A case study in public child welfare: county-level practices that address racial disparity in foster care placement

Racial disproportionality has been a longstanding issue within child welfare. The continued overrepresentation of black children in the foster care system is troubling. The authors of this article conducted a case study of two counties in New York State that have steadily decreased the number of black children in foster care in an effort to identify what aspects of their child welfare practice impacted the decline. The case study employed document analysis, in-depth interviews, and focus groups with child removal decision makers. Utilizing a grounded theory approach to content organization and analysis, several themes emerged as noticeable factors. Some of the most salient themes included preventive services and resources, community collaborations, case practice development, family meetings, workforce diversity, the court system, and, the most unique, blind removal meetings. The themes found in this study present promising practices to assist in decreasing the racial disparity in child welfare removal decisions.     

Psychotropic Medications for Youth in Child Welfare: Developing and Pilot-Testing A Field Guide for Team Decision-Making

High rates of children involved with the child welfare system are prescribed psychotropics. In response, federal legislation has mandated state child welfare agencies to develop policies to improve the coordination and oversight around the use of psychotropics. This project aimed to support such policies by developing and pilot-testing a field guide for team discussions and decision-making related to the use of psychotropics among youth in child welfare. We used a community-based participatory research (CBPR) framework to engage a team of local stakeholders, including former youth in foster care and parents, in the research. We developed a field guide to facilitate team discussions and decisions around the individual needs and preferences of youth and families, and we pilot-tested the field guide with child welfare staff, parents, and care team members in seven team meetings. Parents and care team members, in particular, highly valued the guide and found it useful to increase knowledge and improve practices such as side effect monitoring and information sharing. Child welfare responses were more mixed, and some reported feeling burdened by the additional tasks. More work is needed to integrate the guide into routine child welfare practice and reduce burden on staff.     

Secondary traumatic stress and vicarious traumatization in child welfare professionals in Serbia

Child welfare professionals in diverse positions are exposed to a variety of traumatic events including family violence and child abuse and neglect. This secondary exposure puts child welfare workers at the risk of experiencing Secondary Traumatic Stress (STS) and Vicarious Traumatization (VT). For the first time in Serbia, this study quantitatively investigates whether STS and VT are present in child welfare professionals employed in the social welfare centers, foster care and adoption agencies, residential care programs, and shelters for children and youth. It attempts to identify whether the type of service, time exposure to clients, and supervision function as risk or protective factors for negative outcomes. A convenience sample comprised of 135 child welfare professionals completed a series of self-reported measures. Findings indicate that VT and STS are present in this population. Differences in the presence of STS and VT were found according to the types of services offered and length of exposure. Contrary to expectations, supervision was not a protective factor with regards to STS and VT in this population.     

Does the Money Matter? Examining the Source and Type of Child Welfare Dollars Through the Eyes of County Child Welfare Services Directors

Child abuse is addressed through a complicated design of federal, state, and local funds. Congress approved a new round of waivers permitting states to flexibly use funds, otherwise limited to foster care reimbursement, for other child welfare needs. Conducted in Ohio, this longitudinal study examined flexible funds from child welfare directors’ perspectives, including key informant interviews, a survey, and semi-structured interviews. Directors noted that improved discretion results in better child health outcomes and better community partnerships; community partnerships are essential to promoting the health and safety of vulnerable children; and federal child welfare success measures do not reflect directors’ perceptions of success.     

How HIV-Positive Aboriginal Women (PAW) Talk About Their Mothering Experiences With Child and Family Services in Ontario

Aboriginal families are disproportionately involved with Children's Aid Societies (or CAS), which is of concern given the history of colonization, assimilation, and child welfare policies that fail to recognize Indigenous practices within Canada. There is no historical data regarding HIV-positive Aboriginal women's (PAW) experiences and interactions with the child welfare system, despite a high degree of HIV-related stigma and discrimination by CAS staff coupled with lack of HIV knowledge and sensitivity to provide culturally appropriate care to PAW and their children. This article is relevant to local and international child welfare practices, and specifically to CAS agencies across Ontario.     

Embedding the Notion of Child- and Family-Centered Care into Organizational Practice: Learning from Organizational Visioning

Child- and family-centered care has permeated the practices of child welfare as a means to address fragmentation. Case management appears promising, but the approach is still in its infancy. This article aims to provides an understanding of the emergent organizational vision of a new approach to case management at multiple organizational levels. The authors conducted a case study on the implementation of Intensive Family Case Management in a Dutch organization that provides child and youth protection services. The focus is on the continuous and bottom-up process of visioning, which has helped to define the shared organizational vision. The key finding was an emerging, widely shared vision that is congruent at many organizational levels and that contrasts starkly with the old work approach. The conclusion is that innovative child- and family-centered approaches to case management are inherent to a multi-level organizational system that is consistent with the approaches it advocates, being embedded in organizational structures and embodied in practitioners’ mindsets.     

