Search

The presence of multiple bleeding symptoms and/or severe bleeding symptom(s) contribute to a higher score and therefore a greater chance of a bleeding disorder diagnosis. There is bleeding at a critical site (e.g., ICH, retinal haemorrhage, gastrointestinal haemorrhage, intraspinal haemorrhage, haemarthrosis) with no correlating history of trauma or other explanation that adequately accounts for the bleeding. ISTH/SSC bleeding assessment tool: a standardized questionnaire and a proposal for a new bleeding score for inherited bleeding disorders. A standardised bleeding assessment tool, e.g., the International Society for Haemostasis and Thrombosis Bleeding Assessment Tool (ISTH-BAT), can be used to quantitate bleeding symptoms in order to generate a bleeding score. [Extracted from the article]

International child protection standards aim to ensure that non-governmental organisations 'do no harm' but the current approach to reporting abuse may actually leave children unprotected and, in some cases, expose them to greater risk. This discussion paper gives voice to concerns raised by local practitioners in Africa and places them within the context of available research in order to stimulate a debate aimed at enhancing the impact of current safeguards. Drawing on systems theory and the work of Pierre Bourdieu, the article illustrates how the current model of reporting often fails to take into account the significant disconnect between formal and informal protection mechanisms, as well as the unpredictability of individual decision-making. Examples from research and practitioner experience illustrate how reporting procedures may provide a route to protection which is impractical and undesirable to local people, and may ultimately be unhelpful to local practitioners. The article calls for further research to inform changes to the current approach and for a review of funding requirements in order that local organisations have greater scope to engage communities in the co-creation of procedures, thereby indigenising responses to ensure that they are realistic and genuinely respond to the specificities of children's lives. Key Practitioner Messages Formal reporting procedures may actually offer routes to protection that are inaccessible or unacceptable to local people., Reporting procedures should be developed with a much greater participation of local people., There is a need for investment in piloting and implementing locally led approaches to capacity building., The engagement of donors is critical in order to develop a new approach to evaluating 'child safe' organisations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents responses to the Green Paper Every Child Matters. For many readers, the first response will have been relief that Every Child Matters acknowledges that child protection should be a part of overall policies to improve children's lives. The most radical proposal contained in the Green Paper is the plan to merge local authority education and social care services for children under a Director for Children's Services. This integration represents a staging post along the route to Children's Trusts which will incorporate children's health services and possibly Youth Offending Teams and Connexions. Chapter 6 of the Green Paper addresses workforce reform and acknowledges the problems of increasing bureaucracy, high workload and a lack of supervision. The Green Paper also discusses alternative approaches to safeguarding children, which includes a range of supportive interventions focused on parents and family group conferencing. The Green Paper has many positive elements, including the proposal for a range of multidisciplinary teams which would encompass different interprofessional permutations but would focus on assessment and early intervention.

The article discusses the role of a mental health consultant in child custody disputes. A consultant is engaged by lawyers because mental health evaluation is part of a pending divorce or separation case that involves rights to custody. Noted is the focus of the paper on the role of mental health consultant in the forensic mental health evaluation process. It is said that forensic mental health evaluation is carried out to determine the best interests of the child in a custody case.

