should decrease some of the overrepresentation of Black children in the child welfare system. [source] Enhancing the Foster Care Review Process: The Case of Kentucky's Interested Party Review ProgramJUVENILE AND FAMILY COURT JOURNAL, Issue 1 2010Valerie Bryan ABSTRACT In order to promote timely permanency for children in out-of-home care, citizen foster care review programs employ volunteers to monitor progress for children in the child welfare system. In addition to case file reviews, Kentucky implemented an Interested Party Review system in which foster care review board members meet with family members and child welfare staff in order to glean more detailed and multi-faceted information to submit to the court. This article describes a mixed-methods program evaluation demonstrating the contribution of such a review process to judicial decision making and child outcome, as well as recommendations for program improvement. [source] Families of Origin, Foster Care Experience, and the Transition to AdulthoodJUVENILE AND FAMILY COURT JOURNAL, Issue 2 2009Donna Dea Holland ABSTRACT The rising number of young adults transitioning to adulthood from the foster care system has been a focus of prior research. The current study explored foster care youths transitions to adulthood to identify factors that contribute to or inhibit prosocial adult outcomes. Structured data derived from interviews with foster care-experienced adults and child welfare professionals as well as focus groups with foster care-experienced adults and foster parents were analyzed using content analysis to examine the transition to adulthood from foster care. Positive or negative life outcomes resulted from two key mechanisms: a) issues related to family of origin (inadequate parenting, abuse); and b) foster care experiences (including a pattern of "drift"). We explore disidentification, a new social psychological concept. Throughout, key players provide policy recommendations for the child welfare system. [source] Zero to Three: Critical Issues for the Juvenile and Family CourtJUVENILE AND FAMILY COURT JOURNAL, Issue 2 2004JULIE COHEN ABSTRACT Infants are the fastest growing population in foster care. Without intervention they are at great risk of poor developmental outcomes. Juvenile and family courts have a unique opportunity to make a positive difference in the lives of the babies in their care. This article outlines six critical issues that impact the development of very young children in the child welfare system and recommends strategies that juvenile and family courts can use to address the needs of this most vulnerable population. [source] Building Bridges for Babies in Foster Care: The Babies Can't Wait InitiativeJUVENILE AND FAMILY COURT JOURNAL, Issue 2 2004SHERYL DICKER ABSTRACT In 2001, the New York State Permanent Judicial Commission on Justice for Children, chaired by New York State's Chief Judge Judith Kaye, developed the Babies Can't Wait Initiative to maximize the well-being and permanency prospects of infants in foster care. This court-based innovation became a path to healthy development for babies in foster care, a bridge to unprecedented collaboration among the New York City Family Court, child welfare system, and service providers and merged knowledge about child development with court and child welfare practice. This article tells the story of the Babies Can't Wait Initiative,its creation, implementation, successes, and lessons. [source] When the Bough Breaks the Cradle Will Fall: Promoting the Health and Well Being of Infants and Toddlers in Juvenile CourtJUVENILE AND FAMILY COURT JOURNAL, Issue 4 2001JUDGE CINDY S. LEDERMAN ABSTRACT Approximately one-third of the children in the child welfare system are under the age of six. These children are almost invisible in our juvenile courts. It is now clear from the emerging science of early childhood development that during the first few years of life children develop the foundation and capabilities on which all subsequent development builds. Living in emotional and environmental impoverishment and deprivation provides a poor foundation for healthy development. These very young and vulnerable children are exhibiting disproportionate developmental and cognitive delays, medical problems, and emotional disorders. However, there is growing evidence that early planned interventions can help. The juvenile court must take a leadership role in focusing on the very young child and learning more about risk, prevention, and early intervention in order to facilitate the healing process. [source] Youth leaving care: How do they fare?NEW DIRECTIONS FOR YOUTH DEVELOPMENT, Issue 113 2007Anne Tweddle Former youth in care show a disturbing pattern of poor outcomes after they leave the child welfare system. What can be done to promote more successful transitions? [source] Community as a factor in implementing interorganizational partnerships: Issues, constraints, and adaptationsNONPROFIT MANAGEMENT & LEADERSHIP, Issue 1 2003Elizabeth A. Mulroy This article reports findings from a community-based study of collaboration among seven nonprofit human service agencies in a very low-income urban