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• Close oversight by a Community Coordinator, relationships built with community partners, and the use of telehealth were creative solutions used by the Infant Toddler Court Teams during COVID-19 to support timely access to services. • This study builds on a companion paper that examined receipt and access to child health services at multiple Infant-Toddler Court Teams prior to and during the first year of the pandemic and details the challenges faced and the solutions identified by ITCT partners to support access to child services in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic within the US. • Understanding the challenges and solutions faced by the Infant-Toddler Court Team Community Coordinators during COVID-19 will be important for future pandemics or crises that impact care for child welfare involved children. This qualitative study examines Infant-Toddler Court Teams' (ITCT) responses to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the accessibility and timeliness of services for children involved with an Infant Toddler Court Team (ITCT) within the United States. ITCTs utilize collaborative practice to improve, align, and integrate systems and build community capacity to improve outcomes for very young children and their families. This study reports findings from 350 transcripts of community partner interviews and an analysis of written case notes from ITCT Community Coordinators related to more than 700 instances of child service needs. We describe challenges faced and solutions and innovations developed by ITCTs to support and maintain child health services during the first year of the pandemic, as well as findings related to challenges associated with other types of services that reduced accessibility and timeliness. Understanding the challenges experienced and solutions developed can provide the child welfare field with insight and guidance on how to approach disruptions in care in the future and the persistent lack of service providers for court involved families. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Child welfare agencies are increasingly required to leverage their limited resources to meet nearly limitless demands. As a result, agencies are searching for new opportunities to efficiently improve policy and practice, and advances in data availability and technology have brought increased attention to the utility of predictive modeling. While the literature has often highlighted the considerable potential of predictive models leveraging “big data”, discussions of the methodology and the associated best practices remain critically absent. To address this gap, this paper provides an illustrative case involving the development and testing of models used to predict the probability of whether U.S. foster children would achieve legal permanency. The models were trained and tested using a national administrative dataset of 233,633 foster care children that discharged from state child welfare systems in 2013. The optimal model, a boosted tree, predicted whether children would achieve permanency with 97.66% accuracy. The paper concludes with a discussion of best practices detailing how agencies can utilize predictive modeling to enhance policy and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The Finnish Baby Box provides parents of newborns with a wide range of infant clothing and other basics. • The cardboard box in which the infant can sleep was emphasized by the media and commercial companies outside Finland. • The box preventing SIDS was advanced by private companies and the media. • This was less the case in Wales and Scotland, a result of their being governed by authorities with a "left" orientation. For over 80 years the Finnish state has provided expectant mothers with a cardboard box containing an extensive collection of clothing, bathing products for the baby, nappies, bedding and a small mattress. Numerous jurisdictions have implemented it in some form. We investigated through a critical case study methodology whether its translation into the liberal welfare states of Canada, UK, and USA experienced message distortion (the box as a means of preventing SIDS), commercialization, watering down of content; and separation from the complex of Finnish welfare state policies that support families with children. We find that only Scotland and Wales recognized the decommodification and equity roles played by the baby box. This study identified numerous barriers to building progressive public policy in Canada, UK, and USA: the structures and processes of the liberal welfare state, commercial interests that skew public policymaking and media logic that limits news reporting to the concrete and simple, eschewing complex analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A review of social work's relationships with youth serving carceral systems in the United States. • The racialized origins of child welfare, juvenile justice, and school policing. • An examination of social work's professional values alongside these carceral practices. • Critical questions and guidance for the future of the profession. This paper traces social work's historical and current relationships with three major child and youth serving carceral systems in the United States—the child welfare system, the juvenile justice system, and school policing. In each section, we examine the racialized origins of these systems and the current practices that perpetuate racial harm, particularly for Black children, youth and families. Given this knowledge, we consider if social work's stated professional values to oppose racism, injustice, and oppression can exist alongside the carceral practices that these systems perpetuate. The article concludes with critical questions and guidance for the future of the profession. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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]

