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• Adoptive parents report normative social skills in their children. • Teachers report a decrease in the social skills of adoptees throughout childhood. • Institutionalized children present significant social difficulties. In a previous study, Palacios et al. (2013) explored the social competence of international adoptees, institutionalized children and a community group of peers during early childhood, mean age 6.5 years. As reported by caregivers and teachers, institutionalized children were found to have lower social skills than children growing up in family contexts. This paper presents the longitudinal follow-up of these 3 groups of children at a mean age of 11 years, as well as between-group and cross-informant comparisons in the second wave of the study. Parents/caregivers and teachers rated the children's social skills, while their sociometric status was reported by teachers. Adoptive parents reported normative social skills in their children, while teachers offered a more negative view. Institutionalized children scored significantly lower than the community group, from caregivers' and teachers' perspectives. The probability of having a good friend was statistically similar in all 3 groups, although adoptees tended to have a more negative sociometric status. Compared with the previous data collection, teachers reported a significant decrease in social skills for the adopted group, while the social difficulties remained stable over time in the institutionalized group. This study highlights the importance of studying social competence from a developmental and multi-contextual perspective, especially among children exposed to experiences of early adversity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Assessing the evolution of the performance of water supply and sanitation services is essential to monitor progress towards the universalization of water services, as specified by the Sustainable Development Goal 6 of Agenda 2030, adopted by United Nations member countries. Brazil, a developing country with a continental size and geographical diversity, will face significant challenges to achieve this goal. The main objective of this paper is to evaluate the evolution of productivity of water supply and sanitation services in Brazilian municipalities in the period 2012–2019. The analysis also explores whether water services' performance is balanced across the country, with a specific analysis of performance at the macroregion level. From a methodological perspective, this research evaluates productivity change over time using a Malmquist Productivity Index estimated with a metafrontier, satisfying the circularity property. It also develops a pseudo Malmquist index that compares productivity levels across macro-regions. The results revealed a productivity loss of approximately 4% at the national level, with an unequal profile across the macro-regions. The Southeast municipalities stand out for exhibiting, on average, higher productivity levels than the South and Northeast municipalities. • The evolution of water services productivity is explored using a Malmquist index. • Productivity gaps across regions are assessed with a pseudo-Malmquist index. • Both South and Northeast regions have lost productivity in the decade studied. • The Southeast region presents the highest level of productivity growth. • The municipalities in the South exhibit homogeneous water services' performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Children with histories of child abuse and neglect, particularly children residing in foster or adoptive homes, are commonly considered by many professionals to need “attachment therapy” in order to address emotional and behavioral needs. However, evidence-based treatments rarely utilize an attachment-based justification outside of the infancy through preschooler age range. In actuality, many evidence-based treatments can be understood through the lens of attachment theory. This paper reviews the tenets of an attachment-based approach to treatment and describes how one evidence-based treatment, Parent–Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT), conforms to all expectations and requirements prescribed by attachment theory and research. Next, pilot data from an open trial of PCIT with a sample of adopted children and their adoptive caregivers ( n = 85) are provided. Results demonstrate significant improvements in positive parenting techniques, reductions in parenting stress, and reductions in externalizing and internalizing concerns among the children. These results are discussed in the context of improving the quality of care for children often described as in need of “attachment therapy.” [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The factors contributing to observed racial disproportionality and disparity in the child welfare system have been the subject of national discourse for decades. This qualitative study used focus groups to engage child welfare and collaborating system decision makers, community partners, and families in a subjective interpretive analysis of racial disproportionality and disparity that had been demonstrated by a previous quantitative analysis of Oregon's child welfare system. Thematic analysis yielded eleven themes from the participant focus groups, four of which clustered around individual and structural/systemic bias and are examined in this paper: visibility bias; cultural bias and insensitivity; personal influences on determination of minimally adequate care; and foster and adoptive parent recruitment and licensing practices. Participants offered recommendations to improve outcomes for children and families of color in light of these observations: increase awareness of bias, create checks and balances in decision-making, contract with and hire culturally and racially diverse professionals, and increase funding for training. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Research indicates that the transition to adoptive parenthood can be challenging for many adoptive parents, but that the provision of post-placement services may mitigate these challenges. However, little is known about the specific post-placement service needs of adoptive parents during this transition. This paper describes a pilot project from Ontario, Canada which sought to explore the support needs of adoptive parents in the post-placement period. Eight semi-structured interviews were conducted with nine newly placed adoptive parents. Eight of the nine participants were married; two had adopted internationally, five had adopted through the public system in Ontario and the remaining participant utilized private adoption. Through our analysis of the data, we identified two meta-themes: a) challenges and b) facilitators accompanying the transition to adoptive parenthood. Grounded theory methodology was used to develop these themes into a conceptual framework describing the transition to adoptive parenthood. This framework posits that each parent negotiates a particular set of challenges and facilitators associated with their specific adoption experience. In future, this framework can become a tool to assist adoptive parents and practitioners to proactively identify and address potential challenges during the transition to parenthood. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: While it is widely accepted that the biological parent(s), the foster or adoptive parent(s) and the child all have a role in explaining child welfare outcomes, a fourth player—the caseworker—may have an equally influential role in effecting child outcomes. Caseworkers can influence the nature, amount, and quality of benefits and sanctions provided by their agencies, as well as the eligibility of clients for services, and can maneuver through the system in a way that has the most direct effect on clients. This paper investigates the role of caseworkers in determining outcomes in the child welfare system. We develop and test a variety of multi-level and multiple membership models to better understand the association between caseworker characteristics and child welfare outcomes. Specifically, we focus attention on the relationship between the number of caseworkers assigned to each child (i.e., turnover), the racial match between the child and the caseworker, and the role of graduate education (possession of an MSW)—on a child''s length of stay in the child welfare system and family reunification. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

• This paper analyzes effectiveness of the CORE Teen training program, which seeks to improve resource parents' competencies and characteristics related to parenting teenagers. • Results indicate that participants demonstrated significant improvements in numerous competencies and characteristics related to parenting teenagers. • We demonstrate how a targeted resource parent training can lead to increases in knowledge and attitudes relevant to addressing the unique needs particular age group (teens). Given the high rates of placement disruptions for teenagers, a need exists for resource parents (the collective term for foster, adoptive, kinship, and guardian caregivers) who are both willing and able to care for teenagers. In response to this need, we created Critical On-going Resource Family Education (CORE) Teen, a comprehensive foster parent training program designed to provide resource parents with the knowledge and skills to support teens in their care. A one-way repeated measures ANOVA compared the results from participants at the pretest (N = 188), posttest (N = 130), and follow up taken 90 days after training completion (N = 118). The results from trainings conducted across four states and one tribal nation indicate that participants demonstrated significant improvements in training competencies and characteristics in a number of factors related to parenting teenagers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Adopted Chinese youth scored more favorably on BASC-3 than non-adopted Chinese youth. • Adopted Chinese youth scored more favorably on BASC-3 than non-adopted US youth. • High adoptive family SES benefited adopted youth adjustment. • Testing measurement invariance is important for cross-cultural comparison. In this paper, we examined if high SES families had an effect on youth's adjustment by comparing 226 internationally adopted female Chinese youth who experienced pre-adoption institutionalization with 1059 non-adopted Chinese peers living in China, as well as 209 non-adopted American peers. On average, the adopted youth's families had a higher SES status than the two comparison groups. Survey data on behavioral problems and prosocial adjustment were collected with the third edition of the Behavioral Assessment for Children (BASC-3). We found the adopted Chinese youth outperformed their Chinese counterparts in all comparisons and their US counterparts in most comparisons. These results offer some evidence that a high family SES may compensate for the adoption-related risks such as earlier institutionalization. Possible mechanisms underlying the benefit of high SES were discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]