This paper reports on research into personal education plans (PEPs) for ‘looked after’ children (children in care) in one large county local authority in England. PEPs were introduced by guidance from the Department for Education and Employment and Department of Health in 2000. The fieldwork for this research began two years after this guidance was published. The research findings show that although social services staff and teachers are critical of specific aspects of PEPs, they have helped to raise the profile of the educational needs of looked after children in the local authority studied. They have provided a forum for social work and education professionals to meet in the interests of particular children. Key problems relate to practical issues: ensuring social workers and teachers feel able to fulfil their expected roles in relation to the education of looked after children; making the system focus on meeting the needs of children as well as practitioners; difficulty in meeting specified timescales; more meaningful, constructive and sensitive involvement of children in the process of producing and reviewing PEPs. The broader issue, however, is about the ability to plan the education of looked after children. Additional barriers to planning were particularly apparent in residential care and specifically within secure accommodation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Children's services in England are undergoing their most radical transformation since 1948 following the passage of the Children Act 2004. A key part of these changes is the legal requirement to have an Integrated Inspection Framework to assess the extent to which the new Children's Services Authorities have succeeded in meeting five key outcomes—being healthy, staying safe, enjoying and achieving, making a positive contribution and achieving economic well-being. To this end, up to ten national inspectorates have to coordinate their activities to a hitherto unparalleled extent. This article describes the nature and scale of the new remit and identifies a number of unresolved issues that could impede progress. It is argued that the policy has the hallmarks and accompanying limitations of a top–down exercise in policy formulation and implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the evidence of children's agency in research about infants, toddlers and technologies. It finds that an implicit reliance on technological determinism as a theoretical perspective for positioning technologies relative to young children's development tends to shape research in terms of understanding the impact of technologies on young children. Drawing on critical constructivism as a philosophical stance on technologies, this paper argues that children's agency with technologies may be further investigated in terms of practice architectures to better understand the social mediation of infant and toddler interactions and engagements with technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Holistic Flexibility is a conceptual lens in systems thinking that enables intellectual, emotional and tactical elasticity in systems practice. This paper will demonstrate Holistic Flexibility in practice in an NGO setting to design and implement a programme to address the widening gap between government policy and its implementation. Critical Systems Heuristics was chosen as the preferred methodology, strengthened with two methods from two other systems methodologies—CATWOE (a mnemonic for Customers, Actors, Transformation, Worldview, Owners, Environment) from Soft Systems Methodology and issues (assumption) rating method from Strategic Assumption Surfacing and Testing. Following a participative programme design exercise, two phases were identified. The strategy, implementation and impact of phase 1, which covered work undertaken between the period 2018 and 2020, is provided. Phase 2 was under consideration at the time of writing this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the relationships between low‐income single mothers and their adolescent and early adult children utilizing qualitative interview and focus group data with youth from three Canadian cities. The research explored youth provisioning roles in these families. Provisioning, a concept widely understood in the global south, refers to labour used to sustain low‐income families and includes emotional labour, care work, trade and exchange and paid labour. Findings from this study identified strong expressions of positive attachment and close relationships between youth and their family members. The paper queries whether positive attachment may be built through roles where youth see themselves as integral parts of a family team and where their contributions are acknowledged. These findings invite us to explore and perhaps challenge the oft‐reported correlations between living in a low‐income, lone mother‐led family and poor childhood outcomes and poor attachment. Can these outcomes be mediated and can the provisioning roles youth undertake possibly be such mediators? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Currently, Aboriginal children are significantly over‐represented in the out‐of‐home‐care system. Drawing on Aboriginal trauma scholarship and decolonizing methodologies, this paper situates the contemporary state removal of Aboriginal children against the backdrop of historical policies that actively sought to disrupt Aboriginal kinship and communities. The paper draws on submissions to the 2018 Australian Senate Parliamentary Inquiry into Adoption Reform from Aboriginal community controlled organizations and highlights four common themes evident throughout these submissions: (i) the role of intergenerational trauma in high rates of Aboriginal child removal; (ii) the place of children within Aboriginal culture, kinship and identity; (iii) the centrality of the principles of self‐determination and autonomy for Aboriginal communities and (iv) Aboriginal community controlled alternatives to child removal. Acknowledging the failure of both federal and state reforms to address the issues raised in these submissions, the paper reflects on the marginalization of Aboriginal voices and solutions within contemporary efforts to address the multiple crises of the child protection system and the implications for the future of Aboriginal children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the discussion on child protection during the perinatal period. Topics include establishing public health and more intensive targeted home visiting programmes for both indigenous and non-indigenous families; and increasing awareness showing the impact of maternal behaviours during pregnancy having a detrimental impact on the unborn baby.

