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This interim report focuses on hearing the lived experiences of children and young people in alternative care arrangements and lifts up the voices of those who have participated in private hearings as part of this Special Inquiry to date.
Key themes explored in the report include:
- Safety and quality of care
- Stability and communication
- Access to supports and services
- Connection to family, friends, community and culture.
Abstract:
Background:
There is growing awareness that a proportion of children in orphanages have been recruited or transferred into the facility for a purpose of exploitation and/or profit. These children are often falsely presented as orphans to evoke sympathy and solicit funding. This process is known as orphanage trafficking. Although orphanage trafficking can be prosecuted under legal frameworks in some jurisdictions, including Cambodia, there have been limited prosecutions to date. One factor that likely contributes to a lack of prosecution is poor detection, yet the indicators of…
The purpose of this macro-level study is to examine the effects of social welfare benefits and services on the demand for child removals. The study is based on the panel data of Finnish municipalities (N = 293) and their social welfare indicators for the period 2010–2021. Linear regression analysis was conducted to analyze the associations between the dependent variable (child removals) and the main predictors (child welfare notifications, family support services, social assistance).
The community-level social risk factors were controlled for. It was found that child welfare…
Abstract:
Purpose:
Foster care children are a highly vulnerable population and their experiences in care are considered crucial to their developmental and psychosocial wellbeing. Placement instability has been considered a possible risk factor for developmental difficulties due to its impact on the development of a reparative attachment relationship and sense of relational permanence. The current review synthesizes the literature regarding the impact of placement instability on behavioural and mental health outcomes in foster care children. Three major databases and…
Around the world, millions of children are growing up in orphanages, or children's homes as they are called in many places. But research has shown that the vast majority of them, actually have families. Still many Americans are giving their money to these institutions, which researchers say are bad for children. In countries like Uganda, those well-intentioned funds have created a whole industry around orphans. For the past year, The World's Africa correspondent Halima Gikandi has looked into Western-sponsored orphanages in Uganda, and seen what can go wrong. This is part one of her…
This study addresses children’s right to family life when placed in public care and questions how the Child Welfare Service and the Child Welfare Tribunal understand and facilitate this right within a Norwegian context.
Based on a thematic analysis of 18 interviews, factors that have the potential to contribute to and challenge the strengthening and development of ties are presented.
The implications of these factors for practice are discussed in light of the value of family life, the double role of foster parents, and the use of discretion when balancing children’s right to family life…
Much has been written on the factors that contribute to a child’s admission into institutional care, including poverty, lack of access to education, death of a parent, active recruitment, and the sheer presence of orphanages. In addition, there is growing recognition of orphanage trafficking driving admission.
This is more prevalent in unregulated orphanages where referral to a specific facility occurs outside of formal gatekeeping mechanisms and without the involvement of mandated authorities. Yet there is little research about how children are identified, recruited, and transferred into…
Caring for a young child exposed to early trauma, along with caregiving stress and heightened by the impact of lockdowns as a result of the COVID-19 response, may compromise the development of the parent-child relationship. Understanding a foster carer's attachment history and considering relational dynamics through an attachment lens may shed light on areas they need support in, to enhance their parenting capacity for vulnerable children.
The feasibility of collecting and coding observational data and attachment interviews of foster carers and their children, when conducted remotely…
Abstract
Background
Strategies to reduce over-representation of Indigenous children in out-of-home care must start in pregnancy given Indigenous babies are 6 % of infants (<1 year), yet 43 % of infants in out-of-home care.
Objective
To determine if an Indigenous-led, multi-agency, partnership redesign of maternity services decreases the likelihood of babies being removed at birth.
Participants and setting
Women carrying an Indigenous baby/babies who gave birth at the Mater Mothers' Public Hospital, Brisbane (2013–2019).
Methods
A prospective, non-…
Moldova’s National Program for Child Protection (2022-2026) articulates the commitment of the Government of Moldova and its partners to dramatically reducing the number children in institutions and to a child protection system anchored in securing safe and nurturing family care for all children. The Program includes the introduction of a moratorium on the placement of children under the age of three in residential care. The age was expanded to include children aged between 0-6 years to reflect the age range of children cared for in residential institutions. Despite notable achievements in…