Displaying 71 - 80 of 101
Abstract
In this chapter, I examine stories that foster care youth tell to legislatures, courts, policymakers, and the public to influence policy decisions. The stories told by these children are analogized to victim truth testimony, analyzed as a therapeutic, procedural, and developmental process, and examined as a catalyst for systemic accountability and change. Youth stories take different forms and appear in different media: testimony in legislatures, courts, research surveys or studies; opinion editorials and interviews in newspapers or blog posts; digital stories on YouTube; and…
This toolkit presents a compendium of research on how Albertans think about the issues of early childhood development, and how to increase public support for policies and programs that support healthy child development. This toolkit was developed by the FrameWorks Institute for the Alberta Family Wellness Initiative supported by Norlien Foundation.
Included in this toolkit are applications materials, based on the research findings, that can help engage the public in understanding child development and child mental health, thereby improving the public conversation and decision making.
This study compares programs and services that support youth in care during their transition to adulthood and independent living in Chicago, USA to those in Barcelona, Spain. The study reflects on the strengths and weaknesses of these programs and aims to offer guidance on best practices in transitioning out of care to practitioners, researchers and policymakers. The study utilizes exploratory interviews with practitioners, a literature review, and analysis of secondary data.
Abstract
Several bodies of research, theory, and practice document that even maltreated children develop and maintain attachment relationships with their parents. While this attachment can confound clinicians, it can be understood from an evolutionary perspective: Attachments – even with abusive parents - increase the survival of the species by ensuring that dependent infants and children in danger will seek proximity and comfort from a caregiving adult. Despite the phenomenon being well documented, a missing piece from the literature is whether children – who have alternative caregiving…
Human Rights Watch conducted research throughout Mexico and Honduras in 2015 to examine how Mexico is applying national and international law in its treatment of Central American migrants, particularly children. Researchers interviewed migrant children and adults as well as representatives of UNHCR and other NGOs in the region. This report, based on Human Rights Watch’s research findings, highlights the discrepancies between Mexico’s law and the way it is enforced, including the obstacles in place which prevent migrants from securing asylum or refugee status. The report highlights these…
Abstract
Research has shown that relative caregivers are less likely to use formal supports and services than non-relative foster parents. However, less is known about factors influencing kinship caregivers' help-seeking behaviors and service use. This systematic review identified research studies examining factors associated with service use among kinship caregivers using key search terms in five computerized bibliographic databases and four journals. The search identified 337 potentially relevant studies. After screening and study eligibility assessments, a final sample of 13 studies was…
In this book, Laury Oaks discusses “Baby safe haven” laws in the United States and the attitudes towards women who use baby safe havens. These safe havens are specified locations where parents can anonymously and legally relinquish a newborn baby and they have been in use in the US since the 1990s. Oaks believes that these laws fail to address the real problem: that some women do not have the necessary support and economic means to care for their children. The safe haven laws, says the author, “promote narrow images of who deserves to be a mother and reflect restrictive views on how we should…
Abstract
Typically, one or two parents and a child–along with any siblings–comprise a family, and the parents’ interactions with the child are a primary driver of the child’s development. Yet nearly 4 percent of U.S. children (nearly 3 million) live in homes with no parent present. This literature review summarizes the research on children who live apart from their parents and identifies gaps in knowledge regarding this vulnerable population. This literature review was developed as a step toward designing the National Survey of Children in Nonparental Care, a…
Abstract
The package of support for families with children in the USA is not terribly effective. The model of targeted social assistance is also the one that has been advocated by the World Bank in middle and low income countries. It is failing poor children. This paper uses comparisons of child benefit packages in the European Union and Central and Eastern European and Confederation of Independent States (CEE/CIS) countries derived using model family methods. It rehearses the arguments in favour of universal family benefits — the norm in the EU. It calls for a new approach in the CEE/CIS…
Abstract
A comparative analysis of child welfare systems in 10 countries identifies three broad functional orientations – child protection, family service and child development – around the problem definition, mode of intervention and role of the state: The changes in policies and practices since the mid-1990s suggest the possibility of functional convergence among these systems with moderate versions of the child protection and family service orientations incorporated within the more comprehensive approach of child development. An analysis of administrative data on one important outcome…