While there is much research on the topic of child maltreatment more broadly in Australia, a nuanced understanding of intergenerational child maltreatment is needed to improve our responses. Little work has considered all four intergenerational patterns of child maltreatment: cycle maintainers (maltreated parents with maltreated children), cycle breakers (maltreated parents with non‐maltreated children), cycle initiators (non‐maltreated parents with maltreated children) and a comparison group (non‐maltreated parents with non‐maltreated children). We use this terminology to maintain consistency with international literature, but acknowledge that these terms minimise the complexity inherent in contact with child protection systems. Research has mainly focused on maintainers, which hinders our ability to appropriately support all families and limits our understanding of individuals breaking the cycle. This paper outlines key knowledge gaps and identifies strategic areas of focus for researchers and policymakers. There is an urgent need for more emphasis on building resilience and strengths, the provision of more integrated and holistic support for families, and consideration of sex differences. We highlight the need for more research on this topic, particularly led by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, and hope that the recommendations in this paper can be revisited and updated as this important research base grows. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The task of fostering adolescents is unique, requiring skills, qualities, and information that acknowledge each young person's particular needs. This editorial summarises a range of research in this special issue covering parenting styles, transitions out of care, child sexual exploitation, and the needs of LGBTQ and separated teenagers. Three themes emerging from the papers are discussed: autonomy and control; risk, resilience, and trauma; and relationships, identity, and stigma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to analyse approaches to issues of risk, responsibility and representations of violence in women social workers' conversations with alleged or confirmed violent fathers. The study adds to a growing body of research on agencies' handling of intimate partner violence (IPV) in the context of separation. Empirically, the study draws from 12 structured, audio recorded and transcribed interviews with support‐seeking and divorced fathers, from five municipalities in Sweden, conducted as part of a cooperation project in which a risk‐detection method (Family Law Detection Of Overall Risk Screen [FL‐DOORS]) was also tested. The results suggest a tension between different professional tasks. To validate information on IPV, detect risk and enhance a child perspective competes with other professional projects, most obviously with promoting cooperation between parents. The study confirms previous research, which demonstrates unique challenges facing women social workers and counsellors when working with men as perpetrators. In conclusion, the paper concurs with the call for a focus on responsibility and on safe parenting in professional conversations with allegedly or confirmed abusive fathers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The purpose of this paper is to report on enablers and barriers during the first 2 years of the health systems integration project that included the implementation of a health navigator role. The project aims to improve health outcomes for children and young people residing in out of home care in rural Australia with a health navigator co‐located between child protection practitioners and community health services clinicians. Setting: Rural Northwest Victoria. Participants: Sunraysia Community Health Services and the Department of Health and Human Services. Design: The qualitative design of the project evaluation involved semi‐structured interviews and documentary evidence analysis. Analyses of interviews and documentary data demonstrate the challenging nature of siloed service delivery in rural Australia, particularly during a time that comprised multiple interruptions due to COVID‐19. Results: A limited synergy between organisational priorities and reporting systems hindered project progress. The lack of a shared definition of 'health' challenged the effective collaboration between health clinicians and child protection practitioners and the role of the health navigator. The health navigator raising health awareness through project involvement, training and sector‐wide stakeholder engagement resulted in a slow but steady process of increased prioritisation of health care, increased health literacy among the child protection workforce, and broadening participation of area‐based stakeholders, but did not translate to increased access to health plans for children. Conclusion: Integrating health systems across multiple sites with support of a health navigator revealed difficulties, particularly during COVID‐19. The first phase of the project demonstrated the value of shared governance and partnerships as an imperative foundation for fundamental change. Relationships strengthened throughout the project, leading to a better understanding of area‐based strengths, which in turn supports improved pathways to health care for children and young people in OOHC within rural communities and driving the subsequent phases of the 10‐year project. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction to the journal is presented in which the editor discusses the various topics within the issue, including sexual harassment and coercion in Finnish adolescents, parent discipline behaviours in Hong Kong, and practices of sports clubs in the United Kingdom (UK).