Despite some reductions in recent years, African American children in the United States continue to be disproportionately placed into out-of-home care. This paper describes a secondary analysis of data collected by Minnesota's African American Disparities Committee to identify whether factors in the casework process were contributing to Minnesota's extreme rates of disproportionality. The study, first described in a 2005 Minnesota Department of Human Services report, identified over 200 non-Hispanic, non-immigrant, white and African American child neglect cases substantiated in 2001 in four counties. Cases were then followed until case closure or for at least 18 months following the time of report to detail the casework process. This analysis used recursive partitioning to more accurately identify primary factors and potential interactions related to worker decision-making. African American and white children were matched by type of neglect, gender, age group, and county using administrative data. After rigorous data cleaning, 81 matched pairs were identified from a final sample of 180 cases. The progress of the children through the system was evaluated for potential race-based differences in the decision to refer a child for ongoing placement. Number of children, age, history of maltreatment, and report source were associated with placement decisions. Logistical regression follow-ups did not identify race-based interaction effects on placement decisions. However, African American cases statistically differed from white counterparts on presence of biological father and number of children in the household, identity of the perpetrator, parental and household risk factors, and whether an informal placement was arranged by police, some of which were associated with placement. Results are informed by a more detailed, qualitative follow-up analysis in a separate article. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Between 1968 and 2013, the poverty rate of young children age 0 to 5 years fell by nearly one third, in large part because of the role played by anti-poverty programs. However, young children in the U.S. still face a much higher rate of poverty than do older children in the U.S. They also continue to have a much higher poverty rate than do young children in other developed countries around the world. In this paper, we provide a detailed analysis of trends in poverty and the role of anti-poverty programs in addressing poverty among young children, using an improved measure of poverty, the Supplemental Poverty Measure. We examine changes over time and the current status, both for young children overall and for key subgroups (by child age, and by child race/ethnicity). Our findings can be summarized in three key points. First, poverty among all young children age 0–5 years has fallen since the beginning of our time series; but absent the safety net, today's poverty rate among young children would be identical to or higher than it was in 1968. Second, the safety net plays an increasing role in reducing the poverty of young children, especially among Black non-Hispanic children, whose poverty rate would otherwise be 20.8 percentage points higher in 2013. Third, the composition of support has changed from virtually all cash transfers in 1968, to about one third each of cash, credit and in-kind transfers today. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Private Child Welfare Agencies (PCWAs) perform while navigating dynamic contexts. • Little empirical evidence identifying complexity factors impacting PCWA performance. • We found PCWAs strategies managed their inter-dependent and self-organizing nature. This paper studies the performance outlook of private child welfare agencies (PCWAs) from a complexity theory lens. We argue that even though these agencies play a key role in delivering safety net services for families, while navigating dynamic environments, there is little empirical evidence identifying concrete complexity factors (i.e., inter-dependence, unpredictability and self-organization) and examining their impact on agency performance. To address this gap, we first conceptualize PCWAs as complex systems as they exhibit the three factors of interest. Then, we operationalize inter-dependence as the number and diversity of services provided, fiscal unpredictability based on managerial report, and self-organization as agency use of inter-organizational ties requiring heavy investment of agency resources. This study presents results from a survey data analysis of 229 PCWA managers in six states in the United States. Results show PCWAs efforts to adapt to organizational complexity can also pose a burden in meeting the needs of consumers and frontline staff. Nonetheless, external accountability through accreditation and a transformational leadership style that is characterized by compassion and attention to front-line workers' individual needs and goals may be promising strategies to manage the inter-dependent and self-organizing nature of private child welfare systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to a 2018 report by the United States Department of Health and Human Services, more than 400,000 students live in foster care. Among other obstacles to success, involvement in the child welfare system is associated with negative school outcomes, including school instability, disproportionate placement in restrictive special education settings, and risk of school disengagement. Educational professionals, such as teachers, administrators, school psychologists, counselors, social workers, and paraprofessionals, are positioned to help reduce risks of school failure and promote educational resilience for students in foster care by providing safe and supportive school services. When engaging in the provision of school-based services, there are several legal obligations which educators must follow in order to uphold the rights of students in foster care and promote student resilience. The purpose of this paper is to review the extant literature regarding educational professionals' legal obligations when serving students in foster care. Actionable recommendations that increase the likelihood of student success are highlighted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Differences in income explain some racial inequities in