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Presents the recommendations of The American Dietetic Association (ADA) on the nutrition standards in child care programs. Meal planning; Food preparation; Foodservice; Nutrition consultation and guidance; Nutrition education and training; Physical and environmental environment of the child care centers; Compliance with local and state regulations.

Institutional child abuse has several negative impacts, including effects on mental health, well-being and interpersonal relationships. There is a need to understand this complex form of abuse occurring in an out-of-home setting. The current review aims to understand the literature base regarding the impact of institutional child abuse and to identify areas where further research is needed. Consequently, a systematic review was conducted, which captured quantitative and qualitative methods. This resulted in 58 papers being included. The papers captured the impacts of institutional abuse, covering physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse and neglect (i.e., a failure to be adequately cared for). These were then analysed using a qualitative methodology, specifically Reflexive Thematic Analysis. Several factors, such as prior abuse, were reported to exacerbate the impact of institutional abuse, whereas secure attachment was noted as a protective feature. Responses to disclosure appear to have an important role in recovery. Areas important for further research included understanding the role of protective factors and how they impact future outcomes, but to do so alongside an acknowledgement and greater exploration of negative impacts. • Diversity in impact is clearly evidenced, alongside complexity in presentation. • Pre-existing factors, including availability of protective factors, appear as important correlates with later mental health challenges. • A role for disclosure as a unique feature is indicated. • An absence of longitudinal research into impacts is evidenced. • The research field uses considerable diversity in method, with resulting varied quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Childcare policy responses towards Covid-19 differed in European welfare states. • Policy responses cause informalization of childcare to different degrees. • Informalization of childcare is mainly connected with social risks for women. • Cultural and institutional differences help to understand varying policy responses. The closure of extra-familial childcare facilities by European governments in 2020 was an important part of interventions against the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. One consequence was that childcare was provided by parents at home, mainly by women. As a result, women mainly experienced financial and employment risks related to this "informalization" of childcare. The childcare policies of European welfare states differ in the extent to which they include measures to reduce the social risks related to informalization. Against this backdrop, this paper asks: How should one understand cross-national differences in childcare policies during the pandemic? We are also particularly interested in the effects of childcare policies on the social risks connected with the informalization of childcare and what these mean for the gendered division of paid work and care. Differences in childcare policies during the pandemic are commonly explained in terms of the path dependence of such policies. Using the theoretical approach of "care arrangement," this article introduces a broader theoretical framework that considers the role of cultural and institutional factors for understanding the cross-national differences in childcare policies during the pandemic. We introduce the findings of a comparative empirical study of childcare policies in three European welfare states—Denmark, Germany and England—that represent different types of care arrangements. This paper uses policy and media documents, quantitative data on childcare and women's employment, cultural ideas and secondary analysis of empirical studies. We find that governments did not per se respond to the pandemic based on institutional path dependence regarding childcare policies, while the integration of culture into the theoretical framework allows for a more comprehensive understanding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Early childhood education programs have been found to effectively promote children's social and cognitive development. However, the health impact of these programs is less understood. Using a quasi-experiment of the first universal child care reform in China from 2010, this paper aims to identify whether the preschool reform produces any short-term effects on health-related outcomes of preschoolers (3-6 years old). Specifically, this reform expands access to affordable preschools that provide full-day center-based education, with school meals and essential health services on campus. I exploit the variation in the number of newly established preschools across provinces and implement difference-in-differences and triple-difference strategies. Results confirm the effectiveness of this reform by showing a strong and positive impact on preschool attendance. This paper then documents the benefits to alleviating underweight among preschoolers. Estimates show a larger effect in rural areas, suggesting that the reform narrows rural-urban disparities in education access and undernutrition prevention. I also explore the impact on caregivers' health consciousness and find improved health-seeking behavior when children get sick. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Parents of children with life-threatening conditions may have to balance their personal, family, and professional lives in the anticipation of child loss and the demands of providing medical care for their child. The challenges these parents are confronted with may lead to specific care needs. In this paper we explore the spiritual dimension of caring for a child with a life-threatening condition from the parents perspective. We held an exploratory qualitative study with in-depth interviews with parents of children (0–21) with life-threatening conditions. Interviews were transcribed and subsequently thematically analyzed. Twenty-four parents of 21 children participated in the interviews. The spiritual dimension is an important, although not always visible, aspect of the experience of parents dealing with their child's illness. The main domains with regard to spirituality were: 1) identity; 2) parenthood; 3) connectedness; 4) loss or adjustment of goals; 5) agency; 6) navigating beliefs and uncertainties; and 7) decision-making. Parents also reflected on their spiritual care needs. The spiritual dimension plays a central role in the experiences of parents who care for children with life-threatening conditions, but they receive little support in this dimension, and care needs often go unnoticed. If we want to provide high-quality pediatric palliative care including adequate spiritual support for parents, we should focus on the wide range of their spiritual experiences, and provide support that focuses both on loss of meaning as well as on where parents find growth, joy or meaning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Youth transitioning from child care institutions face a lack of adequate transition planning, aftercare infrastructure, and service availability. • An educative mentorship-based curriculum can facilitate a smooth and effective transition. • Mentoring focused on both well-being and professional development can reduce the stress associated with the transition. Although child protection policies and laws in India recognise the importance of aftercare, there is still a significant lack of infrastructure, available services, and systematic preparation for the transition. The accelerated and compressed journey from adolescence to adulthood, coupled with limited options to return home if their initial endeavours falter, adds to the complexity of the transition process. To develop knowledge and skills for transition preparedness, this paper presents a step-by-step approach to designing an educative, mentorship-based curriculum. The curriculum is based on an exploratory study conducted across 17 child care institutions in Pune, India. Findings showed that the adolescents appreciate the existing support resources, but feel that much of the critical, practical, and seemingly more urgent transitional needs are still left out. Borrowing insights from the primary data and the available literature, the curriculum has been designed to target six core areas addressing needs for belongingness, preparation for life after transition, enabling clarity of future vision, life skills, enhancing employability, and problem-solving. To buffer the overall stress of the transition, the focus of the curriculum has been kept simultaneously on promoting overall well-being and providing professional and career development support. The study recommends a robust evaluation framework to assess the relevance and effectiveness of the curriculum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides an overview of transnational public and hybrid public-private actors who shape child institutionalization around the world. We ask: who are these transnational actors? How are they related to each other? What are the likely implications of their activities for children without parental care? Based on existing academic and grey literature, we discuss an increasingly populated and pluralist landscape of public actors, as well as hybrid public-private partnerships, networks, and communities. These complexly inter-related actors promote diverse, even conflicting policies and practices – with ambiguous implications for children in care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• There are distinct typologies of social support networks for children and youth in out-of-home care. These network structure provide differing types of social support. • Many children in out-of-home care experience low levels of social support, both in terms of number of available support providers and amount of social support activities