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Harmful Sexual Behavior and Child Sexual Exploitation are problems of significant proportion for children & young people living in out-of-home care. The aim of this review was to conduct a scoping exercise of the evidence about preventing these problems with the intent of summarising and disseminating knowledge to policy-makers, practitioners and researchers. Five electronic databases were searched in November and December 2016, including: PscyhINFO; Applied Social Science Index and Abstracts; SocINDEX; Web of Science; and Education Resource Information Centre. The search was guided by the research question: What is known about preventing Harmful Sexual Behavior and Child Sexual Exploitation for children & young people living in residential out-of-home care settings? Twenty papers were included in the review, including: seven peer-reviewed journal articles; three reports for government; two presentation transcripts; two literature reviews; one qualitative research report; one report for a government inquiry; one submission to a government inquiry; one consultation paper for a government inquiry; one guideline; and one educational resource. Three major thematic categories were identified in the evidence: (i) constructing educative interventions for children & young people and workers ; (ii) targeting grooming and problematic sexual behavior ; and (iii) providing a holistic response and a way out . The review revealed that the current prevention response to Harmful Sexual Behavior and Child Sexual Exploitation for children & young people living in residential care is under-developed. Promising program, service or practice elements relating to the prevention of Harmful Sexual Behavior and Child Sexual Exploitation were identified and three interventions suggested for future prevention efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper offers ethnographic observations on the place of “agency” in the lives of Aboriginal children in Central Australia. The focus is on children''s play and adult–child interaction in the remote community of Ernabella, the oldest settlement in the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands, northern South Australia. The circumstance of Aboriginal children in remote areas is introduced as a contrasting picture: on the one hand, the life of Aboriginal families is shaped by their marginalised socio-economic position and dependency on the state, which has become especially evident in the recently intensified efforts by the government to “mainstream” Aboriginal communities deemed in “social chaos” in order to regulate and thereby improve children''s lives; on the other there is the social fact that children enjoy a comparatively high level of autonomy within the Aboriginal domain. The much-observed “freedom” from parental discipline, however, does not simply mean that children assert their will without regard for certain social rules. Rather, it is suggested that it is precisely the relatively low level of direct instruction and reprimand by adults that fosters children''s ability to pattern their behaviour in relation to one another and to structure their social world and understandings according to the meanings that they co-create. Agency of this kind often occurs through imaginative play and spontaneously. This paper does not address policy issues directly. However, it is relevant as a background paper on Aboriginal children''s lives that contributes to the understanding and recognition of existing social capacities outside institutional settings. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract There is now considerable evidence to suggest that children placed in foster care experience greater levels of adversity compared to those in the general population. Early adversity has been shown to continue across the lifespan: those who have experienced the sustained trauma of threat or deprivation have a range of poor life outcomes including homelessness, poor mental health, and over-representation in the criminal justice system and low educational attainment. This paper reports on a study of a program response to children who have experienced trauma and are placed in out-of-home care. The program model, known as Treatment and Care for Kids (TrACK), introduced a paradigm shift in the treatment and care of children in Australia, in that it was designed to provide intensive, home-based therapeutic intervention for children presenting with complex trauma and challenging behaviours. This program sought to integrate knowledge about the neurobiology of trauma with therapeutic practice and care, reflecting growing recognition that 'care is not enough' to achieve holistic and effective healing for children who have experienced severe trauma. As such, the relationship that encircles the child was seen as the vehicle for recovery. The study examined client files and interviewed carers, key professionals and young people who had experienced the therapeutic care program since its inception 18 years ago. Data, informed by narrative inquiry methodology, were analysed. Key findings highlight the significance of relational practice to interrupt the projected trauma trajectory and for young people to stabilise and self-regulate. Highlights • Children had experienced a high level of adversity prior to entry into this home-based therapeutic program. • Seven of the 48 children had experienced more than 10 placements, with one child having experienced 30 placements. • The program was overwhelmingly successful in stabilising children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Given the raised profile that parenting support and education is currently receiving on government family policy agendas in many nations, this paper reviews the ways in which parenting support and education policies are embedded within eight OECD countries. Drawing out the similarities and differences of policy and practice, and comparing the financial support each country affords to parenting support, it assesses the effectiveness of parenting support programmes in relation to national expenditure and links parenting policy to child outcomes. The paper concludes with some recommendations for policy makers and programme developers. The countries reviewed are: The UK, Netherlands, Canada, Ireland, the US, Finland, Australia and New Zealand. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

• Home-based carers face numerous barriers to facilitating healthy lifestyle behaviours. • Upskilling carers is crucial to improving long-term health outcomes for the child/ren in their care. • Training must be accessible, practical, and unique to both foster and kinship carers. Foster and kinship carers face unique and complex challenges in caring for Australia's most vulnerable children. It is therefore necessary to ensure that home-based carers are adequately upskilled and supported to promote the health of children in their care. The aim of this paper was to better understand the barriers to developing healthy lifestyle behaviours (relevant to nutrition and physical activity) among children in home-based care, from the perspective of foster and kinship carers. Focus group sessions were conducted with 21 carers: eight foster carers and 13 kinship carers. Four key themes were identified: (1) Childhood experience and children's healthy lifestyle behaviours; (2) There are personal costs of being a carer; (3) Carers require support to develop healthy lifestyle behaviours in children; and (4) Broader systemic factors impact healthy lifestyle development. Carers in the current study described their experience of key emotional, financial, and systemic barriers to facilitating healthy lifestyle behaviours among the children in their care. To address such challenges, carers recommended the development of trauma-informed support, education, and resources to prioritise and facilitate healthy lifestyle development among children in home-based care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]