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In Australia, there are more than 46 000 children in out‐of‐home care (OOHC). Most of these children have been in OOHC for more than 2 years. Similarly, there are more than 407 000 children in the United States and over 80 800 in England who are 'looked after' with approximately one third of these children being in OOHC for more than 2 years. This paper concerns 'looked after' children's rights to contact with their birth parents. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) requires child protection systems to recognize the rights of children to maintain contact with their families except where this is not in the child's 'best interests'. In this paper, we report on a qualitative study conducted in Australia exploring legal and family support practitioners' perceptions of barriers to contact between children in OOHC and their birth parents. The thematic analysis identified four themes: These were as follows: a focus on systems driven responses; lack of cultural recognition and responsiveness; carers' disconnection from birth parents; and parents' exclusion. We discuss the implications of these findings for understanding and recognizing children's right to contact with birth parents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The safety of practitioners working in the area of domestic abuse is a current subject of research and practice concern, as services endeavour to better understand constantly evolving tactics of violence and abuse and respond appropriately. This paper reports on a subset of findings from a practice‐led research project focussed on capacity‐building workers and their organizations to address domestic abuse, which highlighted the ongoing concerns expressed by practitioners—particularly female practitioners—about their own physical, emotional, and professional safety. Ethnographic notes were taken of Community of Practice discussions in four regions of New South Wales, Australia, involving 69 senior health practitioners from a range of service streams: specialist domestic abuse, mental health, substance use, and child protection. Themes identified through thematic analysis included the following: a tailored approach to practising safely; attending to physical safety; threats to professional identity; promoting emotional well‐being; documentation to support worker safety; and attending to cultural safety. These themes are encapsulated in the practitioner question: Who's got my back?—highlighting the importance of legislation, policy, and practices that provide an environment in which safety and support are embedded in a culture of care at every organizational level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents findings from a qualitative study of four child death reviews published in Australia. The study was informed by the theoretical concept of childism. A critical social research methodology facilitated the exposure of childist dynamics in statutory child protection. The transformation of child protection practices and systems has traditionally relied on the imposition of never‐ending structural changes, policies, and procedures. This paper proposes that transformation and the erosion of childist dynamics is contingent on humane and ethical statutory child protection agencies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on the findings from a longitudinal study of vulnerable young people's transitions to adulthood, this paper explores the ideas of shame and recognition. The young people, aged between 12 and 17 years at the first interview, had experienced chronic exposure to adversity from an early age (abuse, violence, mental health issues, addictions, and expulsion from school). They were clients of statutory and non‐governmental services: child welfare, juvenile justice, remedial education, and mental health services. This paper draws on the qualitative phase of the study (n = 107); young people and a trusted other, nominated by the young person, participated in three annual qualitative interviews. Interviews focused on young people's experiences of services, key transitions, their relationships, and the strategies they used to locate support and resources. Experiences of shame, misrecognition, and seeking recognition emerged as dominant themes in the young people's accounts, and these are explored in this paper. The paper concludes with a discussion on responsive social work interventions that generate a deeper understanding of young people's experiences of shame and misrecognition. Central to this practice are critical and relational social work practices that actively support young people to achieve recognition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The gathering of 'wishes and feelings' in UK child protection proceedings (s.53 Children Act 2004) should highlight the child's opinion of social work intervention and services provided. However, with no statutory social work guidance on participation currently in place, children frequently miss opportunities to be involved in their own child protection planning. This paper is drawn from a 3‐year study into participation in child protection social work. It includes findings from qualitative interviews, and one focus group, with social workers, parents, children and participation workers, from three local authorities in the United Kingdom. The findings revealed some examples of significant gaps in service provision, particularly from the perspective and understanding of the child. The skewed translation of wishes and feelings legislation, along with its subsequent (and often inadequate) application to practice, prevents children from understanding and responding to social work intervention and can lead to idiosyncratic practice. This paper provides recommendations for a practical response to practitioner dilemmas regarding wishes and feelings and bridges the gap between research and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is growing recognition, in the UK and internationally, of the huge costs of recurrent appearances of parents in local authority care proceedings. This paper contributes to pressing policy and practice concerns to reduce recurrence. It presents qualitative longitudinal data from the first study of fathers' experiences of recurrent care proceedings in England. Demonstrating the emotional impact of repeat proceedings and successive loss of children on fathers, in terms of grief, loss and shame, we highlight the trauma and abuse in their developmental histories. We consider complex connections between anger and shame for these fathers, including within the arena of family justice. With the use of literature on complex trauma, shame and parental disengagement, we explore ideas for re‐framing fathers', and professionals', resistance to engagement and for better understanding fathers' intense emotions. We suggest that the link between shame and complex trauma and the value of shame reducing, dignity promoting practice in response provide a valuable way forward for working with fathers. As is recognized to be the case for mothers, without holistic, empathic interventions to address the vulnerabilities of such fathers, the risks for children, mothers and fathers are unlikely to reduce. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper utilizes data gathered as part of an exploratory study to assess the costs and impact of the Common Assessment Framework (CAF), to examine the impact that the lead professional role had on families and workers. The study found that both families and workers believed the lead professional to be central to the CAF process, providing a range of support, coordinating multi‐agency responses to need and acting as a single point of contact between families and workers. The paper highlights the need for consideration to be given to inter‐agency working, data sharing, training for workers and the capacity implications for those taking on the role. The extent to which the lead professional might be more integrated into the continuum of support for vulnerable children and families is also examined. The paper highlights the need to consider the lead professional's role in not only preventing the need for more intensive services, such as those provided by statutory social work, but also maintaining outcomes achieved once a child protection plan is closed, or a child is reunified with his or her birth family after a period of being in care. The implications of the findings for policy and practice are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the relationship between professional work and standardization. There has been an increase in the use of standardized programmes in child welfare services (CWS) in Western society. Some researchers have criticized standardized programmes suggesting that they undermine professionals expertise and threaten their position, whereas others argue that such programmes strengthen professional practice. In this paper, we examine how standardized tools, in this case, a standardized parenting programme and a standardized Norwegian assessment tool, influence professional roles as experienced by child welfare workers (CWS professionals) in Norway. Semistructured individual and group interviews were conducted with 31 frontline workers in two CWS agencies. Our findings suggest that standardized tools increase the social workers experienced professional competence but challenge their professional knowledge base, reflective practice, and professional accountability. Professional and practical implications for CWS work are discussed in the light of these findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the findings from a qualitative study that sought to understand the experiences of frontline staff working in Oxfordshire County Council (OCC) Children's Social Care Services and their views on a new family safeguarding model (Family Solutions Plus). Focus group interviews were conducted with 20 frontline staff and managers in different teams across OCC Children's Social Care Services using video conferencing software. Thematic analysis identified three overarching themes: Preparation for the implementation of Family Solutions Plus, staff views on the implemented model, and challenges to its implementation. Staff voiced strong support for the new model, which places a much greater emphasis than previous practice on supporting the whole family, developing parenting skills and keeping children safe with their families. The challenges associated with the transition to a new model were considerable in the short term, partly due to the COVID‐19 pandemic, but there was optimism that the new model could be sustained and stabilized over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents findings from a qualitative study that focused on factors that facilitate professional judgement and decision‐making that is child‐centred. Appreciative inquiry informed the methodology that enabled four focus groups (n = 50) with child protection practitioners who worked with children and young people living out‐of‐home care. The study found that, firstly, child protection practitioners had clear conceptualizations of what child‐centred practice means and, secondly, articulated how functioning teams, effective organizational structures and relationships were crucial to child‐centred practice. The findings point to the importance of relationality in effective child‐centred professional judgement and decision‐making in child protection contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores how social workers intervene with affluent parents when there are child protection concerns about neglect. Based on data gathered from a small‐scale exploratory qualitative study with 30 practitioners from 12 local authorities across England, this study examined three overarching questions: (a) How do social workers identify risk factors for vulnerable children in affluent circumstances? (b) Which factors inhibit or enable social workers' engagement with resistant affluent parents when there are child protection concerns? (c) What kind of skills, knowledge, and experience is necessary for social workers to effectively assert their professional authority with affluent parents when there are concerns about abuse and neglect? The findings revealed that indicators of neglect can be difficult to identify and challenging to respond to when parents are affluent. Results indicate that social workers have to navigate complex power relationships with parents who are able to use their class privileges to resist their interventions. The paper concludes with a discussion of social workers' skills and capacities for engaging highly‐resistant affluent parents in the child protection system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to explore the reasons for unintended placement disruptions in foster care. Based on a semistructured survey, the paper presents the views of 132 Norwegian foster parents who have experienced placement disruption between 2013 and 2015. Foster parents rated several relevant causes of placement disruption: the child's behaviour, the need for care, concern for the well‐being of their biological children, and lack of support from the Child Welfare Service (CWS). Although the child's behaviour was the cause most frequently reported in the quantitative data, CWS‐related factors such as poor collaboration, not being valued and listened to, insufficient support and follow‐up, and a mismatch between the child's needs and the foster carers' capacity were reported most frequently in the qualitative data. Placement disruption appears to be caused by the sum and interaction of several coexisting causes. It may not be the child's behaviour per se but rather the combination of challenging behaviour, concern for one's biological children, and insufficient support from CWS that lead to disruption. Good collaboration with the CWS in the form of respect, recognition, support, and follow‐up appears to be of the utmost importance in reducing the risk of placement disruption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With growing concerns about the efficacy and costs of intrusive child protection interventions and increasing recognition of citizen rights to participation in governance, jurisdictions are looking to collaborative alternatives that divert families from the courts and out‐of‐home care. In Queensland (Australia), "intervention