Displaying 1 - 10 of 52
This advocacy brief provides an overview of promising practices and lessons learned to end child immigration detention in the U.S. and sets out a range of policy actions needed to scale up efforts to end this form of violence.
Abstract
The academic achievement places children on a positive trajectory for their lifespan. The aim of this study was to examine the academic trajectories of children in out-of-home care (OOCH) and whether kinship care has a protective effect relative to nonkin foster care. The sample analyzed for this study consists of 519,306 racially diverse youth in North Carolina schools 8 to 11 years old in the school year 2009–2010 (e.g., 27% African American, 12% Latinx, 53% White). Four longitudinal administrative data sources were merged to create this unique sample. Multilevel modeling…
Abstract
Background and objective
Youth with intellectual disabilities involved in child welfare systems are at greater risk of sexual victimization than youth who have not been investigated for child maltreatment.…
ABSTRACT
Sex trafficking involving children is a human rights issue of growing concern, with immediate and lasting impacts on victims. Although victimization is consistently associated with prior maltreatment and foster care placements, reliable estimates of minor sex trafficking prevalence do not exist. In a statewide child welfare database of all children with maltreatment allegations between 2011 and 2016, 3,420 children were investigated for sex trafficking allegations (1.15% of 296,167 children with investigated maltreatment). We used two independent methods to estimate prevalence. A…
Abstract
In this case, we meet Maya, an adolescent girl in foster care who is trafficked for sex. We follow her medical visits for contraceptive care and sexually transmitted infection screening over approximately one year. During this time, she is caught in a cycle of intermittent trafficking and transitioning to new foster homes. Her story highlights many unique risk factors that make children in foster care more vulnerable to traffickers. We also discuss reproductive coercion, its risk factors, socioeconomic implications, and provide guidance for medical professionals responding to the…
Abstract
Background
Federal policy in 2015 expanded the definition of “child abuse” to include human trafficking. As a result, child welfare agencies are newly responsible for identifying and providing services for youth in state care who are or at-risk of commercial sexual exploitation.
Objective
To describe the demographics, state-dependent living situations, and juvenile detention usage of state-dependent commercially sexually exploited youth.
Participants and setting
Eighty-three state-dependent youth (89.2 % female, mean age at identification = 15.5 years, SD = 1.5,…
Abstract
Objective:
Millions of children cared for by their grandparents or other kin without a biological parent present are not part of the foster care system. Maltreatment may have precipitated out-of-home care arrangements, but most children in informal kinship care are not being tracked or receiving services. Importantly, the extent of previous child welfare involvement and its association with well-being among this population are not well known.
Methods:
Kinship caregivers known to social service and community agencies were recruited for this…
Abstract
Informal caregivers (family, friends, and neighbors) spend many hours each week with the children in their care and can have a significant impact on the children’s social-emotional and academic development. Unfortunately, many informal caregivers lack the knowledge of how to do so. We conducted a qualitative 2-year study to investigate informal caregivers’ motivations, assets, and needs. The caregivers received text messages to help them support child development. In Year 1, we used interviews to better understand the needs of informal caregivers and potential opportunities to…
Abstract
Background
Homeless, runaway, and youth exiting foster care are vulnerable to sexual exploitation, but little research has parsed the societal, community, and individual factors that contribute to their risk.
Objectives
(1) To estimate child welfare characteristics in a sample of homeless young people who engaged in commercial sex (CS); and (2) To compare young people who were sex trafficked (ST) to those who engaged in some other form of CS.
Participants and setting
This study includes 98 homeless young people in Philadelphia, PA, Phoenix, AZ, and Washington, DC,…
Executive Summary
As the response to youth who are victims of sex and labor trafficking has become more comprehensive, there is an increased need to provide specialized programming for these youth within residential placement settings. Across the country child welfare programs and agencies providing services for youth at risk for sex and labor trafficking are adopting new strategies to meet the needs of these youth in a variety of settings. This study outlines the policies, practices, and programming that have been implemented across the US to provide specialized responses to exploited and…