neighborhood. The project, funded by a federal demonstration grant, was developed to prevent child abuse and neglect as an alternative to the existing public child welfare system. Findings suggest that privatization, funding uncertainties, and community-level factors posed external stressors that constrained executives' ability to collaborate. The article identifies five key stressors, analyzes how each constrained the partnership, and then discusses specific adaptations made by executive leadership in political, technical, and interpersonal areas that facilitated strategic adjustment and realignment in a very complex interorganizational arrangement and set of relationships. Finally, implications are drawn for nonprofit managers, social policy, and nonprofit research. [source] The Child Welfare System: Through the Eyes of Public Health NursesPUBLIC HEALTH NURSING, Issue 4 2005Janet U. Schneiderman Abstract,Objective: This qualitative descriptive study investigates how public health nurses working within the child welfare system view the organization and the organization's effect on their case management practice. Design: Semistructured interviews were conducted utilizing the Bolman,Deal Organizational Model. This model identifies four frames of an organization: symbolic, human resources, political, and structural. Sample: A purposive sample of nine nurses and one social worker was selected to participate in comprehensive interviews. Results: Data analysis identified two main themes. The first theme was the presence of organizational structural barriers to providing case management. The second theme was the lack of political influence by the nurses to change the structure of the organization; hence, their skills could be more completely utilized. Conclusions: Public health nurses who work in child welfare will need to systematically analyze their role within the organization and understand how to work in "host settings." Nursing educators need to prepare public health nurses to work in non-health care settings by teaching organizational analysis. [source] THE AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION ADDRESSES THE NATIONAL PROBLEM OF YOUTH AT RISKFAMILY COURT REVIEW, Issue 3 2007Karen J. Mathis During the 2006,2007 American Bar Association (ABA) year, a special ABA Presidential Youth at Risk Initiative has addressed several important topics: addressing the needs of juvenile status offenders and their families; foster children aging out of the foster care system; increases in girls, especially girls of color, in the juvenile justice system; the need to better hear the voices of youth in court proceedings affecting them; and improving how laws can better address youth crossing over between juvenile justice and child welfare systems. Lawyers are encouraged to use their skills to improve the systems addressing at-risk youth and their families and to help facilitate coordination of youth-related community efforts. Learning how to effectively communicate with youth is an important skill attorneys must learn. Through the Youth at Risk Initiative, the ABA has held continuing legal education programs, hosted community roundtables among youth-serving stakeholders, and developed projects on: juvenile status offenders; lawyer assistance to youth transitioning from foster care; educating young girls on violence prevention, conflict resolution, and careers in law and justice; and provision of useful information to youth awaiting juvenile court hearings. New ABA policy has addressed services and programs to at-risk youth, assuring licensing, regulation, and monitoring of residential facilities serving at-risk youth, enhanced support for sexual minority foster and homeless youth, juvenile status offenders, and improving laws and policies related to youth exiting the foster care system. [source] Understanding family support provision within the context of prevention: a critical analysis of a local voluntary sector projectCHILD & FAMILY SOCIAL WORK, Issue 4 2007Kepa Artaraz ABSTRACT This paper presents a model of service process for a family support service at the preventative level as part of a wider debate about child welfare systems in the UK and beyond. The paper places the debate about the shape of preventative family support services within the policy context and uses it to critique various models of service provision, principally the ,child rescue' paradigm. From this, the paper explores the characteristics that constitute a complex, yet preventative, family support service. This model is then illustrated using empirical evidence collected from the evaluation of a voluntary and community sector project in the North West of England that describes the service process and some of its characteristics. The paper argues that the model of family support presented has implications for the type of service process that can effectively put the theory into practice. Finally, questions for further research are defined in relation to the implications that this model poses for professional,user relationships and for the professional forms that can deliver preventative family support. [source] | ||||||||||||||||