Displaying 71 - 80 of 151
Abstract
This chapter will help the reader to understand the design and outcomes of the foster care system in the USA. The first half explores the historical roots and modern structure of the foster care system, beginning with legal efforts to keep children safe in the early 1600s to the creation of the current form through the enactment of Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) of 1974. It next examines the children placed in foster care, placement options, and the outcomes for these children, with a deeper dive into educational outcomes. The second half describes federal…
This chapter from Former Foster Youth in Postsecondary Education focuses on the transition point when youth begin to age out of care and may move into postsecondary education. Specifically, we look at the services youth received (in or out of care) as well as outcomes with respect to employment, financial assistance, and education. We also provide a partial picture in this chapter of who goes to college and, among those who go, where they go nationally. We draw on three datasets to illustrate the social, personal, and economic challenges faced by former foster youth (FFY) in…
The statistics show that children move in great numbers, and many do so alone. While some of the reasons which motivate them to undertake such journeys alone are similar to those of adults – e.g. wars, pursuing aspirations for better social and economic opportunities, ethnic violence, cultural differences, examples of others migrating – others are more specific to children, such as forced child marriages, lack of educational opportunities, forced conscription or being sent ahead to realize family reunification in another country. Similar to adult companions, they suffer and react to ‘…
Abstract
This chapter from the book Re-Visioning Public Health Approaches for Protecting Children critiques historical and contemporary child protection approaches that are viewed as replicating the colonialist practices of child removal and destruction of families/parenting and communities. Using Australia and Canada as examples, it focuses upon three different sources of the disadvantage and distress that Indigenous communities typically experience: the impacts of Colonisation; intergenerational trauma; and the ongoing social, economic, legal and…
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The focus of this collection is the promise of public health approaches to child protection and welfare systems development and delivery, and this chapter from the book Re-Visioning Public Health Approaches for Protecting Children is a case study of what such an approach looks like in practice. It is built on the experience of a programme of action developed in the Republic of Ireland – the Programme for Prevention, Partnership and Family Support (PPFS) – that brings together a constellation of strategies that align well with a public…
Abstract
In this chapter from the book Re-Visioning Public Health Approaches for Protecting Children we critically examine the practical and organisational issues as well as the ideational and procedural ones that challenge policy makers, leaders and those delivering services as they attempt to re-focus child protection service delivery toward earlier intervention and prevention within a public health framework. Combining the knowledge we have gained in practice-led research and policy development, we highlight the challenges we have witnessed as…
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This chapter from the book Re-Visioning Public Health Approaches for Protecting Children, drawing on recent international empirical research, illustrates the perspectives of key stakeholders in the child welfare and protection services: Children, caregivers and practitioners. It shows that while there is an awareness of what children and families require in order to lead supported and healthy lives, the current system is challenged in its attempts to adequately address their needs due to its forensic and highly regulated orientation. Although reforms…
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This chapter from the book Re-Visioning Public Health Approaches for Protecting Children considers how the outcomes of alternative care and treatment in child protection can be assessed and the potential promise of public health approaches to child maltreatment. Despite decades of research in the field of child welfare, it is not possible to make causal claims about the outcomes of alternative care and treatment in child protection. Randomised control trial research is not ethical or feasible because children may not be randomly allocated to…
Abstract
Conventional histories of children in institutional care are dominated by official voices justifying a coercive welfare system which isolated children from their families and silenced them publicly. But a succession of formal inquiries has motivated survivors of institutionalised childhoods to testify about atrocious maltreatment. Freedom of Information legislation gave survivors incentives to understand their time in “care” and to reconnect with families. However, many found personal records missing, while those that were located were woefully inadequate, often inaccurate,…
Abstract
This chapter reviews demographic research focusing on the adoption of children. Included are the following topics: the construction of adoption and kinship structures; global adoption trends and comparisons; and global developments in GLBT adoptions. Summarized are historical changes in adoption generally and adoption trends following The Hague Convention of 29 May 1993 on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption. Discussed are data available for demographic analysis, Hague Convention Statistics, and the limitations of international…