with parental agreement" (IPA) is one such response. Under IPA, the statutory child protection authority can work collaboratively with families, without a court order, to respond to children assessed as "in need of protection." In this paper, we use procedural justice theory as a lens to explore how IPA policy is enacted in practice. Procedural justice relates to the quality of treatment a person receives and the fairness of the process than an authority uses during decision‐making (Tyler,). It is associated with voluntary cooperation and compliance; key practice concerns when working to address child maltreatment via parental agreement rather than court ordered intervention. We report on a qualitative study that utilized semistructured, in‐depth interviews to capture the perceptions of 30 practitioners regarding the factors that shape the extent to which they enact IPA policy in a procedurally fair manner. Strategies for enhancing procedurally just enactment of IPA policy in practice are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Siblings are key actors in the social network of young people in care. This paper explores young people's perceptions of changes in the quality of sibling relationships and the pathways relationships follow during the transition from the biological family into care. A thematic analysis of interviews with young Norwegian people (n = 25) in care showed that, in the biological family, sibling relationships are characterized by alliances, parentification, conflicts or nonexistence. After admission to child welfare services care, sibling relationships developed along multiple pathways. Their sibling relationships reshaped into either close and supportive, conflictual or completely broken relationships. Sibling relationships were dynamic, complex, with the pathway, and its impact on well‐being, being unique to each young person. Sibling relationship quality in the biological home did not predict relationship quality after admission to child welfare services. The implications for social worker practice are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Children and young people living in residential care are vulnerable to sexual abuse, and there is scant evidence about what sexuality education could help address this vulnerability. This paper explores the impact of the Power to Kids: Respecting Sexual Safety programme, which involved capacity-building workers to have 'brave conversations' with children and young people in residential care. The aim of the study was to capture the perceptions of workers about changes in their skill and confidence levels in relation to having brave conversations with children and young people and the impact of those conversations on children and young people. A mixed-methods study was undertaken, involving multiple sets of interviews with 27 workers associated with four residential houses. The qualitative and quantitative data analysis showed that workers perceived the impact of the capacity building and brave conversations as strengthening protective factors available to children and young people vulnerable to sexual abuse. The research revealed the 'LINC model' as a viable approach to capacity-building workers to educate children and young people in residential care about sexual health and safety. Workers perceived the enhancement of the following protective factors: stronger safe relationships, greater comfort disclosing abuse and improved knowledge of normal versus harmful sexual behaviour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper adopts a qualitative case study on the generalist service delivery model of I‐Care, a Durban‐based non‐governmental organization that works with male street children. Fifteen face‐to‐face interviews were conducted with 10 I‐Care employees and 5 former street children. A focus group was set up with I‐Care employees. Although existing literature is forthright about a generalist approach for children at risk, it remains unclear how to implement this approach in practice. This paper reviews a continuity of 5 fundamental social work practices for working with street children: (a) outreach work, (b) child–family and child–community mediation, (c) transitory care centres and programmes, (d) brokerage, and (e) mentorship and follow‐ups. The study analyses how these practices contribute to the capability and agency expansion of the street children and outlines challenges that service providers and former street children experience. The main challenges acknowledged are balancing between the agency and protection of street children and the adaptation of children to street life. The study proposes intervention strategies to overcome these challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The working relationship is considered a central feature of direct practice with human services clients. There are many challenges when it comes time to end a working relationship, yet limited guidance for workers on successful relationship ending. This paper aims to increase understanding of the process of the ending phase of the working relationship for parents and workers working with families where child neglect is an issue. The paper draws on data from a small-scale qualitative Australian study of perceptions of parents, family workers, and supervisors involved in eight parent-worker relationships. Using semistructured interviews, participants were asked to explore how they experienced the relationship. The findings illuminate important aspects about the ending phase of the relationship; in particular, challenging the idea that parents' returning to services for support is a sign that the service has not provided a successful intervention. The paper challenges social workers to consider recurring parent-worker relationships similar to other professional relationships where there are episodes of service but the relationship is there to be reactivated where needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on an empirical study of child protection services in a local authority where rates of investigations and interventions rose to unprecedented levels during the course of a single year. The aim of the research was to explore explanations for this rise in demand among the providers of children's social care in the area. Using an interpretative qualitative design, a series of focus groups and interviews were carried out with practitioners and managers (n = 25) from statutory services and Early Help. The findings identified a combination of long‐term and short‐term drivers of demand. Long‐term factors emphasized the impact of rising levels of deprivation combined with cuts to community‐based services for children and young people. Short‐term factors ranged from a more proactive approach to child neglect to more effective multi‐agency partnerships and joint decision making. The interaction between these factors was found to be accentuating an underlying shift to "late intervention" across the sector. The findings are contextualized in relation to contemporary debates about the crisis of demand for children's social care and the complex relationship between prevention and protection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research