Over the past three decades a small number of influential writers have bravely attempted to develop theoretical models for understanding and comparing the complex development of child protection systems across different countries. The foremost frameworks have compared the dynamics of child protection arrangements in high‐income countries, with little attention being given to middle‐ and low‐income countries and, more specifically, the MENA region. This paper presents Lebanon's child protection model and highlights factors that have led to its unique development in the last 20 years. It contends that Lebanon's child protection system is pluralistic in nature, with responsibilities for the ultimate safety and wellbeing of children diffused among a variety of stakeholders. As a relatively new domain of practice for the state, the protection of children in Lebanon has become implicated in the ever‐present national debates regarding the correct balance of authority between state, religion and citizen. A parallel system of decision‐making exists with a state‐run system struggling to find its place alongside customary religious courts unlikely to relinquish their power over family affairs. Through an examination of Lebanon, the paper aims to further road test the most recent typology and address its applicability to one Middle East country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The call for papers for the September 2008 issue of "Child Abuse Review" is presented.

This Special Issue addresses the use of linked data for research purposes and to carry out government functions such as child protection, allocation of resources, and debt recovery. Government investment in big data has the potential to change citizens' experience of the welfare state in a broad range of areas in both positive and negative ways. It is therefore important that the Australian social policy community understands and engages with the potential benefits and risks involved in the linkage and analysis of government datasets. Papers in this Special Issue discuss the technical challenges and institutional barriers involved in the construction and governance of linked government data assets and showcase the promise of big data for generating policy relevant insights. This Special Issue also features papers critically interrogating the potential for big data to produce social harms. We contextualise this collection of papers with a brief history of recent policy developments in regards to access to government held data. We also discuss ways of improving public trust and social licence for the use of big data and argue that the voices of First Nations and disadvantaged Australians must be given greater weight in discussions of how their data will be used. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses the various topics within the issue, including child welfare policies, the effects on girls of educational systems at Pauper Schools, and the leaving care law and policy in Scandinavian countries.

As opioid fatalities rise in North America, the need to improve the supports available to those who are dependent on opioids and pregnant has become more urgent. This paper discusses the social organisation of drug treatment supports for those who are pregnant, using Canadian clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) for methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) as a case study. Pregnant patients are a priority population for MMT, both in Canada and internationally; the regulatory bodies that oversee MMT in Canada are the provincial Colleges of Physician and Surgeons and Health Canada. The paper analyses MMT CPGs published by these agencies, comparing their general recommendations to those specific to pregnant patients. We demonstrate that the guidelines address few treatment considerations for pregnant patients, other than improved birth outcomes and child welfare, despite acknowledging their more complex needs. Drawing on social science studies of gender and drugs, we argue that MMT CPGs therefore perpetuate the intensified surveillance and foetal prioritisation that have long generated barriers to care for opiate‐dependent pregnant patients. We also discuss how and why the CPGs ultimately only reinforced these current limitations in the drug treatment sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite a history of critique, concentrated discussion and improved assessment processes, neglect continues to be a major challenge for child protection services. This paper draws on findings from a government‐commissioned analysis of 'serious case reviews' (SCRs) in England, arising from incidents of serious child abuse in 2017–2019. There were 235 cases, for which 166 final reports were available. Alongside a quantitative analysis of the whole cohort, we undertook an in‐depth qualitative analysis of 12 cases involving neglect. A key challenge in responding to neglect in its different forms is that it can be so widespread amongst families that practitioners no longer notice its severity or chronicity – it becomes normalised. In this paper we explore two dimensions of the 'paradox of neglect' where it seems to be everywhere and nowhere simultaneously. The first is that neglect is so closely bound up with the prevalence of poverty that little action is taken to address it. The second is that the overwhelming nature of neglect can blind practitioners to other forms of maltreatment that may also be present within a family. Practitioners, now more than ever, need to recognise the dimensions of this paradox to protect children from neglect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on world has been rocked by the COVID-19 pandemic which has caused huge changes to all the lives and the entire populations have been socially has isolated with daily life completely has altered by the virus-control measures has implemented by governments. Topics include the lockdown has been particularly difficult with many schools shut, and the children have been isolated from friends and peer networks.

Presents a study on the potential effects of reforming the United Kingdom (UK) system of child support. Discussion on the main features of the reformed system; Motives behind the reform; Details on the empirical work from the United States and UK; Conclusion.

