Displaying 1 - 10 of 71
The number of missing child reports exceed police investigative capacity, yet some incidents are linked with harm, making effective risk assessment essential for safeguarding. Police data likely underrepresents harm to missing children due to harm being undisclosed, and missing incidents going unreported. A better understanding of harm associated with missing children could help to develop appropriate interventions to reduce missing incidents and prevent harm.
This study examined 18 months of published Child Safeguarding Practice Reviews across England – a previously overlooked resource…
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
The literature on alternative care focuses overwhelmingly on formal, court-ordered placements; voluntary care placements are discussed less frequently. Least attention of all has been given to informal kinship care placements, where a child is cared for by relatives but is not formally in the legal care of state authorities. In Ireland, these placements, when facilitated by state authorities in lieu of a care order or voluntary care agreement, are known by professionals as ‘private family arrangements’. This article explores evidence which shows that the use of such arrangements…
Abstract
This paper reports the findings from a small qualitative study into child fosterage undertaken in Namibia in 2019. The research project is a collaboration between academics at the University of Namibia, Africa, and the University of Bristol in the United Kingdom. Workshops were undertaken in Windhoek the capital city of Namibia with five groups including stakeholders and policymakers, children’s practitioners, social workers, parents and carers, and children. The workshops ascertained the thoughts, understandings and individual experiences about child fosterage practice from…
Abstract
Traditionally, the involvement of the extended family in nurturing children is seen as an essential cultural practice in most communities in Ghana. Though not formally regulated, often in the absence of birth parents, kin and kith continue to be involved in the care of children to promote family relations and culture. Yet there is little empirical evidence on how to improve the well‐being and safety of children in informal kinship care in Ghana. Thus, this study reports findings from in‐depth interviews with 15 young people, 18 to 23 years, from Banda—an ethnic group where…
Abstract
African child-rearing has been documented as primarily social in nature and driven by community, responsibility, and respect for elders (Nsamenang B (1992) Human development in cultural context: a third world perspective. Newbury Park, CA: SAGE; Weisner et al. African families and the crisis of social change, Bergin and Garvey, Westport, CT, 1997). Socially distributed care is common and reflects strong kinship ties that serve as a social welfare system in times of need as well as the glue of teaching tradition. The practice of child migration (fosterage) in and out of kin…
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…
A global coalition of 256 organisations, networks, and agencies working at national, regional and international levels on children's care worked together to propose to Member States a set of Key Recommendations to be included in the 2019 United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) Resolution on the Rights of the Child to address key challenges and opportunities in implementing the rights of children without parental care. The Key…
The 2019 Resolution on the Rights of the Child was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 18 December 2019. The Resolution focuses specifically on children without parental care. It emphasizes the importance of growing up in a family environment and the right of the child to a family, highlights the rights of children with disabilities with respect to family life, opposes the unnecessary separation of children from their families and the unlawful or arbitrary deprivation of liberty of children, encourages efforts to reunify families where in the best interests of the child,…
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…