It Takes a Village: Using a Community-Defined Practice Approach to Develop a Tribal In-Home Services Model for Alaska Native Families

The current evidence base for in-home services in child welfare is limited, with insufficient research on the use of in-home services among ethnically diverse populations. This article describes a case study examining the use of a community-defined practice and evidence approach to develop tribally based in-home service models with Alaska Native communities. The models were co-created by tribal elders, community members, and service providers, with technical assistance provided by the Western and Pacific Child Welfare Implementation Center (WPIC). Research findings suggest that this is an effective approach to developing culturally appropriate child welfare practices while also building local support and ownership.     

Expressions of Culture in American Indian/Alaska Native Tribal Child Welfare Work: A Qualitative Meta-Synthesis

This qualitative meta-synthesis of materials from three national projects that had examined more than 75 American Indian/Alaska Native child welfare programs sought to articulate how culture is expressed within tribal child protective services (CPS)work and to uncover whether there are cultural elements of tribal child welfare practice that are distinct from practice in non-tribal settings. Through the meta-synthesis, a framework emerged outlining a cultural approach to practice that incorporates: (a) a culturally-distinct definition of Native child well-being; (b) tribal values that form a foundation for practice; (c) practice intentions linking child protection with cultural and community health; and (d) two specialized worker skills.     

Issues Surrounding Post-Adoption Contact in Foster Adoption: The Perspective of Foster-to-Adopt Families and Child Welfare Workers

Current research on open adoption gives less consideration to issues surrounding post-adoption contact with birth parents for children adopted from care. Yet, it is widely recognized that the profile of the children and their birth parents, as well as the quality of post-adoption contacts, vary considerably depending on the context in which the adoption takes place. This article is based on interviews with 32 child welfare workers and 16 foster-to-adopt families. It focuses specifically on aspects and conditions that should be taken into consideration when determining whether or how contact between the adopted child and the birth family should be maintained. Our results show that there are distinctive challenges and dilemmas for open adoption in situations where the adopted child comes from a maltreating family, under the responsibility of child welfare services.     

LGBTQ Youth in the Child Welfare System: An Overview of Research,Practice, and Policy

LGBTQ youth are largely overrepresented in the child welfare system. The experiences of LGBTQ youth have largely been overlooked. LGBTQ youth often encounter a number of challenges and disparities as they navigate the child welfare system. Many report experiences of discrimination, marginalization, and an overall lack of acceptance. The permanency and placement options have historically been limited for many LGBTQ youth, often leading to an over reliance on congregate settings and aging out of foster are. The current article provides a synthesis of the existing research on the experiences and outcomes of LGBTQ youth in care, as well as an exploration of the policy and practice initiatives aimed at creating a more inclusive system of care.     

Educational Services for Children in Foster Care

ABSTRACT

Most literature on the education of foster youth focuses on their individual outcomes and characteristics. A small body of literature documents a lack of collaboration between the child welfare and education systems. This study explores commonalities and differences in perspectives between child welfare and education system stakeholders. It draws on findings from a multi-county exploratory study on educational services for foster youth. The findings in this study identify several systemic barriers including placement instability within the child welfare system, limited financial resources of schools, and poor inter-agency communication. In addition, differences in the perceptions of school and child welfare agency personnel regarding the needs of foster children in school, problems encountered in enrolling children in school, and the role and motives of each agency in addressing these needs and problems are identified. These differences point to both the challenges involved in improving communications and collaboration between the two systems, as well as the opportunities to improve educational services to children in foster care.     

Barriers to Cross-Systems Collaboration in Child Welfare,Education, and the Courts: Supporting Educational Well-being of Youth in Care Through Systems Change

Cross-systems collaboration between child welfare, education, and the courts benefits when challenges and priorities are identified early. We measured perceptions of educational stability in foster youth with a statewide survey of 1,603 professionals in education, child welfare, and the courts. Results reveal commonalities among perceived challenges to collaboration across systems (e.g., multiple foster care placements; school changes) and differences in perceived importance or significance of a given issue by professional group. Results guided collaborative work in Kansas and may assist other states seeking strategies that inform cross-systems collaboration to improve educational well-being for youth in foster care.     