child welfare contact. • Differences in hardship do not explain racial inequities in child welfare contact. • Material hardship predicts child welfare contact across racialized groups. Child protective services (CPS) contact is consistently linked with poverty in the US, and empirical evidence is mounting to indicate that disparate exposure to income poverty explains a substantial portion of racial inequities in CPS involvement. Evidence about the different distributions of income poverty and material hardship also suggests that income poverty may not sufficiently capture economic wellbeing among families. This paper assessed whether differences in exposure to income poverty and/or material hardship explain racial inequities in CPS contact and further examined whether income poverty and material hardship predict CPS contact differently within racialized groups. We used data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (FFCWS), an urban cohort representative of births in large US cities in 1998–2000. The FFCWS data are ideal for this study in capturing each of the key constructs: racialized group membership, income, material hardship, and CPS contact. We measured income poverty and material hardship when children were age 1 and measured any CPS contact by age five. Our final sample included 3,517 families, including 1,848 Black, 614 white, and 1,055 Latinx families. We employed logistic regression to assess the associations between income poverty and material hardship, independently and jointly, and CPS contact. We conducted analyses in our full analytic sample and among subsamples of the Black, white, and Latinx families. We found that differences in income-to-poverty ratio account for differences in CPS contact between Black and white families. Differences in CPS contact between Black and Latinx families were not explained by economic wellbeing measures alone but were ameliorated when differences in income poverty, material hardship, and a full set of family characteristics were considered. Additionally, we found that material hardship was a consistent predictor of CPS contact in the full sample and within each of the Black, white, and Latinx subsamples, even accounting for differences in income and other family characteristics. The clear role of income poverty in explaining inequities in CPS contact between Black and white families and the consistent importance of material hardship in predicting CPS contact across all families underscore the critical importance of reducing income poverty and hardship and of distinguishing material need from maltreatment in the context of CPS. Our findings offer clear implications for policy intervention to reduce income poverty and material hardship. Such interventions might include extending the temporarily expanded Child Tax Credit and expanded food and housing assistance benefits, toward the ends of supporting child and family wellbeing and reducing economic and racial inequities in CPS contact. [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]

• Children reside in households with hardship rates two to four times higher than seniors. • The majority of children in households with hardship are above the poverty line, a third are above 200% of the poverty line. • There are strong racial disparities in the risk of hardship. The material well-being of children has profound implications for a variety of social and health outcomes. This paper provides estimates of the prevalence and intensity of material hardship among children by various demographic groups and reveals stark disparities by race and educational attainment. According to a pooled sample of the nationally-representative Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) 36.5% of children lived in households reporting at least one form of material hardship, such as food insecurity, inability to pay essential household bills, inability to access medical care due to cost, or substandard and overcrowded housing. This is well above the proportion considered to be below the income poverty line (18.4%). Children were more likely to live in households experiencing material hardship than seniors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Families involved in the child welfare system in the United States often face housing instability and other complex issues, such as challenges regarding mental health, substance abuse, poverty, and domestic violence. Housing instability, in particular, can hinder parents' progress on completing their case plans and regaining custody of their children. Thus, interagency collaboration between the child welfare system and community agencies is necessary to achieve optimal child welfare outcomes. This study explores facilitators of and barriers to effective collaboration between workers at partner organizations working on a program focused on the reunification of housing-unstable families with their children in out-of-home placement. A series of focus group interviews were conducted with 23 workers from two agencies: a local community agency providing assistance with housing and supportive services and child welfare workers. Three key collaboration facilitators were identified: feelings of support; program workers bridging communication between child welfare workers and clients; and supervisors' support. Barriers to interagency collaboration included: a lack of shared values; misunderstanding the other worker's role; lack of buy-in of the program's philosophical approach, and perceptions of worker lack of commitment. The findings have implications for promoting interagency collaboration and innovative practices for families who experience both housing instability and child welfare involvement. • This paper examines facilitators of and barriers to strong collaboration between child welfare and housing service providers. • Ensuring collaborators have the same aligned goals, and clear roles are essential ingredients to effective collaboration. • It is essential for child welfare workers to understand the Housing First philosophy, and receive training on trauma-informed care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]