received. • Among youth with higher levels of social support, social support activities are spearheaded by certain members, including cousins, aunts and uncles, grandparents, and fictive kin. This paper aims to examine the social support network structures of youth in out-of-home care and to delineate the type of social support activities provided by kin and fictive kin within the networks. Children in the child welfare system experience significant benefits from contact with non-custodial kin and fictive kin. However, little is known about the support activities they provide (e.g., childcare, transportation, etc.) and their relationship to the children (e.g., grandparents, godparents, etc.). Support provision and relationship to the child was measured through chart reviews and interviews with key stakeholders, allowing for a description of the amount of support provided by various types of kin and fictive kin. Latent Profile Analysis (LPA) was applied to the data to determine the presence of distinct profiles. A four-profile solution emerged: (1) Multigenerational Predominant Cousin, (2) Bigenerational Lower Involvement, (3) Bigenerational Predominant Fictive Kin, and (4) Multigenerational Predominant Aunt/Uncle), suggesting heterogeneity in the social support networks of children in foster care. Children in foster care experience varying levels of social support, which were spearheaded by specific categories of caregivers who provide distinct types of support. Thus, there is great heterogeneity in the social support networks of children and youth in care. The identified clusters suggest that "one-size fits all" policy practices may not be effective in engaging and maintaining social support for children in out-of-home care. This research indicates that child welfare practitioners need to appreciate the complexity of social support patterns available to children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this special issue, family engagement is defined as the intentional involvement of parents and families in their children's early childhood education (ECE) programs, activities, and services. This is a bi-directional and inclusive process that builds relationships between families and the ECE programs in which their child is enrolled and that supports family wellbeing and children's healthy development. Despite the significance of reciprocal and positive relationships between families and ECE care providers for child wellbeing, there is little information about this process. Collectively, the papers in this special issue make several contributions towards understanding family engagement by: (1) emphasizing the importance of assessing the influence of family engagement on families and children from a strength rather than a deficit perspective; (2) demonstrating that individualized and culturally grounded family engagement, especially for racially, ethnically, and linguistically diverse families and families who live in poverty, is a key component of quality child care; and (3) highlighting the importance of examining the markers of parenting and family engagement. By addressing these gaps, this special issue offers guidance for future research, practice, and policy in the field of family engagement and parenting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• This paper exploits novel data and empirical methods to examine parental preferences for child care. Specifically, we analyze consumer reviews of child care businesses posted on the website Yelp.com. • Our analysis relies on a combination of theory- and data-driven methodologies to organize and classify the characteristics of child care that are assessed by parents. We also use natural language processing techniques to examine the affect and psychological tones expressed in the reviews. • We find that consumers overall are highly satisfied with their child care provider, although those in higher-income markets are substantially more satisfied than their counterparts in lower-income markets. • Next, we find the program characteristics most commonly evaluated by consumers relate to safety, quality of the learning environment, and child-teacher interactions. • Finally, we find that consumers in lower-income markets are more likely to display negative psychological tones such as anxiety and anger in their reviews, particularly when discussing the nature of their interactions with program managers and their child's interactions with teachers. This paper exploits novel data and empirical methods to examine parental preferences for child care. Specifically, we analyze consumer reviews of child care businesses posted on the website Yelp.com. A key advantage of Yelp is that it contains a large volume of unstructured information about a broad set of child care programs located in demographically and economically diverse communities. Thus our analysis relies on a combination of theory- and data-driven methodologies to organize and classify the characteristics of child care that are assessed by parents. We also use natural language processing techniques to examine the affect and psychological tones expressed in the reviews. Our main results are threefold. First, conditional on contributing a Yelp review, consumers overall are highly satisfied with their child care provider, although those in higher-income markets are substantially more satisfied than their counterparts in lower-income markets. Second, the program characteristics most commonly evaluated by consumers relate to safety, quality of the learning environment, and child-teacher interactions. However, those in lower- and higher-income markets evaluate different characteristics in their reviews. The former is more likely to comment on a program's practical features, such as its pricing and accessibility, while the latter is more likely to focus on the learning environment. Finally, we find that consumers in lower-income markets are more likely to display negative psychological tones such as anxiety and anger in their reviews, especially when discussing the nature of their interactions with program managers and their child's interactions with teachers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To compare shared decision making (SDM) and satisfaction with care (SWC), an indicator of care quality, between children with special healthcare needs (CSHCN) and parents and to assess the association between SDM and SWC in both groups. We recruited CSHCN ≥ 7 years and parents from 15 outpatient facilities that completed a paper questionnaire assessing SDM (highest vs. lower levels of SDM) and SWC. Differences in SDM and SWC were assessed with McNemar and paired t-tests. We used adjusted linear mixed models to investigate cross-sectional associations between SDM and SWC. Based on data from 275 CSHCN and 858 parents, 39% and 64% of CSHCN and parents reported the highest level of SDM (p < 0.0001). No difference in SWC was observed (p = 0.36). Perceived SDM was associated with SWC in both groups (both p < 0.0001). Associations between SDM and SWC reinforce the role of SDM for care quality. Large proportions of CSHCN and parents reporting suboptimal levels of SDM highlight the need for effective programs to promote SDM in the target population. Until effective programs become available, healthcare professionals can use existing opportunities to involve CSHCN and parents in consultations (e.g., provide sufficient opportunities to ask questions). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Aboriginal perceptions about the overrepresentation of Aboriginal infants in out-of-home care include adversities related to colonisation not addressed prenatally, unnecessary reports, and unnecessary removals. • System causes of unnecessary reports include bias in reporting, visibility bias, health worker lack of experience and high demand for community services. • System causes of unnecessary removals include bias in removal decisions, bias in risk assessment instruments, power imbalances in child protection decision-making and lack of culturally informed community-based residential services following birth. • System causes of unmet need prenatally include disparity between resources for Aboriginal services and need, fear and distrust of child protection, an inexperienced Aboriginal workforce and challenges identifying high risk Aboriginal families prenatally. • Core components of an effective response to tackle system causes of Aboriginal baby removals include mediation of child protection activities, supportive links between Aboriginal services, child protection and health workers, culturally grounded case practice, traditional cultural activities, and flexible support funds. The increasing rate of statutory Aboriginal infant removal in Australia, which has reached almost 10% of live births in the state of Victoria, is a crisis motivating radical change in child protection pathways. This paper describes the problem analysis and design phases of an Aboriginal-led systems change project intended to ensure Aboriginal infants are raised safe and strong in family, Community, and culture by creating a response capable of shifting underlying system factors. Dialogue and deliberation processes involving 27 practitioners working within Aboriginal health and social care programs in the Bayside Peninsula Area of metropolitan Melbourne, the traditional land of the Bunurong people, was the overarching method used to develop a shared understanding of the problem of Aboriginal infant removals and reach a consensus about what to do in the local system. The themes that emerged during problem analysis reflect a risk/bias theoretical perspective, and in the design phase, it was deemed necessary to reduce both child safety-related risk as well as bias in the child protection system that responds to risk. The ensuing Bringing Up Aboriginal Babies at Home program has a clear systems theory of change, and a service blueprint describing how it is going to be implemented. Bringing Up Aboriginal Babies at Home practice resonates with other programs that have evolved independently in Australia and in other western child protection jurisdictions to reduce infant removals, including building trust for