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More than 340 Citizen Review Panels (CRPs) continue to engage thousands of volunteers across the United States to improve their state and local child protection services (CPS) systems. Despite sharing a common federal mandate, they differ widely across states in their structure and function. Very little is known about their effectiveness. Available evidence points to persistent challenges of capacity to fulfill their mandate, and difficult relationships with their respective CPS systems. This paper outlines the actions at the federal level in the development of CRPs, and argues that the mandate is largely misunderstood, the panels are neglected as institutions, and consequently, severely underutilized. Recommendations to improve their relevance and effectiveness are suggested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The Indian Child Welfare Act is a federal law that applies to American Indian children and families involved in the child welfare system. • Evidence on ICWA effectiveness was overall generally positive, with some mixed results across outcomes, including foster care placement, adoption, and reunification. • Implementation issues included child welfare employee characteristics and actions, logistical challenges, assessment issues, and stakeholder interaction. This paper is a systematic review of studies that examined the implementation and/or effectiveness of the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA). ICWA was enacted in 1978 in response to the disproportionate number of American Indian children in non-American Indian out-of-home placements and to enhance the stability of American Indian families and tribes. Searches of 7 bibliographic databases and 3 advocacy organization websites yielded 408 studies completed since November 1978. Following duplicate removal and double-independent screening based on a priori inclusion criteria, 16 studies were included for review. Studies on the effectiveness of ICWA were mixed, though numerous positive results were found. Several studies found that children were placed with relatives or tribal affiliates in accordance with ICWA. One study also found active efforts to prevent the break-up of the family. Studies on the implementation of ICWA found limited capacity for many ICWA programs, improvements from cultural training, underfunding for many programs, lack of tracking systems, use of qualified experts, communication with tribes, and identification practices for American Indian children. Noteworthy facilitators of ICWA implementation included use of Child and Family Service plans and case worker training on ICWA. Barriers to ICWA included cultural differences between tribes and the child welfare system, lack of a specific unit dedicated to American Indian child welfare, and a lack of American Indian foster homes and tribal resources to respond to notices. Implications for practice, policy, and future research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Korea recently implemented a child support (CS) system, but there is little research on policy impacts. • A 2007 policy stated that divorcing couples must develop a CS obligation agreement. • Multivariate logit analyses were conducted using data from single mothers in Korea. • Results did not provide consistent evidence regarding the effect of the policy reform on CS receipts. • Policy success may depend on clear guidelines and the enforcement of CS agreements. The literature on child support policy has focused primarily on the United States and other Western countries that have previously established formal child support enforcement systems. There is limited knowledge about either the ways in which countries with different cultures have introduced child support policies or the effectiveness of these policies. Most Asian countries do not have an explicit child support policy; Korea is an example of an Asian country that has recently begun to institutionalize child support policy via a set of legal changes. This paper empirically examines whether child support receipt increased among divorced single mothers following the enactment of the first national child support policy in Korea, a 2007 law mandating that divorcing couples agree on the child support obligations of noncustodial parents. Using multivariate logit models to analyze cross-sectional data from a nationally representative sample of 1,045 divorced mothers who were residing in Korea in 2012, we compare child support receipts between single mothers who divorced before and after the policy change, while controlling for heterogeneity among mothers and their families as well as the time elapsed between divorce and the survey. The results did not provide consistent evidence that the policy reform increased child support receipt among divorced single mothers in Korea, but limited evidence suggests the possibility of at least some short-term increase in receipt following the reform. The results also provide some evidence of a policy effect among mothers with limited education. The implications of the results for Korea and other areas of the world are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]