Family Treatment Drug Courts (FTDCs) have been implemented to assist families involved with the child welfare system due to substance use. This article describes an enhanced version of a Family Treatment Drug Court intervention which builds on the traditional FTDC model but includes adaptations that add theoretically driven components to the basic FTDC model that aim to strengthen not only permanency outcomes but also address child well‐being including several precursors to child well‐being: parent well‐being and family well‐being so that the additional child welfare outcome of child well‐being can be met. The enhanced FTDC model described in this paper offers three phases of treatment but also utilizes data gathered for evaluation purposes as continuous quality improvement information to inform providers regarding participant engagement so that targeted re‐engagement efforts can occur to reduce dropouts. Thus, this paper also describes the measures utilized in the comprehensive evaluation. Data include 33 standardized scales from multiple sources, including clients, therapists/treatment providers, court personnel, and child welfare workers, at multiple points ranging from weekly to quarterly. Implications are discussed regarding how this enhanced FTDC model and use of evaluation/CQI data impact client engagement and multiple outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The independent review of children's social care (2022) has proposed a radical reset of England's children's services, shifting a remote, assessment heavy system towards one that works alongside communities to help prevent statutory interventions. However, notions around the harnessing of community resources to deliver Early Help are often underpinned by assumptions regarding the voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) sector and the ease with which such organizations can be integrated into preventative strategies. This paper reports findings from embedded research within a unitary authority in Southwest England during remodelling of its Early Help service to work more collaboratively with local VCSE organizations. The study generated data from ethnographic observations, semi‐structured interviews and focus groups with 95 participants, including local parents, service providers, VCSE organizations and Council leaders. The findings illustrate that families value the compassionate, responsive and flexible support available within many VCSE settings. However, differences in practice cultures, regulatory pressures on statutory providers, the need to (re)build trust in communities and sensitivities around power‐sharing and resourcing meant negotiating VCSE sector integration was fraught with complexities. Few studies have gained such privileged access to a Local Authority's remodelling of Early Help services, and this paper has significant insights for the debates surrounding the independent review of children's social care (2022) and its recommendation to bring services 'closer to communities'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the case of community daycares for undocumented children of asylum‐seeking families in Israel named the 'Babysitters'. It explores how lack of support and national solutions for childcare leads to temporal and unregulated childcare solutions that may risk children's lives and development. Bronfenbrenner's Ecological Systems Theory is utilized in this paper to explore the challenges and opportunities of early childhood education for young children in asylum‐seeking families. The analysis reveals how the lack of clear policies, absence of national responsibilities, and existing societal barriers to early childhood education compelled asylum‐seeking parents in Israel to use the 'Babysitters' community daycares for infants and toddlers. Putative solutions that require policy change could help address youngsters' early childhood education needs in asylum‐seeking families and align with human rights and international treaties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The political sphere is typically reserved for adults in contemporary nation‐states, leaving limited opportunities for children's participation in democratic processes. This holds even more true for unaccompanied asylum‐seeking children who are politically unrepresented and often find themselves in a precarious position due to their immigrant status. The article aims to overcome this gap by presenting their experiences of Slovenian reception and asylum procedures as a framework for child‐informed policy. The child‐centred approach as presented in this paper starts from the principles of children's rights, particularly from the right to express views (Article 12 of the CRC) and the use of children's viewpoints as a way of interpreting how reception and asylum procedures should be. In this way, the paper highlights key factors that affect unaccompanied asylum‐seeking children's well‐being and participation rights, including being able to stay with family and friends, having adequate material conditions, having good relationships with institutional staff, having access to information and legal advice, having trained interviewers, translators and decision‐makers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Policy & Internet is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Accessible summary: Some parents with learning difficulties are supported by child welfare in raising their child. Many mothers and fathers with learning difficulties have their child removed.This paper is the first published research about being a mother and being father with learning difficulties in Austria. There is not enough good quality support for parents with learning difficulties in Austria.We interviewed six mothers and five fathers with learning difficulties and asked them about who supports them and how. We also asked them what it means to them to be a mother or a father.Most parents said that they get the wrong support and are being checked on by child