engagement, inspiring hope, openness and transparency, activating extended networks of formal and informal supports, and close collaboration with antenatal and child protection services. Program evaluation will determine whether Bringing Up Aboriginal Babies at Home (BUABAH) can be implemented with fidelity, tackle identified system flaws, reduce the number of Aboriginal infants taken into statutory care and become sustainable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cancer is one of Europe's key research missions, with gender equity a major policy pillar. To benchmark how well European countries perform for gender balance in cancer research, high quality intelligence is required. For cancer research papers in Europe (EUR31; the 28 EU Member States plus Iceland, Norway and Switzerland) from two specific years (2009 and 2019), we evaluated the numbers of female authors overall and then the female last-author presence, as a proxy of female cancer research leadership. Overall, female authorship increased from 42% to 49%. In 2009, females represented 50% or more of cancer research authors in only five EUR31 countries. By 2019, that number had risen to 17. In Eastern European (EE) countries, females were more likely to be in the majority. The presence of female cancer research authors in the last (senior) author position increased from 24% to 34%. Five of the top six countries for female authorship in 2019 were from EE, whereas disappointingly four central European countries (Austria (AT), Czechia (CZ), Germany (DE) and Switzerland (CH)) were below the 25th percentile. A number of European powerhouses of cancer research (UK, DE, CH) underperformed in terms of female cancer research leadership. However, when cancer researchers from these countries worked abroad (e.g. Scandinavia, USA) the percentage of females was similar to that of their host countries. A factor potentially influencing female cancer research participation was availability and relative cost of child-care, which is more favourable in Scandinavia and EE than in central/western Europe. Our data show that Horizon Europe's Cancer Mission must ensure gender equity in its future research programmes and support the enhancement of female cancer research leadership opportunities. • First paper of its kind to evaluate gender inequity in cancer research in Europe. • Highlights significant gender bias in female cancer research leadership in Europe. • Gender inequity more pronounced in some of Europe's powerhouses of cancer research. • Female cancer research leadership more favoured in Eastern Europe and Scandinavia. • Cancer research leadership may be influenced by availability and cost of childcare. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract This paper sets out to give a rounded view of the Irish foster care system as currently constituted. It will cover areas such as the law and policy framework, key data, key institutional actors, views of the system from the perspective of key stakeholders (care experienced adults and young people, foster carers and their children and the biological parents of children in foster care), and distinctive features of the Irish system. It will also offer a brief review of key influences that have helped shape the current system and Ireland's move from high use of institutional care to high rates of family placement. It will also consider challenges that still face policy and practice in the Irish foster care system. The paper takes a multi-disciplinary approach drawing on evidence from various perspectives including law, history and social policy. Offering the Irish case in this paper is not to claim or imply that the Irish system is fully developed or has resolved all its challenges. As will become clear, the argument here is that Ireland is an interesting case not because of any (erroneous) claim that it is the finished article as a foster care system. It is interesting because it is both a system that is still in development, and is also one that has already made the transition from a system dominated by residential care to one heavily reliant on family placement. Highlights • Ninety-two per cent of children in care in Ireland are placed in families (in both foster and kinship care) • This represents one of the highest family placement rates in care systems across the world • Previously the Irish care system relied heavily on institutional care like many Catholic countries • Ireland thus serves as an interesting case study of de-institutionalisation in a traditionally Catholic country • The paper offers a detailed overview of the current system of provisions for children in care in Ireland [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The lack of early education services for the children of asylum-seekers is a significant problem worldwide. • The study focused on community daycares in Israel, known as the 'Babysitters'. • It examined an intercultural early education consultation program for undocumented caregivers working in Babysitters. • The program was designed to enhance caregivers' knowledge, sense of belonging and caring skills. • Alliances between counselors and caregivers were important and enhanced caregivers' sense of meaning and belonging. The lack of early childhood education services for the children of asylum-seekers is a significant problem in many countries. The urgent need for childcare and the lack of national solutions often lead to temporary and unregulated childcare services. This paper examines the case of community daycares, known as the 'Babysitters,' for undocumented children of African asylum-seeking families in Israel. These centers are generally staffed by undocumented community members. The study examined the C-SMART program, an intercultural consultation program provided by counselors to enhance community caregivers' developmental knowledge and caring skills for infants and young children. The qualitative study, guided by a grounded theory methodology, examined the caregivers' experiences and perceptions of learning within the C-SMART program. Fifteen undocumented African migrant and asylum-seeking caregivers shared their experiences in semi-structured interviews. Caregivers indicated that the consultation process included cultural tensions alongside moments of connection when shared cultural meanings were created. When the counselors demonstrated a humble, curious, and enabling attitude, the caregivers had significant learning moments and felt a sense of meaning and belonging that enhanced their caring skills. These results have substantial implications for the development of intercultural services for the caregivers of children from refugee or asylum-seeking families. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lists health issues for which the American Dietetic Association has issued position papers. Includes the promotion of breast feeding; Competitive food in schools; Nutrition standard for child care programs.

Anecdotal evidence suggests that the cost of child care in the U.S. has increased substantially over the past few decades. This paper marshals data from a variety of sources to rigorously assess the issue. It begins by using a large survey dataset to trace the evolution in families’ child care expenditures. I find that the typical family currently spends 14 percent more on child care than it did in 1990. This is less than half the increase documented in previous work. In addition, most families allocate approximately the same share of income to child care as they did several decades ago. The next section of the paper examines the trend in the market price of child care. The evidence suggests that after persistent, albeit modest, growth throughout the 1990s, market prices have been essentially flat for at least a decade. In the paper's final section, I analyze several features of the child care market that may have implications for prices, including the demand for child care, the skill-level of the child care workforce, and state regulations. A few findings are noteworthy. First, I show that child care demand stagnated around the same time that market prices leveled-off. Second, although the skill-level of the child care workforce increased in absolute terms, highly-educated women increasingly find child care employment less attractive than other occupations. Finally, child care regulations have not systematically increased in stringency, and they appear to have small and inconsistent effects on market prices. Together, these results indicate that the production of child care has not become more costly, which may explain the recent stagnation in market prices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper makes a contribution to theories of adult identity development by considering how transitional experiences that characterise identity development are experienced. To achieve this, the paper draws upon a qualitative study with employed mothers in Australia. The conceptual lens of semiotic cultural psychology used in the paper focuses on the complexity and ambivalence that is characteristic of the transitional experience of becoming an employed mother and reveals how women's multiple possible developmental trajectories – dominant and dormant – emerge from this ambivalence, creating links with the past and keeping the possibility of becoming otherwise available in the future. The paper links sociological and psychological theory and research about employed mothers' experiences by emphasizing the significance of the socio-cultural context in which identity development occurs. It highlights the importance of developing cultural resources that support women as they psychologically and physically navigate their family, work and care responsibilities and related transitions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses a mixed methods research design that combines qualitative and quantitative data from low-income parents to increase understanding of the dynamics of their child care decision-making. The paper relies on a graphically depicted conceptual model of the decision-making process. In the model, individual characteristics found in prior research to affect child care decisions are clustered into constructs: family, community, child care preferences, constraints and barriers, and financial assistance. Findings demonstrate that when controlling for other characteristics, most of the characteristics captured in the conceptual model predict type of child care selected. Study data include measures of employment constraints and a verified measure of subsidy receipt, both of which are important to understanding child care decisions of low-income parents and on which research is limited. We find both to be strong predictors of child care selection decisions. Parents' child care selection preferences emerge as the strongest predictors of the type of care selected. Parents' prioritization of support for learning and trust in the provider were the most likely to predict a specific type of care. Findings from this study have direct implications for policy and practice, especially as states implement the changes associated with the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 2014 with its emphasis on helping parents select arrangements that support the child's development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How and why commuting contributes to our well-being is of considerable importance for transportation policy and planning. This paper analyses the relation between commuting and subjective well-being by considering several cognitive (e.g., satisfaction with family life, leisure, income, work, health) and affective (e.g., happiness, anger, worry, sadness) components of subjective well-being. Fixed-effects models are estimated with German Socio-Economic Panel data for the period 2007–2013. In contrast to previous papers in the literature, according to which commuting is bad for overall life satisfaction, we find no evidence that commuting in general is associated with a lower life satisfaction. Rather, it appears that longer commutes are only related to lower satisfaction with particular life domains, especially family life and leisure time. Time spent on housework, child care as well as physical and leisure activities mediate the association between commuting and well-being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Educator early childhood specialization showed few associations with child outcomes. • Research on early childhood specialization and child outcomes is very heterogeneous. • Early childhood specialization was weakly associated with language/social skills. • Early childhood specialization was not associated with math/vocabulary/letter ID. • Current/rigorous research on early childhood specialization/child outcomes needed. Educator early childhood specialization refers to educators having formal certifications, credentials, diplomas, and degrees in early childhood or a related area (e.g., early childhood education, child development, child psychology, child education, and special education). It is used frequently as an indicator in early childhood education and care (ECEC) quality improvement and other initiatives. However, the literature linking educator early childhood specialization to child outcomes has yielded mixed findings. The purpose of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to evaluate the associations between educator early childhood specialization and children's cognitive, academic, physical, social, emotional, and behavioral outcomes. We focused on preschool aged children. Searches of PsycINFO, ERIC, and Medline, websites of large databases, and reference sections of all included studies were conducted up to February 5, 2018. Title, abstract, and paper reviews were conducted by two independent raters to include studies that provided a statistical link between educator early childhood specialization and child outcomes. Sixteen eligible studies (21 samples, n = 15,157 children) were included in the systematic review. Heterogeneity between studies was identified in terms of how educator early childhood specialization was operationalized, conceptualized, and measured. Results from the systematic review revealed very few significant associations. Five meta-analyses of homogenous studies revealed very weak positive associations between educator early childhood specialization and children's language and social skills. No significant associations were identified for children's mathematics, vocabulary, or letter identification skills. Methodological limitations of the literature and the current study, areas for future research, and implications for policy are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Many family child care (FCC) providers prioritized love, affection, and/or fun. • Key components of familism and compadrazgo were evident in many FCC homes. • FCC providers used family vocabulary to describe their role, work, and assistance. • FCC providers' own family members often shared in the work of the FCC home. Latinx children under five years of age are more likely to experience home-based than center-based care (Crosby, Mendez, Guzman, & Lopez, 2016). A large and growing literature documents familismo (i.e., familism) and compadrazgo (literally, co-parenting) as common beliefs among Latino/a families who are themselves diverse in many ways including national origin, generational status, and SES. Using a cultural model framework (Quinn & Holland, 1987) and Eco(logical)-cultural Theory (Weisner, 2002, 2005), previous research indicated that family child care (FCC) providers' descriptions of their work reflected varying prioritization of a Love and Affection cultural model. In this paper, we aimed to (a) explore the relevance of familismo and compadrazgo for FCC, and (b) refine and confirm the Love and Affection cultural model in a second sample of FCC providers. To do so, we conducted qualitative analyses of in-depth, semi-structured interviews as part of a larger study including licensed FCC providers serving children in selected areas of Los Angeles County. Many providers' descriptions of their work contained elements of familismo and compadrazgo in ways that were quite compatible with a Love and Affection cultural model. We also identified barriers to Love and Affection. Local communities may be better able to meet the needs of Latino/a families by helping ECE professionals communicate and advertise their beliefs, as well as help Latino/a families identify ECE settings that prioritize Love and Affection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Quantitative study of the capacity of communities in New York State to provide registered childcare slots for age-eligible infants and toddlers. • Builds on the growing literature documenting the slow decline of registered child care providers and slots. • Advances the literature on child care deserts. • Advances our understanding of the negative relationship between the capacity of non-urban (especially rural) communities and PreK programming. Access to high quality child care provides a valuable support to families and communities as it both enables parental employment and provides a safe and developmentally appropriate place for children. Yet, access to child care for children under age three is uneven, with some communities experiencing child care "deserts" (Jessen-Howard et al., 2018). This paper assesses the infant and toddler child care capacity – the proportion of age-eligible children for which there are available child care slots – of communities across New York State. Using data from the NY State Education Department (670 school districts in the most recent year of available data), the NYS Office of Children and Family Services (about 18,000 registered child care providers), and the National Center for Education Statistics definitions of locale, we examine how child care capacity relates to school district and community factors over 9 years (2007–2016). Using negative binomial regression, we see overall stability in capacity for infant and toddler child care in New York State, but important variation by demographic factors and geography. Non-urban communities and communities with greater levels of student poverty have less capacity for infants and toddlers. Urban communities, communities with publicly funded prekindergarten and greater levels of minority children are associated with greater capacity. Importantly, in non-urban communities only (and especially in rural communities), we find an interaction effect that documents significantly reduced capacity for infant and toddler child care in communities also implementing public prekindergarten. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Care-experienced young people experience high levels of mental health problems. • System resources, cultures and stakeholder values, impact interventions. • Care-experienced young people valued meaningful relationships in interventions. • Carers felt interventions often overlooked their expertise and experiences. • Future interventions should support carers' time and emotional commitment. The mental health and well-being of care-experienced children and young people remains a concern. Despite a range of interventions, the existing evidence base is limited in scope, with a reliance on standalone outcome evaluations which limits understanding of how contextual factors influence implementation and acceptability. The Care-experienced cHildren and young people's Interventions to improve Mental health and wEll-being outcomes Systematic review (CHIMES) aimed to synthesise evidence of intervention theory, outcome, process and economic effectiveness. This paper reports the process evaluation synthesis, exploring how system factors facilitate and inhibit implementation and acceptability of mental health and wellbeing interventions for care-experienced children and young people. Sixteen databases and 22 websites were searched between 2020 and 2022 for studies published from 1990 and May 2022. This was supplemented with contacting experts in the field, citation tracking, screening of relevant systematic reviews and stakeholder consultations. We drew on framework synthesis of qualitative data and incorporated a systems lens, taking account of contextual influences across socio-ecological domains. Quality appraisal assessed reliability and usefulness. Confidence in synthesised findings was