Displaying 1 - 10 of 13
Abstract
The education of children in care is seen differently by teachers, caregivers in residential homes, and by the children themselves, and differences may be evident and highly significant with the impact that this entails. A pilot project aimed at improving the school-based learning of children in residential care was conducted within the framework of a European Project together with 5 Organizations working in Austria, Croatia, France, Germany and Spain. Program assessment included pre-post design and, on analysing pretest data, we established the objective of finding out more about…
Abstract
The increasing importance of higher levels of formal education and training leads to an extended transition phase to adulthood while care leavers are confronted with new disadvantages and with a lack of political and societal attention in Austria. Despite the absence of educational support by parents and the limited support by child and youth care workers relating to the early end of youth welfare service some of the interviewed care leavers are striving for long-standing educational pathways. Educational aspirations and achievements of care leavers seem to be linked to…
Abstract
A significant number of long-term foster placements, intended to provide the child with a stable and safe family rearing environment until the age of 18, end unplanned. This study examined the predictive power of the Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) for predicting foster placement breakdown. It was examined whether the predictive value of the SDQ could be improved by developing a risk classification in which the SDQ scales are combined with foster child and foster family characteristics. The present sample consisted of 526 foster children. Foster parents initially…
Abstract
Foster care is the preferred type of out-of-home placement for children and youth when they are not able to live with their own parents. However, placement instability, and its effect on children's behavioral well-being, remains a major issue in foster care. Ten multilevel meta-analyses were performed to examine factors that can affect instability of foster care placement. We included 42 studies (published between 1990 and 2017) examining putative factors associated with placement instability, which yielded 293 effect sizes. Indications of publication bias were…
Abstract
Children in foster care are often characterized by low academic outcomes which negatively impact their later lives. School engagement may be a key element to promote their academic and educational outcomes. However, little is known about the development of school engagement in foster children and longitudinal studies are lacking. The current study reports the findings of a three-wave longitudinal study wherein we examined the development of school engagement and analyzed which factors were predictive of school engagement in a sample of 363 Dutch foster children (age…
Abstract
Matching children with foster carers is an important step in every nonkinship family foster care placement. Although guidelines for matching are provided in several studies, the case-specific context of the decision can influence the practitioners' ability to adhere to these guidelines. Therefore, this study answers the following question: “How does the case-specific context influence the practitioners' decision-making process regarding matching in family foster care?” Using a qualitative design, 20 semistructured interviews were conducted with practitioners matching children with…
Abstract
Parental leave and early childhood education and care have gained a high profile in child and family policy fields, and both have been the subject of substantial cross-national mapping, describing and comparing their main features across a range of countries. This article provides overviews on parental leave and early childhood services in affluent countries, and reflections on this mapping. The article argues that such mapping is important and can still be taken further, to give ‘thicker’ descriptions of the policy terrain, but that more of another, related activity is required:…
Abstract
Children who have been removed from their parents need stability and permanence; this is as true for disabled children as it is for others. Yet many children are subject to extended periods of uncertainty and instability. Growing attention has been paid to the need to achieve permanence within a timescale which meets children’s needs. As disabled children are over-represented in looked after (in care) populations it is especially important that their needs are considered when formulating policy and practice in this area.
This review of literature covers international material…
This systematic review published by the Campbell Collaboration reviewed controlled experimental and quasi experimental studies in which children removed from the home for maltreatment and subsequently placed in kinship care were compared with children placed in non-kinship foster care for child welfare outcomes in the domains of well-being, permanency, or safety. Every year a large number of children around the world are removed from their homes because they are maltreated. Child welfare agencies are responsible for placing these children in out-of-home…
The manual, What Works in Tackling Child Abuse and Neglect?, is the main outcome of the European Commission Daphne III programme, involving regional exchanges and research to bring together knowledge on what works in tackling child abuse. Five country reports (Germany, Hungary, Portugal, Sweden, and the Netherlands) were developed reviewing research findings and a comprehensive report compiled about strategies, measurements, and management of tackling the whole range of child abuse and neglect, from prevention to treatment. A study compiling practice-based knowledge on tackling…