highlights the role of key actors and relationships in supporting the educational attainment and progress of children in care and care leavers. We know less about how relationships influence the educational journeys of people with care experience over time and how to support the educational progress and engagement of adults with care experience. The principle of "linked lives" is central to the life course perspective referring to the interdependence of human lives throughout the life course. This paper explores how the principle of linked lives can illuminate our understanding of how relationships positively influence the educational journeys of adults with care experience over time. Educational life history interviews were conducted with 18 care‐experienced adults (aged 24–36) in Ireland. Findings suggest that the principle of linked lives is a valuable conceptual tool for providing new insights on this issue. Four key themes were identified: (a) opportunities for educational support are present across the life course; (b) "family" is a central source of educational support; (c) there is intergenerational capacity for educational support; and (d) relationships beyond the "family" are supportive of education. Implications for practice, policy, and research are explored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research has shown the importance of long‐term, caring adults for children in foster care. This paper reviews the Friends of the Children (FOTC) long‐term mentoring programme and how it was adapted to serve children and families with child welfare system involvement. This study's two research questions are (1) How do Friends (FOTC's paid professional mentors) currently work with, and in turn, have an impact on, child welfare‐involved families? and (2) How can Friends better support child welfare system‐involved caregivers and families to promote family stability, permanence, and child well‐being? Data were collected from 21 caregivers (foster and biological), 24 FOTC Friends, five child welfare workers, and five teachers. Qualitative analyses of focus group, interview, and open‐ended survey data revealed a wide variety of ways Friends currently support children and families. In addition, several recommendations were made for strengthening programming. These findings provide valuable insights into providing long‐term mentoring to child welfare system‐involved children and families. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on a qualitative study of child protection in the UK. The research involved children's practitioners from a range of agencies, including social care, education, health and youth offending, who were asked about working together on complex child protection cases. The aim was to explore how participants talked about complexity in these cases, in order to deconstruct influential perspectives on interprofessional working. Interview transcripts were analysed using critical discourse analysis, a qualitative method that examines patterns of language use in relation to social structures of power and control. The findings identified three overall perspectives: clinical, expert system and relation‐centred approaches, which practitioners combined in various ways. These perspectives have a bearing on how the ‘team around the child’ is conceptualized in discourse about child protection. The paper links these findings to the assumptions of predictability and control currently embedded in policy and practice guidance, and explores their implications for social workers and other children's practitioners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The work that is done with children and young people by the practitioners of health, education or social care forms part of their experience of growing up, and can have a profound impact on their future outcomes. Children may find themselves 'impotent at the hands of powerful others', particularly where their behaviour causes concern. This paper reports on a key theme from the author's doctoral research, demonstrating the ways that the emotion-laden interactions between practitioners in multi-agency children's services, children and parents, affected the diagnosis, treatment, communication and outcomes for children's well-being, as defined within Every Child Matters. Exploring the emotion within interactions permits a different perspective on 'need', and finally, the paper argues for a more careful and emotionally reflective practice from those who work with children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The worldwide growth in formal youth mentoring programmes over the past two decades is partly a response to the perception that young people facing adversity do not have access to supportive relationships with adults and positive role models in their communities to the degree they once had. Formal mentoring programmes facilitate the development of a friendship or ‘match’ between an older volunteer and a young person, with the objective of supporting the young persons’ personal and social development. Drawing on 66 semi‐structured interviews with young people, parents, mentors and caseworkers associated with nine youth mentoring matches in the Big Brothers Big Sisters Programme in Ireland, this paper analyses the forms of social support evident in the mentor–mentee relationships and highlights how the mentoring relationship was perceived to have impacted on the well‐being of the young people participating. The findings reflect the consensus in the mentoring literature that close, well‐established mentoring relationships have the potential to bring about meaningful change in the lives of young people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examining the concepts underpinning the reasoning processes of social worker's decision‐making provides important insights into how social work practice is undertaken. This paper examines one of the major discourses used by social workers in decision reasoning in a non‐governmental organization child protection context in Aotearoa/New Zealand: family maintenance. This study found that family maintenance as a concept was strongly privileged by social workers. This resulted in attempts to preserve families and created a hierarchy of preferred decision outcomes. A preference for family maintenance was supported by legal, moral, psychological and Māori cultural concepts. This pattern of constructs underpinned the ‘weighing up of harms’ when considering removal, and generally reflected a child welfare orientation. In addition to this, it was found that ‘family’ was broadly defined, and could include people who had a relationship with the children, or Māori definitions of extended family, in addition to legal ones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Participation by children in child protection remains a complex area of practice. This paper presents findings from a qualitative study exploring the views of 26 children, aged 6–17 years, about their participation in the child protection system in England. All of the children were subject to a child protection plan and were living at home at the time of interview. The children's understanding of the child protection process was