Displaying 1 - 10 of 25
Abstract
Scholars largely agree that placements with relative caregivers are best for children. However, the regulations that jurisdictions apply to determine eligibility for foster care licensure may limit relative caregivers’ access to the benefits of licensure. This analysis considers foster care regulations in three jurisdictions and the effects of policy decisions on eligibility for relative caregivers and placement options for children in out-of-home care. Finland, New Zealand, and Wisconsin all have a stated priority for placement of children with relative caregivers.…
Abstract
The mental health of young people is a pressing concern in global development. However, there is little research on how young adults report their own mental health. The interview data gathered in this study (n ¼ 74) explored young adults’ well-being during the transition period from care to independent living under an English local authority and in Finland. Participatory action research methods were employed. The interview schedule included 71 open and closed questions, and was analysed by content and summarised using the SPSS software application and Excel tables…
Abstract
Existing research has established child welfare (CW) clients as a vulnerable group for developing negative life trajectories, including mental health problems, work‐ and education‐related challenges and premature mortality. Knowledge of later life conditions including suicidality of clients within child welfare services (CWS) in the Nordic countries is scarce. The overall aim is therefore to gain updated knowledge on how children and youth who have received or are receiving CWS interventions from the Nordic CWS fare in relation to suicidality. The population, intervention,…
Abstract
The present study focuses on experiences of relational tensions and management strategies in family relationships among 18 young adults with foster care backgrounds who participated in interviews. In the analysis drawing from relational dialectics, three main tensions were revealed in the participants' relationships with birth and foster family members or in their romantic relationships: the dialectics of emotional distance‐closeness, integration‐separation and sameness‐otherness. In addition, the tension of the childhood dialectic of responsibility was identified in this study.…
Abstract
Background
Preterm birth predisposes to child protection action in the form out‐of‐home care. The impact of the degree of preterm birth on the likelihood for OHC placement(s) and their timing is unknown.
Methods
This population‐based register‐linkage study assessed the likelihood of OHC placement in different gestational age groups using multivariable Cox regression models. All 193 033 traceable singleton (8324 preterm, 4.3%) liveborn in Finland (January 1987‐September 1990), as the first index child of each mother within the cohort period, were followed up until…
Abstract
This descriptive policy analysis examines the position of infants’ rights in the family service orientated child welfare systems of Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden when being placed in out-of-home care. Its focus is on the contexts of, and legal procedures for, removing babies from home into public care. Children under the age of one year are taken into public care mainly through voluntary and emergency measures. Analysis of the development over a decade displays big intra-country differences in the prevalence of infant removal, varying from 2 per 1000 to 8 per 1000. The scant…
Abstract
Background
Temporal dynamics during the early adulthood transition among children in out-of-home care is a neglected research area, leaving the possibility of coping with childhood adversity over time a poorly understood topic.
Objective
To explore early adulthood education and employment trajectories among young adults who experienced out-of-home care during childhood and to examine how various care history factors predict these trajectories.
Participants
We use longitudinal birth cohort data comprising individual-level information from national registers of all…
Abstract
According to multiple studies, adolescents placed in out-of-home care (OOHC) are less well-educated than their peers in the general population. Reform school (RS) is an institution for youth placed in OOHC due to severe behavioral problems. The educational outcomes of former RS residents are not known. We examined the possible differences in educational level by comparing Finnish national register data for 814 former RS residents in four cohorts (placed in out-of-home care in 1991, 1996, 2001 and 2006) to 4021 of their peers in the general population matched by gender, age, and…
Abstract
Young people taken into custody and lacking the support of their families suffer from social and health problems more often than their peers, and the likelihood of their marginalization in later life can be significantly higher. The aim of this study is to discover how the different factors documented at the time of the custody decision or the placement in out-of-home care are associated with the coping abilities of young adults once aftercare services come to an end. The original dataset consisted of 428 measured variables taken from 600…
Abstract
This article is written as part of the FORUM project (FOR Unaccompanied Minors: transfer of knowledge for professionals to increase foster care), an EU funded project which sought to enhance the capacity of professionals to provide quality foster care for unaccompanied migrant children, primarily through the transfer of knowledge. The article aims to contribute to this transfer of knowledge by bringing together literature which is of relevance to professionals developing or enhancing foster care services for unaccompanied migrant children (such as social workers), other…