assessed with the GRADE-CERQual tool. We report the review in accordance with relevant elements of both the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA), and the Enhancing transparency in reporting the synthesis of qualitative research (ENTREQ) checklist. Searches retrieved 15,068 unique study reports, and 23 of these were eligible for process evaluation synthesis, reporting on sixteen interventions. Studies were published between 2003 and 2021. Nine interventions were from the UK and Ireland, six interventions were from the USA, and one was from Australia. They were largely classified as interpersonal, where the aim was to modify carer-child relationships. Five key context factors were identified that supported and prohibited intervention delivery: (1) lack of system resources; (2) intervention burden, which encompasses the time, cognitive, and emotional burden associated with implementation and participation; (3) interprofessional relationships between health and social care professionals; (4) care-experienced young people's identity; and (5) carer identity. We identified several supportive and restrictive factors across social and health care systems that may impact intervention implementation and acceptability. Key implications include: the importance of involving diverse stakeholders in intervention development and delivery; the need to better resource and support those involved in interventions, particularly training and support for carers; and ensuring future evaluations integrate process evaluations in order to optimise interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With increased digitalization and e-government services, Artificial Intelligence (AI) gained momentum. This paper focuses on AI-governance in Child Social Care field, exploring how aspects of individual, family/community factors are embedded in organizational level, especially when dealing with children resilience and wellbeing. A three-level based review has been conducted. In the first part we explored the interlink between individual factors associated to either resilience or wellbeing are connected to community and governance level where a new conceptual model is provided. In the second phase, we conducted an in-depth systematic literature review using PRISMA review protocol where new categorizations of identified literature with respect to individual, family and community levels in child social care field were suggested, while in the third phase, a review of relevant AI-initiatives in Europe and USA was performed. Finally, a comprehensive discussion of the literature review outcomes was carried out and a new updated conceptual model was provided. • Systematic literature using PRISMA protocol has been carried out. • Athree level literature steps is performed: Management, overall and EU case study reports. • There is a clear distinction between individual and family/community factors in governance. • The sparsity of applications of Artificial Intelligence to child social care is emphasized. • New conceptual models have been put forward. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Practice directions should recognise multiple models of CSE and a wider context of vulnerability and unmet needs. • Anxieties about young people's sexual behaviours can detract from CSE making it challenging to identify and respond. • Outreach and support that addresses young people's emotional, social and practical needs are valuable directions. • Suitable placements and ensuring young people have a safe and stable home environment is vital to any response to CSE. • CSE responses should be guided by child-centred practice and informed by young people's perspectives. There is a growing interest in understanding and responding to child sexual exploitation (CSE) in Australia, but limited empirical research from Australian contexts. The research reported here contributes to the evidence base by considering challenges and best practices for responding to CSE from the perspectives of 15 caseworkers in a statutory child protection and out of home care environment in one Australian region. In so doing, the paper also offers insight into CSE along with consideration of the emerging practice directions and systems surrounding these in the Australian context. Findings point to potential problems arising from existing frameworks for understanding and responding to CSE. Participants held concerns about a narrow focus on young people's sexualised behaviours in the wider multi-agency care context. This was understood to obscure a more complex understanding of CSE and its broader context of vulnerability and connection to unmet needs – some of which can arise from the care context itself – making identification and intervention difficult. Findings align with research that emphasises outreach and intensive support for young people centring on strengthening connections, identifying and addressing unmet needs and sustaining safety through consideration of placements and living circumstances. Consideration of practice challenges and opportunities signals the importance of child-centred, wellbeing-oriented directions allowing for multiple models of CSE victimisation, underpinned by a shared language in the multi-agency context and enhanced provision in existing systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Protocol for a study of quality improvement in Australian ECEC services. • A sequential three-phase mixed-methods design informed by ecological systems theory. • Research-industry partnerships with government authorities and early childhood researchers. • Scale and depth in sample identification, data selection and analytical techniques. International recognition of the early years as a crucial foundational period has led to the design and implementation of quality rating and improvement systems (QRIS) that define, communicate, and monitor the components of quality in early childhood education and care (ECEC). The aim of these policies is to achieve effective quality assurance and improvement through a system-oriented approach to assessment and evaluation. Informed by ecological systems theory, this paper outlines a three-phase, mixed-methods design for researching a national sample of child care centres that showed overall improvement on the Australian National Quality Standard (NQS) assessment and rating (A&R) criteria. The study samples are drawn from a national dataset of centre-based child care services with two or more A&R rounds and an initial rating of Working Towards NQS (N = 1,935). The results of this study will provide insights into the macro-, exo-, meso- and micro-systems level factors and strategies that support quality in ECEC services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Supporting childhood cancer survivors with neurocognitive late effects is critical and requires additional attention in the research arena. This convening project's aim was to engage parents, healthcare providers, and education stakeholders in order to identify research priorities regarding patient/family-provider communication about neurocognitive impacts associated with childhood cancer. Specific components of the Stakeholder Engagement in quEstion Development (SEED) method were combined with an online e-Delphi consensus building approach. Multiple modalities were utilized for engagement including in-person/hybrid meetings, email/Zoom/call communications, targeted-asynchronous learning activities by stakeholders, iterative surveys, and hands-on conceptual modeling. Twenty-four (parents n = 10, educators n = 5, healthcare providers n = 9) participated in the year-long project, generating 8 research questions in the stakeholder priority domains of training families/caregiver, access of neuropsychological assessment, tools to facilitate communication and training medical providers. This paper illustrates a successful stakeholder convening process using multi-modal engagement to establish research priorities. The resulting questions can be utilized to guide research projects that will fill gaps to providing optimal care to children with neurocognitive late effects. This process can be used as a template for tackling other healthcare issues that span across disciplines and domains, where stakeholders have rare opportunities to collaborate. • Stakeholder involvement is critical for identifying research priorities that are relevant. • The Stakeholder Engagement in quEstion Development (SEED) method and online e-Delphi can be used for consensus building. • Parent stakeholders who participate in research training modules can contribute to meaningful collaboration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • We study a large-scale expansion of integrated center-based care in Colombia. • We find large positive effects on receptive vocabulary that persist after 5 years. • The impact implies a reduction of 35% in the cognitive socioeconomic gap. • We report positive but less robust effects on children's nutritional status. • Integrated early childhood care can be effective and sustainable at large-scale. Abstract The focus in developing countries is shifting from increasing access to early childhood care services to improving its quality. In light of the inclusion of early childhood development in the UN Sustainable Development Goals, there has emerged a global call for early childhood programs that integrate nutrition, health and development components. However, large-scale studies of integrated early childhood interventions are scarce in developing countries, and thus, little is known about its effectiveness and sustainability. In this paper we study the immediate and medium-run effects of a large-scale expansion of an integrated package of services including care, education, health and nutrition on child growth and development, by analyzing the expansion of the Colombian national early childhood strategy known as " From Zero to Forever " between 2011 and 2013. The results indicate that the increased access to integrated center-based care had a large immediate effect on vocabulary that persists five years into the intervention, and less robust effects on nutritional status. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Little literature examines the cognitive journey taken by parents considering/receiving hospice care for their child. A constructivist grounded theory study explored 38 parents' views of considering/using a children's hospice. Data analysed from focus groups and interviews identified three main concepts. The focus of this paper is identified as Coming 'Home'. This concept depicts the desire and the sense of searching that parents experienced in trying to find a place, other than their actual home, where their child could access a caring environment and their parents received some respite from caregiving. Despite there being a paradox associated with hospice-based respite, once they had crossed the threshold the parents bonded with the place and experienced rootedness and familiarity. The hospice became a place of living and belonging; a place where they could 'come home'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Affordable child care is an essential support for families with young children, and quality of care impacts a range of child development outcomes. Still, many families face a number of barriers to accessing high-quality care. Given the necessary resources for raising a child with a disability, high-quality child care may be particularly salient for families with a child with a disability. Yet, these families face additional challenges to accessing appropriate care, and children with disabilities may be less likely to be receiving quality care than their nondisabled peers. Despite these challenges, little empirical work has been done to examine differences in child care arrangements between families who have a child with a disability and those who do not. Using data from the National Household Education Surveys (NHES) Early Childhood Program Participation (ECPP) surveys, this paper seeks to understand if there are differences in the types of arrangements used. Results suggest young children with disabilities are 50% more likely to be enrolled in formal, center-based care compared to no enrollment in child care and 25% less likely to be enrolled in informal care compared to center-based care than their nondisabled peers, with additional differences by household income and child's age. Findings offer a crucial first step in understanding child care arrangements for young children with disaiblities and indicate that center-based care may be particularly important for families. Highlights • Children with disabilities are more likely to use center-based care than alternatives compared to other young children • Disability type may influence child care arrangements • Patterns of use also differ by household income quintile and child's age [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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 Aspirations of quality, equitable and respectful care for all women in childbirth have, so far, been unrealised. Sub-optimal care remains the norm in many settings despite decades of substantial investment, the introduction of evidence-based policies, procedures and training programmes. Improving the standard of facility-based care for childbearing women in Afghanistan is an example. This ethnography of a large public Afghan maternity hospital explored the experiences, motivations and constraints of healthcare providers. The aim was to identify barriers and facilitators in the delivery of care. Participant observation, semi-structured interviews, and focus group discussions were used to gather diverse perspectives on childbirth and care between 2010 and 2012. The influences of the sociocultural setting and political economy on facility-based care are discussed in this paper. Under the surface of this maternity hospital, social norms were in conflict with the principles of biomedicine. Contested areas included the control of knowledge, equity and the primary goal of work. The institutional culture was further complicated by pressure from powerful elites. These unseen values and pressures explain much of the disconnection between policy and implementation, education and the everyday behaviours of healthcare providers. Improving the quality of care and equity in Afghan public maternity hospitals will require political will from all stakeholders to acknowledge these issues and find culturally attuned ways to address them. Furthermore, the notion of competing world-views on healthcare has relevance beyond Afghanistan. Highlights • Afghan biomedical practice is being shaped by history, society and politics. • Connections, status or financial gifts were required to access quality care. • Professional knowledge and clinical skills were generally guarded not shared. • Social expectations and pressures were stronger than notions of equity. • Political elites had power and influence over healthcare providers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The responsibility of local authorities in England to provide children in care with stable, local placements has become increasingly difficult due to the rising number of children in need of care and a shortage of available placements. It is unclear if the trend of outsourcing children's social care to private companies has exacerbated this challenge. This paper examines how the outsourcing of children's social care to the private market has influenced placement locality and long-term stability over time. We created a novel dataset of multiple administrative data sources on the outsourcing, placement locality and stability, and characteristics of children in care between 2011 and 2022. We conducted time-series fixed-effects regression analysis of the impact of for-profit outsourcing on placement locality and stability from 2011 to 2022. Our fully adjusted models demonstrate that for-profit outsourcing is consistently associated with more children being placed outside their home local authority and greater placement instability. We found that an increase of 1 % point of for-profit outsourcing was associated with an average increase of 0.10 % points (95 % CI 0.02–0.17; p = 0.01) more children experiencing placement disruption, and 0.23 % points (95 % CI 0.15–0.30; p < 0.001) more children being placed outside their home local authority. We estimate that an additional 17,001 (95 % CI 9015–24,987) out-of-area placements can be attributed to increases in for-profit provision. Our analyses show that placement stability and distance have deteriorated or stagnated over the last decade, and that the local authorities that rely most on outsourcing have the highest rates of placement disruptions and out-of-area placements. • Social care services struggle to find children suitably located and stable care. • England's services are frequently, and increasingly, outsourced to for-profits. • For-profit outsourcing is linked with more placements away from the child's home. • For-profit outsourcing is linked with more unstable, short-term placements. • Further outsourcing to for-profits may not improve quality of care for children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the UK, food poverty has been associated with conditions such as obesity, malnutrition, hypertension, iron deficiency, and impaired liver function. Food banks, the primary response to food poverty on the ground, typically rely on community referral and distribution systems that involve health and social care professionals and local authority public health teams. The perspectives of these key stakeholders remain underexplored. This paper reports on a qualitative study of the health and wellbeing challenges of food poverty and food banking in London. An ethnographic investigation of food bank staff and users was carried out alongside a series of healthcare stakeholder interviews. A total of 42 participants were interviewed. A Critical Grounded Theory (CGT) analysis revealed that contemporary lived experiences of food poverty are embedded within and symptomatic of extreme marginalisation, which in turn impacts upon health. Specifically, food poverty was conceptualised by participants to: firstly, be a barrier to providing adequate care and nutrition for young children; secondly, be exacerbated by lack of access to adequate fresh food, food storage and cooking facilities; and thirdly, amplify existing health and social problems. Further investigation of the local government structures and professional roles that both rely upon and serve to further embed the food banking system is necessary in order to understand the politics of changing welfare landscapes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Low-income families' ability to sustain employment while ensuring the care and safety of their young children is profoundly affected by federal policies regarding access to subsidies and programs, such as Head Start. The current structure of these policies evolved during the decades following the 1990 enactment of the Child Care and Development Block Grant – a period that also witnessed expansion of the Head Start program and growth of state pre-K programs. Using data from two nationally representative surveys of child care providers conducted in 1990 and 2012, this paper examines trends in the supply, sponsorship, and funding structure of publicly-funded child care centers during this period of active policymaking in early care and education. These changes include major expansion in the number and share of child care centers receiving public funds, as well as in the number of children enrolled in these centers; relatively more rapid growth among for-profit vs. non-profit centers in the publicly-funded sector, but consistency in that the major share of publicly-funded centers remained non-profit; and substantial growth in publicly-funded centers receiving vouchers as a primary funding mechanism. These trends carry the potential to enhance the reach of quality improvement efforts tagged to public funds and may have increased low-income families' choice of centers with differing hours, in a range of locations, that serve a wider age range of children, as well as children supported with differing funding sources. Whether the growing supply of publicly-funded centers has actually kept pace with demand, let alone enhanced access of low-income families to care that supports their children's development, are critical, next-stage questions to address. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on the effects of inaccessibility on Syrian refugees in Durham Region, a municipality abutting the City of Toronto. The transport and social exclusion framework is applied to determine whether transport poverty leads to inaccessibility, and how this impacts participation in daily activities and the wellbeing of recently landed refugees. A mixed methodological approach consisting of focus groups, survey data collection, and accessibility analysis provides a thorough and valid depiction of the topics investigated. The findings clearly depict evidence of subjective inaccessibility and its negative impact on participation in social and discretionary activities. At the same time, inaccessibility was not determined to be effecting participation rates in many mandatory activities such as daily English language classes or childcare-related tasks. Most of the respondents overwhelmingly felt that their transportation situation was having a strong negative impact on several dimensions of wellbeing, including loneliness and sadness. Despite the strong subjective and emotional responses to perceived inaccessibility, GIS-based accessibility scores show that the survey respondents had higher levels of objectively-measured access to destinations when compared to the broader population of Durham Region, indicating the importance of qualitative assessments of perceived access. Overall, the research confirms the validity of the transport and social exclusion framework and its usefulness in understanding participation and settlement outcomes among refugee migrants within a suburban, North American context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Suicide in children and young people is a major public health concern. However, it is unknown whether individuals who have been in the care of the child welfare system are at an elevated risk. Care is presently defined as statutory provision of in-home care (e.g. child living with birth family but in receipt of legal order involving supervision by social workers) or out-of-home care (e.g. foster care, residential care and kinship care). This paper presents a systematic review and meta-analysis comparing the prevalence of suicidal ideation, suicide attempt and suicide in children and young people placed in care with non-care populations. A systematic search was conducted of 14 electronic bibliographic databases and 32 websites. Of 2811 unique articles identified, five studies published between 2001 and 2011 met the inclusion criteria. Studies reported on 2448 incidents of suicidal ideation, 3456 attempted suicides and 250 suicides. The estimated prevalence of suicidal ideation was 24.7% in children and young people in care compared to 11.4% in non-care populations. The prevalence of suicide attempt was 3.6% compared to 0.8%. Two studies reported on suicide. Suicide risk in children and young people in care was lower in one study (0% vs 0.9%) and higher in the second (0.27% vs 0.06%). The results of the systematic review and meta-analysis confirm that suicide attempts are more than three times as likely in children and young people placed in care compared to non-care populations. Targeted interventions to prevent or reduce suicide attempt in this population may be required. Further comparative studies are needed to establish if children and young people in care are at an elevated risk of suicidal ideation and suicide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While there is substantial research focused on the prevalence, outcomes, and practical challenges associated with child sexual abuse, there are limited resources specific to sibling sexual abuse (SSA). As a result of the limited literature there is inadequate empirical support for policy development to guide identification, assessment, and intervention for children and families who have experienced SSA. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to examine and address these challenges with the goal of contributing to an evidence base that can inform policy and reduce barriers to care for children and families who have experienced SSA. Concerns related to identification including definitional issues and parental knowledge and perceptions are explored, as are those related to disclosure including child and caregiver perceptions and beliefs. Barriers related to treatment are discussed, including professional and caregiver response, and relevant cultural considerations. The paper concludes with a discussion of research and potential policy solutions aimed to address the identified challenges for children and families. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Becoming parents implies redefining the complex relationships with birth families. • This process opens up to care-experienced parents new relational adjustments, but also several challenges. • Care-experienced parents are able to cope in part by using skills learned within the Child Protection System. • The key role of positioning/protecting vis-à-vis the birth family. • The need to assuage concerns about the lack of an extended family for their children. This paper studies how care-experienced parents, i.e. parents with a looked-after background, represent their relationship with the birth family. This relationship appears to be crucial in the intergenerational transmission of maltreatment and may enable an understanding of the dynamics that mediate its reproduction. Constructivist Grounded Theory approach was used in this qualitative study. I conducted online in-depth semi-structured interviews with 17 care-experienced parents in Italy from May to November 2021. The interviews were analysed using open, focused and theoretical coding with the support of NVivo12 and the analysis itself was discussed with a board of care-experienced parents. The relationship with the birth family is an aspect that frequently emerges in the interviewees' narratives. Birth family is represented through the more physical dimension of its presence in everyday life, as well as in the more symbolic one linked to one's inner experience. This means that birth family is crucial even when contacts are sporadic or no longer possible. Interviewees see parenting as an opportunity to create new relational adjustments, particularly in reference to their relationship with birth families. In fact, an internal daily dialogue and renegotiation with their own complex family history appears to take place. New parents compare their own childhoods with their children's, with this placing further pressure on the actual relationship with the birth family. In this process parents show interesting resources, possibly acquired within the child protection system. This study highlights relevant aspects of the relationship between the birth family and care-experienced parents. It represents a promising approach to a better understanding of the links affecting the intergenerational transmission of maltreatment, also vis-à-vis the role of the child protection system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper explores the mechanisms behind the disturbingly high occurrence of placement disruption among young people in out-of-home care. Discussions have usually been framed in a vocabulary of risk and protection, with the bulk of research designed for singling out factors that correlate with stability and discontinuity in care arrangements. From this research tradition, we have learned that ‘behavioral problems’ are by far the strongest predictor for disruptions in care. By exploring the quality of care as experienced by young people themselves, this study suggests an alternative strategy. Findings suggest that disruptions occur as a result of complex social relations, as when young people struggle to fit in among other troubled youth in demanding residential settings. The paper concludes that labels such as ‘behavioral problems’ may have a reifying effect that individualizes the problem of care disruption while not being particularly helpful in explaining the phenomenon. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Children residing in long-term out-of-home care have high rates of clinical-level mental health difficulties. However, the stability of these children’s difficulties throughout their time in care is uncertain. This paper reports estimates of the seven- to nine-year stability of carer-reported scores on the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) and Assessment Checklists for Children (ACC) and Adolescents (ACA) for 85 children in long-term foster or kinship care. Prospective score changes on the CBCL total problems and ACC-ACA shared-item scales were assigned to one of four change groups: ‘sustained mental health’; ‘meaningful improvement’; ‘no meaningful change’; and ‘meaningful deterioration’. On each of the two measures, more than 60% of children manifested either sustained mental health or meaningful improvement in their mental health, while less than a quarter showed meaningful deterioration. Mean mental health scores for the aggregate sample did not change over the 7–9 year period. Findings discount the presence of a uniform, population-wide effect—suggesting instead, that children’s mental health follows several distinct trajectories. Rather than asking whether long-term care is generally therapeutic or harmful for the development of previously maltreated children, future investigations should focus on the questions “… what are the systemic and interpersonal characteristics of care that promote and sustain children ’ s psychological development throughout childhood, and what characteristics are developmentally harmful? ” and “… for which children is care therapeutic, and for which children is it not ?” [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper tests the effectiveness of performance pay and bonuses among government childcare workers in India. In a controlled study of 160 ICDS centers serving over 4000 children, we randomly assign workers to either fixed bonuses or payments based on the nutritional status of children in their care, and also collect data from a control group receiving only standard salaries. In all three study arms mothers receive nutrition information. We find that performance pay reduces underweight prevalence by about 5 percentage points over 3 months, and height improves by about one centimeter. Impacts on weight continue when incentives are renewed and return to parallel trends thereafter. Fixed bonuses are less expensive but lead to smaller and less precisely estimated effects than performance pay, especially for children near malnutrition thresholds. Both treatments improve worker effort and communication with mothers, who in turn feed a more calorific diet to children at home. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given the relatively large body of literature documenting the adverse impacts of institutionalization on children’s developmental outcomes and well-being, it is essential that countries work towards reducing the number of children in alternative care (particularly institutional care), and, when possible, reunite children with their families. In order to do so, reliable estimates of the numbers of children living in such settings are essential. However, many countries still lack functional administrative systems for enumerating children living outside of family care. The purpose of this paper is to provide a snapshot of the availability and coverage of data on children living in residential and foster care from some 142 countries covering more than 80 per cent of the world’s children. Utilizing these country-level figures, it is estimated that approximately 2.7 million children between the ages of 0 and 17 years could be living in institutional care worldwide. Where possible, the article also presents regional estimates of the number of children living in residential and foster care. This work represents an important step to systematically identify and compile sources of data on children in alternative care and provides updated global and regional estimates on the magnitude of the issue. Its findings contribute to raising awareness of the urgent need to strengthen the capacity of countries to improve national systems for counting, monitoring and reporting on these vulnerable children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes a scoping review of 42 studies of neighborhood effects on developmental health for children ages 0-6, published between 2009 and 2014. It focuses on three themes: (1) theoretical mechanisms that drive early childhood development, i.e. how neighborhoods matter for early childhood development; (2) dependence of such mechanisms on place-based characteristics i.e. where neighborhood effects occur; (3) dependence of such mechanisms on child characteristics, i.e. for whom is development most affected. Given that ecological systems theories postulate diverse mechanisms via which neighborhood characteristics affect early child development, we specifically examine evidence on mediation and/or moderation effects. We conclude by discussing future challenges, and proposing recommendations for analyses that utilize ecological longitudinal population-based databases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents research findings that advance knowledge around the power and agency families with children with complex care needs (CCN). Our conceptual framework uses concepts from geography towards situating the experiences and social realities of family carers within the 'embodied space of care'. The data originate from a longitudinal qualitative study of Canadian families with children with CCN. Findings reveal that interactions and decision-making processes relating to health and everyday life were complex and socially interconnected, and emphasize the need for provisions for family-based decision-making and enhanced social inclusion of families and the importance of the renegotiation of power. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Child care subsidies provide an important work support for low-income families, yet children often receive subsidies for only a short period of time and may cycle on and off the program. Much of the research to date on patterns of subsidy participation has focused on the duration of participation, and less attention has been paid to the dynamics of how often and how quickly children return to the program. This paper uses administrative data from Maryland to analyze the patterns of returns to the subsidy program after a break in subsidized care. We find that half of children who exited the program return to subsidy within five years, and most of those return within a few months. Returns to subsidized care are related to family circumstances, type of care, child age, and program policies related to eligibility redetermination. These factors have differential effects on the probability of returning to the same provider or a different provider, which may have important implications for the stability of children's care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adverse family conditions, abuse and neglect during childhood present important risk factors for the appearance of emotional and behavioral problems. The main aim of this paper is to describe the presence of these kinds of disorders in children in residential child care and to explore individual, socio-family and care process factors associated with the use of mental health services. The sample consisted of 1216 children 6–18 years old in residential care in several Spanish regions. Information about emotional and behavioral problems was gathered according to two criteria: receiving some kind of treatment services and/or being identified as within the clinical range in the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL). Results showed that 49% of cases were receiving some kind of mental health treatment and 61% were identified as within the clinical range in some of the broad band scales of the CBCL. In terms of agreement between referral to treatment and CBCL scores, results showed that four out of ten cases identified as within the clinical range were not receiving any kind of treatment. Several factors related to the type of problems detected in the CBCL, personal variables, and child care arrangements are associated with greater use of mental health services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the 1990s, the reduction of under-five child-mortality has been a priority for the WHO (Millennium Development Goal 4). In the last two decades, the greatest reduction has occurred in children older than 1 month, while neonatal mortality (the first 28 days of life) has declined more slowly. Neonatal deaths, estimated at approximately 4 million annually, now account for more than 40% of deaths worldwide. Bacterial infections are the leading cause of neonatal deaths. Although risk factors for community and hospital based infections potentially leading to neonatal sepsis are well researched, local people’s childcare practices in the neonatal phase are poorly understood by clinicians and biomedical researchers. This paper is based on ethnographic research on neonatal caring practices in rural Gambia. We show that many practices centre on protecting the newborn from sicknesses that are believed to be caused by spirits and other supernatural inflictions. Other caring and nourishing practices are performed to enhance the baby's physical, cognitive and moral development making him/her a full member of the community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Objectives: This article reviews the available evidence regarding the efficacy, effectiveness, ethics, and sustainability of approaches to strengthen systems to care for and protect children living outside family care in low- and middle-income countries. Method: For trafficked children, children of and on the street, children of conflict/disaster, and institutionalized children, a systems framework approach was used to organize the topic of sustainable approaches in low- and middle-income countries and addresses the following: legislation, policies, and regulations; system structures and functions (formal and informal); and continuum of care and services. The article draws on the findings of a focal group convened by the U.S. Government Evidence Summit: Protecting Children Outside of Family Care (December 12–13, 2011, Washington, DC), tasked with reviewing the literature on systems, strategies, and interventions for sustainable long-term care and protection of children with a history of living outside of family care in low- and middle-income country contexts. The specific methodology for the review is described in the commentary paper (Higgs, Zlidar, & Balster, 2012) that accompanies these papers. Results: For the most part, the evidence base in support of sustainable long-term care for the populations of interest is relatively weak, with some stronger but unreplicated studies. Some populations have been studied more thoroughly than others, and there are many gaps. Most of the existing studies identify population characteristics, needs, and consequences of a lack of systemic services to promote family-like care. There is some evidence of the effectiveness of laws and policies, as well as some evidence of service effectiveness, in improving outcomes for children outside of family care. Conclusions: Despite the weaknesses and gaps of the existing research, there is a foundation of research for going forward, which should focus on developing and implementing systems for these most vulnerable children. The evidence reviewed indicates that child protection systems should aim for appropriate, permanent family care (including reunification, adoption, kinship care, or kafalah) for children in order to secure the best environment for a child''s developmental prospects. Evidence also suggests that the quality and duration of care, including both permanent family care and alternative care, are important regardless of setting. The diversity of political, socioeconomic, historical, regional, community, and cultural contexts in which child protection systems operate need to be taken into account during programming and research design. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]