categorized, and the majority of children, including the youngest, were found be at least partially aware of the child protection process, often struggling to make sense of the professional intervention in their families on the basis of partial information. It is argued that decisions about children's involvement should take into account not only children's age and understanding, but be seen in the context of wider family dynamics. Participation in formal processes such as child protection conferences was experienced as difficult and emotive. The child's relationship with their social worker was central to meaningful participation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Children taken into care and custody are arguably the most vulnerable and problematic groups within the wider debate and responses developing to the ‘troubled families’ agenda in England. They represent what the state most wants to avoid when it intervenes in the life of a family. This paper is based on an analysis of the service involvement and needs of the 196 children taken into care or custody over a 3‐year period (2008–2011) in one city local authority in England. The research was undertaken to inform the response to prevention of entry into care and custody which was the original focus of the most intensive part of the troubled families programme in the city. Interviews with 10 senior professionals from a range of agencies involved in setting up this local programme, explored the way the emerging troubled families agenda was shaping ideas about the understanding of and response to the needs of these children and their families. Key findings of the study illustrate the range and complexity of need as well as the sequence and amount of agency involvement. Professionals were often critical of the thinking behind the troubled families agenda, but were positive and creative about new ways of working with these families. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT This paper considers young people's perspectives of being parented and draws on a study that comprised secondary analysis of 112 qualitative interviews with teenagers who had either never offended or who had ceased to offend for at least a year. Young people's offending behaviour has traditionally been linked to parenting styles, but it is parenting practices that proved central to parental responses to revelations about their offspring's offending. During the interviews, desisters gave accounts of their upbringing and, in particular, the parenting they experienced in one critical situation, namely when their offending came to light. At this point, parents of desisters were reported to be more punitive, more emotional and less measured than they were customarily, and non-offenders anticipated similar reactions from their parents if they were to offend in the future. The relevance of the findings for professional interventions, especially parenting programmes, and for social workers in child protection is discussed, and suggestions for further research is made. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With growing overrepresentation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people in out‐of‐home care (OOHC), cultural disconnection is an omnipresent threat. Despite research and inquiries that have highlighted the risk of cultural disconnection for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children living in OOHC, limited research has explored Indigenous children and young people's experiences of cultural connection in the Australian context. Informed by Indigenous Standpoint Theory, this Aboriginal‐led qualitative study sought to understand 10 OOHC‐experienced Aboriginal young people's experiences of cultural connection over time, including after exit from OOHC, through retrospective interviews that employed a phenomenological lens. It was found that Aboriginal young people experienced cultural connection as a heterogenous process involving identity formation and the practice of culture, enacted as a choice over time. The complexity of Aboriginal young people's experiences of cultural connection over time gives rise to a new understanding of cultural connection as a journey of culturally connecting, wherein the risk of cultural disconnection is complicated by intergenerational child removals, dominant discourse about what constitutes Aboriginal culture, and removal from an Aboriginal cultural milieu. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In domestic violence (DV) shelters, offering psychosocial support services to mothers and children is vital. The program 'Time for Tony the Turtle' has been developed for mothers and children residing in DV shelters in the Netherlands. It aims to foster attachment and regulation skills, which can also prepare for trauma treatment if sought after later on. This qualitative study explores the experiences of mothers, children and professionals with the program and its perceived impact and what components function as facilitators and barriers in the implementation of such a program in DV crisis shelters in the Netherlands. We conducted in‐depth interviews with 15 mothers, 11 children and 18 professionals from three organizations offering DV shelters. We used thematic analysis to identify patterns of meaning in the interviews. Mothers, children and professionals valued that the program provided a calm moment for reflection in hectic times and that the playfulness in which the program addressed trauma‐related topics. However, mothers find it difficult to attend the program in the beginning of their shelter stay, therefore hampering the applicability of the program. Our findings suggest that integrating the topic of discussing father in a program in crisis shelters is complex and deserves more attention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Children's participation is essential to achieve good outcomes for children involved in child protection systems. Despite this, research has consistently found children report low levels of participation, are poorly consulted and feel inadequately involved in decisions about their lives. To explore how practitioners understand children's participation, 18 in‐depth interviews were conducted with statutory child protection practitioners in Australia. The interviews explored the ways child protection practitioners understand children's participation. Our findings show practitioners conceptualize children as rights holders and believe it is essential to hear directly from children about their needs and wishes to keep them safe. Practitioners identified the importance of transparent processes and decisions. Different understanding of participation emerged, with some participants talking about children as their central focus but not discussing meaningful participation of the child. It appeared that children's participation relied largely on the views and skills of individual workers, as well as their ability to incorporate meaningful participation in limited time and in complex practice environments where children's safety is a primary concern. Systemic changes to address time barriers, training practitioners to understand and implement participatory practice, and seeking