From Welfare State to Welfare Society

Summary

Within the area of health and social welfare the Danish state has recently made a new approach to prevention and problem-solving. The goal was to promote innovation and social inventions on a local and citizen-oriented level through public funds. In this paper we will focus on a special program called “Social Development Program” (SUM), running from 1988 until the end of 1991. The program can be seen as a new trend in Danish welfare policy turning from an almost solely welfare state policy to a welfare society policy involving municipalities, voluntary organizations, and the users themselves. Another trend is the emergence of a voluntary initiative started on a citizen basis-self-help groups. They have had great impact on the way of viewing the preventive capacity and the helping ability among lay people.     

Early Care and Education for Children in the Child Welfare System: Evaluations of Two Training Programs

Despite evidence that early care and education services benefit at-risk children, they remain underutilized by families in the child welfare system. This article describes two training programs developed to educate child welfare and childcare/preschool staff about the importance of early care and education for maltreated children and how to access these services. A combined total of 274 trainees completed knowledge tests about this topic and significant pre- to post-training improvements indicate that both training programs effectively increased participants' knowledge about this important topic. In addition, improvement in self-assessed competency was observed for participants in one program, and positive changes in attitudes and anticipated practice behavior regarding childcare for foster children were observed among participants in the other.     

Mixed Methods Study of the Effectiveness of Intensive Family Finding Services with Youth in Congregate Care

Helping youth in congregate care form healthy relationships and achieve stability is an ongoing concern among child welfare stakeholders. The purpose of this mixed methods study was to examine the effectiveness of a family finding intervention with youth with a history of congregate care placement and to explore factors related to the achievement of relational and physical permanency. Results from a logistic regression indicated that for youth previously in congregate care, intensive family finding increased the odds of achieving relational permanency, but not physical permanency. Qualitative analyses identified several themes surrounding successes and challenges to achieving relational and physical permanency.     

From Foster Care to Adulthood: The Role of Income

This study explores the role of income for young people with experience in foster care transitioning to adulthood. It draws on in-depth structured interviews with eight staff members and 38 current and former foster youths age 18 years and older, who were participants in an innovative program to build their assets and financial capability. Interviews took place in four sites in three states. This study illuminates how those with experience in foster care seek to obtain and manage money to transition successfully to adult financial roles. Findings suggest that early and practical experiences with money are important for gaining financial capability. The study also highlights the need for child welfare professionals to develop expertise in financial literacy and understand the pitfalls that lie in both traditional and nontraditional financial services. By deepening understanding among staff of the economic realities facing the young people today, child welfare agencies will be more likely to prepare former foster youths for life on their own.     

The adoption of children from out-of-home care: how decision-makers explain the low rates of adoption in Victoria,Australia

The adoption of children from out-of-home care is uncommon in Australia and rarely occurs in the state of Victoria. This paper reports on how professionals involved in making decisions about the permanent placement of children explain the current rates of adoption from out-of-home care in Victoria. Interviews were conducted with eight child welfare specialists, eight adoption and permanent care specialists and five judicial officers. The current low rates of adoption were attributed to the effect of current legislation, the impact of past adoption practices and the establishment of a culture in Victoria in which adoption is now rarely considered an option for children in out-of-home care.     

What Happened?

ABSTRACT

This article presents an overview and historical analysis of child welfare from its inception in the 19th century through the Social Security Act of 1935 and into the present. An argument is made that the historical de-professionalization of child welfare is reflected in changing societal values and resultant legislation framing investments in child welfare, as well as the influence of child welfare on the quality of services to children and families. De-professionalization has resulted in lowering the professional credentials of child welfare staff, increasing levels of employee turnover, the formulation of questionable policies, all affecting the quality of services to children and families. Implications of the findings for the re-professionalization of child welfare and for policy and practice are discussed.     

“Those Are Our People and That's Our Family”: Wabanaki Perspectives on Child Welfare Practice in Their Communities

In collaboration with the Maine Wabanaki-State Child Welfare Truth and Reconciliation Commission Convening Group, this study explored perspectives of Wabanaki community members and tribal child welfare staff on state child welfare involvement in Wabanaki communities. Qualitative analysis of three focus groups found that participants perceived fundamental differences between what guides the work of tribal child welfare staff and state child welfare staff, as well as differences in understanding the profound impact of removing a child from the community. These findings are suggested to be elements of a Wabanaki counter-narrative that contrasts with the historical dominant narrative about Native families and children.