children's input into service design, will support consistent and meaningful participation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Quality Parenting Initiative (QPI) is a systems reform approach aimed at strengthening the quality parenting practices of foster parents, and their support by child welfare workers. QPI has been implemented in over 80 jurisdictions across 10 states; however, no external evaluation has informed its development. This study explored perceptions of QPI's impact on the foster parent experience, with a particular focus on foster parent involvement in implementation efforts and strengthening stakeholder relationships. Semi‐structured qualitative interviews were conducted with non‐relative foster parents (N = 31). Data were analysed through thematic analysis, and a codebook was developed to adequately capture patterns in perspectives across the interviews. Study findings indicate that QPI improved the relationships between foster and birth parents through specialized training and peer‐support groups that challenged biases, articulated the roles and expectations of caregivers, and cultivated a team‐based approach to meet the best interests of children in care. Foster care agencies may benefit from incorporating strategies that promote frequent, positive interactions across stakeholders. Strengthening these relationships may be the first step in reimagining the roles of foster parents in family reunification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the widespread utilization of residential care in the Philippines, little is known about the lives and circumstances of children living within these contexts. In response, this article presents an analysis of children and young people's experiences of living in residential care, specifically focusing on their social networks, relationships and the relationship‐based practices of their caregivers. Drawing on 50 qualitative interviews with children and young people currently or previously living in residential care, as well as a range of social workers and programme staff, this study identifies the highly relational lives of children and young people who cite extensive and close relationships with residential care staff, peers and family. Analysis reveals that children conceptualize 'family' as embodied in their residential care programme, drawing attention to the collective support and security offered, while also detailing the role of their spirituality as an important support. Relationship‐based practices are utilized by caregivers who offer long‐term, emotionally close and stable relationships with children to support their well‐being. These findings highlight the centrality of relationship‐based interventions and the maintenance of children's relational lives as a core practice, offering insights into the development of practice in these settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intimate partner violence is a pervasive problem and many children and adolescents live under such circumstances. The aim of this research is to qualitatively explore variations among adolescents' reactions to violence occurring at their homes by trying to identify specific patterns in how these adolescents reacted to the violence and how this is related to the length of time they have been exposed to the violence. Fifty-eight adolescents (26 boys and 32 girls, 13-18 years of age) recruited in their schools completed a self-report questionnaire including qualitative open questions regarding the beginning of the violence and their reactions to it. Adolescents often described having reacted to the violence by attempting to distance themselves from it, or by interfering to protect their mother. Only the adolescents who began witnessing family violence at a specific point in time, when something significant happened in their families or because of changes in society, expressed not wanting to think about it or described being impeded from interfering or protecting their mothers because they felt distressed. Among the adolescents who had experienced family violence for their entire life, they often described that they did nothing to prevent the violence or they avoided thinking about it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article describes the benefits of monthly family team meetings for parents involved with child welfare. Findings are shared from semi-structured, qualitative interviews conducted with 17 parents whose children had been placed in substitute care. While much of the scholarship on family meetings focuses on opportunities for family voice, this study found that parents received multiple benefits from meetings including, but not limited to, the opportunity for input into decision-making. Specifically, parents appreciated receiving information and feedback, encouragement, and a range of other supports from members of the team. Meetings also facilitated communication and improved the coordination of services and other efforts by team members. Notably, parents reported that regular meetings helped to hold caseworkers and other providers accountable regarding their activities and duties related to the case, often resulting in better follow through. Parents and their advocates were also able to use meetings to push child welfare to respond in a timely way to parents' progress. These findings should be viewed as preliminary evidence of how a particular model of family meetings might work and thereby expand our understanding of what family team decision meetings can do to improve parents' experiences and child welfare outcomes more generally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores children and young people's experiences of a sibling camp based in the United Kingdom. Sibling camps are an intervention based on children's activity holidays that aim to promote meaningful contact for siblings separated in public care. This study adopted a qualitative approach using semi‐structured interviews with 11 children and young people; this included one sibling group of three and four sibling groups of two. The children's ages ranged from 8 to 17 years old, and they had all attended at least one camp with their sibling. Findings highlighted how the children valued the extended time they could spend with their siblings at camp, and how they felt this enabled them to better understand their siblings and improve their relationships. Findings also showed how the children developed close supportive relationships with the staff at the camps, who ensured they were cared for, and they also supported them with managing their relationships, which some participants acknowledged at times could be challenging. The participants also valued spending time with other sibling groups who also experienced separation. The study found camps provided a space for these children to maintain links with their siblings and to strengthen their sibling bonds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Australia's 2017 Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse recommended to organizations that children should participate in decisions affecting their lives as a safety standard. While a substantial body of research about children's voices in statutory or out‐of‐home care now exists, there remains a paucity of research into children's voices in family support services delivered by nongovernment organizations. This is despite the primary service purpose being to benefit children. This lack of focus in family support was identified as a research priority by a nongovernment organization in Queensland, Australia, which lead to a collaborative research programme. This article reports on initial research from a survey study to describe the current state of play from practitioners into their perceptions and practices of children's participation in family support contexts. A voluntary and anonymous online, qualitative‐predominate survey was opened to 110 practitioners in family support services, of which 50% responded. The findings identified that children's voices were compromised by perceptions of children's capacity relating to age and vulnerability, the parental focus of the service coupled with perceptions of parent's needs and gatekeeping behaviours and service pressures that work against the conditions required for children's rights to voice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In family settings stories, photographs and memory objects support narratives of identity and belonging. Such resources are often missing for people who were in care as children. As a result, they may be unable to fill gaps in their memories or answer simple questions about their early lives. In these circumstances, they turn to the records created about them by social workers and care providers to reconstruct personal histories. Research suggests that thousands of requests to view records for this purpose are made each year in England under the subject access provisions of data protection legislation. This article reports the findings of MIRRA, a participatory research project on the memory and identity dimensions of social care recordkeeping. Drawing on data collected during interviews and focus groups with adult care leavers, the study explores the motives and experiences of care‐experienced people who access their records in England. Findings show the practical and cultural challenges they face when doing so and the resulting impacts on well‐being. The study suggests that the development of person‐centred approaches to recordkeeping in social work, which focus on the perspectives and experiences of the individual, could better support the lifelong memory and identity needs of care‐experienced people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Caring for children with disabilities (CWD) is a challenging task for families and service providers alike. Even though previous research has explored experiences and perceptions of families who care for CWD, research focusing on service providers' perceptions of such families is limited. Through the lens of a care framework, the present study aims to explore service providers' perceptions of families caring for CWD in resource‐poor settings in South Africa. Key informant interviews were conducted with managers of 10 organizations supported by the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund. An inductive thematic analysis was used to analyse the data. The findings revealed that family structure, poverty, service inaccessibility, negative beliefs, and stigma by community members, in addition to parental substance abuse, influenced how families care for CWD in resource‐poor settings in South Africa. These findings have implications for policy amendments regarding the care dependency grant (CDG) to ensure that it benefits all CWD and not only those who need full‐time care and services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reports on a qualitative study, which sought to retrospectively understand the contribution family group conferencing (FGC) makes to longer‐term outcomes for children at risk of entering State care and their families. Eleven case examples of FGC were studied from five local government areas across Scotland. Each example included the perspectives of different stakeholders in the process: children, their parents/carers and extended family (n = 32), and professionals (n = 28) involved with them. The study found a number of interconnecting issues in relation to FGC outcome contribution. First, the personal experience of process matters to the service user and his/her opinion of the outcomes they achieve. Second, what professionals do and how they do it can impact the outcomes of people requiring support. Thus, the relationship between professionals and service users is central to understanding why and how families achieve longer‐term outcomes. Finally, who defines outcomes and to what purpose is significant when understanding outcomes. This article reports on two sets of FGC outcomes identified within the study: personal and professional. Arguing for a more nuanced understanding of outcomes in child welfare this article begins to explore, and challenge, the manner in which outcomes are identified and valued in child welfare. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article elucidates the challenges parents face when they lose the care of their children and their experiences of family counselling as a support service in Norway. A qualitative study following five mothers and one father whose children were in care was conducted through two focus groups and six individual interviews. The study found that the parents struggled to understand why their children had been placed in care and felt disempowered by the Child Protection Services (CPS). This situation led to complicated relationships with the CPS. We drew upon positioning theory and Goffman's theories about stigma and identity in this study, and these theories are explicitly used in discussing our analytic results. The study reveals the challenges encountered by CPS due to their dual role: On the one hand, they remove the children, and on the other, they offer support. The parents in this study also received assistance from the Family Counselling Services. Important results of this study are the parents' experiences of the two systems and, in particular, the different positions the systems seemed to place them in. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This is a pilot study on the sensitive issue of how children and young people experience family contact in foster care, and the views of key adults in their lives on the same issue. There is a special focus on the children's experiences, opinions, and feelings. The study is a response to the relative scarcity of literature on family contact based on the experiences of children and adults in caring roles. This is a qualitative and exploratory study, with a sample of 10 children and young people in care in the district of Porto, aiming to identify key issues and areas for further examination. The results allow us to conclude that the possibility of maintaining contact is positively evaluated. However, perspectives on the relationships involved, and on the reactions to and difficulties associated with visits, revealed considerable disagreement among the actors. A possible set of implications drawn from the findings pointed out to the importance of developing a monitored cooperation that improves communication processes in order to take into account the children's and young people's views in the decision‐making process; and to develop more attentive and open working relationships with parents throughout the foster care placement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Although it is well established that daily routines are important for family well‐being, very little research has been done on how foster parents establish and integrate new foster children into family routines. We used a mixed‐methods, cross‐sectional design, focused on qualitative results to explore how foster parents utilize routines. Twenty‐three foster parents were recruited from a private child welfare agency in a large city in the United States. Surveys were administered to obtain demographic information, overall home atmosphere, and the importance and prevalence of different routines, including mealtimes and sleep schedules. Nine foster parents received a semistructured interview with open‐ended questions. Foster parents reported that routines such as bedtimes, mealtimes, chores, and homework were essential to family well‐being. Because both parents and children had to adjust to living together in an intimate family environment, it was important to establish routines quickly. Foster parents modified routines depending on their child's needs. Along with typical family routines, foster parents reported additional tasks, such as visits with biological parents, meetings with caseworkers, and trainings that affected their family schedule. Results imply that training foster care workers and foster parents about routines can engender stability and emotional belonging for children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human service agencies serve a growing number of adults with behavioural health needs. Despite these agencies' key role in identifying need and facilitating services, many individuals do not receive care or end services prematurely. Few studies have explored the experiences of families referred to behavioural health services by such agencies or the extent to which families' perceptions of service need align with those of treatment providers and frontline workers. This study presents findings from a qualitative study of caregivers involved with child welfare agencies who were referred to behavioural health services. Researchers reviewed agencies' case records and conducted in-depth interviews with 16 caregivers, 9 child welfare caseworkers and 12 behavioural health treatment counsellors. Findings suggest that when deciding to engage in services, caregivers weigh not only their individual and family behavioural health needs but also potential agency intervention, including loss of child custody. Many professionals reported that involvement with a child welfare agency hindered the caregiver's disclosure of behavioural healthcare needs. Implications for managers and practitioners are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A national reform of child protection practice in Israel includes the ambition of strengthening children's participation in intervention decisions carried out in formal committees, called planning, intervention and evaluation committees. A qualitative study was conducted of how well this was being achieved by following 21 case studies of families referred to the committees over 6 months. Data were collected from interviews with social workers, field observations of the committees and a document review. A systems approach was undertaken as a conceptual framework in order to allow a whole‐organizational understanding of what is happening in the field, and why. The key finding was a very limited realization of the reform's aim. Only seven children attended the committees, and they had little influence on decisions, which appears to have made them less co‐operative in implementing them. Those who did not attend rarely had their views conveyed to the committee by their social workers. The reform's lack of success is explained by being ill suited to the organizational working environment and culture. The analysis identified a number of systemic factors influencing the failure to give greater priority to children's views, including lack of skill and time, organizational messages about practice priorities and paternalistic ideology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this exploratory qualitative study was to investigate the early intervention (EI) experiences of mothers who have a young child at risk for autism spectrum disorder. Data were collected through observations, interviews and document analyses. Results of the study suggest (i) interpersonal skills of practitioners and provisions for family choice and collaboration lead to positive experiences for mothers; (ii) asset‐based attitudes lead to family progress and competence; (iii) effective partnerships are developed through supportive provider communication techniques; and (iv) satisfaction with EI services results from practitioner responsiveness to help families access resources and facilitate child development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contact with family for children in care is identified as a right under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. However, such contact often presents challenges because of the protective concerns that have led to care arrangements being made. The Family Links: Kinship Care and Family Contact research study explored the nature and extent of family contact in kinship care, with a particular focus on the circumstances that create positive contact and foster family relationships. Findings included evidence of a large proportion of parental contact that was negatively affecting children's well‐being, and was sometimes unsafe. By contrast, the frequent contact that children were enjoying with their siblings and wider family was reported to be mostly positive and supportive. Kinship carers described a range of services needed to facilitate more positive parental contact and to enable children to keep contact with significant family members. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT The interplay between pregnancy and addiction is usually studied quantitatively, and the focus is often on the adverse effects of intrauterine substance exposure. This study explores the perspective of the mothers-to-be by examining the subjective experience of pregnancy in substance-addicted women. Fourteen women in family treatment for substance use disorder participated in eight focus groups. The data were analysed according to interpretative phenomenological analysis. The findings show that recognition of pregnancy was distorted and delayed, and strong feelings of ambivalence and guilt persisted throughout pregnancy, along with hope for change. Addiction and an intense preoccupation with external expectations are seen as a threat to intrauterine attachment and mental preparation for the caregiving role. Interventions must take into account the specific ways in which addiction influences the psychological processes of pregnancy; specifically, providing adequate social support and security should be considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]