welfare. One mother said that she gets very helpful support.Being a mother with learning difficulties is different to being a father with learning difficulties. Mothers who have lived with their child feel that they are the main caregivers, but fathers sometimes feel excluded from their child's life. Background: Many parents with learning difficulties face high rates of child welfare intervention and child removal. In contrast to other high‐income countries, there has not been any published research on the lives of mothers and fathers with learning difficulties from an Austrian perspective. After presenting an insight into the international literature and the Austrian context, original empirical findings relevant to providing professional support for parents with learning difficulties are introduced. Method: As part of a larger qualitative study, ten individual parents with learning difficulties (six mothers and four fathers) were interviewed to gain insight into their experience of motherhood and fatherhood. During the interviews, participants were asked to visualise their social networks through network maps that were then included into analyses. The current paper primarily engages with parents' experience of professional practice based on a hermeneutic analysis of latent and manifest meanings. Findings: The study results reinforce the relevance of social networks, including (a lack of) professional parenting support, and gendered parental self‐understandings in relation to barriers for parents with learning difficulties in Austria. Parents often experienced surveillance from child welfare professionals and referred to "being checked on" as well as receiving "the wrong support". Only one study participant experienced the (flexible and self‐determined) support provided to her family as helpful. Mothers and fathers with learning difficulties face, at times, quite different challenges in the parenting role. The findings highlight a maternal self‐understanding as being primarily responsible for their child, while fathers often felt excluded from their child's life. Conclusions: Support services need to acknowledge the relevance of gendered parenting roles and intersections of multidimensional disadvantages. The parenting support currently available to mothers and fathers with learning difficulties (if available at all) needs radical improvement and nationwide support structures need to be installed in collaboration with families. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the findings of research about children's participation in child protection processes. Research was undertaken with young people who had recent involvement with safeguarding professionals. The study explored children's lived experience and perspectives and found that children feel capable of making a contribution, however, they are frustrated by experiences of exclusion and inequality and the limitations of their ability to influence process and outcomes. The study further explored the perspectives of practitioners. Whilst professional commitment to child‐centred practice and effective safeguarding is unequivocal, the discourse of participation is characterised by 'yes, but'. Insights emerged from the different voices and competing narratives of the central protagonists in the child protection process: children, social workers, chairs of case conferences and advocates. This paper examines how the child's right to involvement in safeguarding processes is understood and contributes to the evolving discourse about the importance of children's participation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The context of this paper is family situations where young people are experiencing significant behavioural and emotional problems. Based on a qualitative study, it offers an empirical and theoretical contribution to the understanding of family‐related factors that promote or hinder behaviour change. Data were collected through face‐to‐face, semi‐structured group interviews with nine families (28 participants), all of them mandatory recipients of child welfare services in Croatia. Thematic analysis comprised primary coding designed to elicit information about individual family members' capacity for change and secondary coding of family‐level phenomena. The results indicated 10 phenomena that were judged to represent factors that helped or hindered change. The discussion section suggests three broad categories of capacity to change at family level (Goals and Priorities; Problem solving dynamics; and Development of role relationship). This analysis is offered as the basis for an examination of the concept of family capacity for change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The sexual exploitation of children and youth remains a critical issue within the child welfare system, despite the limited availability of models of care to support these vulnerable individuals. The START with the YOUTH (STAR‐Y) program adopts a preventative approach, offering personalized care and wraparound support to youth exhibiting at‐risk behaviours. This paper employs a case study methodology using both thematic and content analyses to longitudinally assess the effectiveness of this exploratory program. This evaluation encompasses a comprehensive assessment of various factors associated with the risk of sexual exploitation among program participants. Throughout the program's extended duration (originally planned for one year), predefined risk factors, including concerning Internet behaviours, were monitored and analysed. Qualitative data were gathered through interviews and observations, focusing on the experiences of both the youth and their foster parents. The results highlight the program's successful implementation, with youth enrollment (N = 3) demonstrating a reduction in sexual exploitation risk factors over time, including a decrease in behaviours such as concerning Internet usage. The importance of wraparound support and the foster parent‐youth relationship in mitigating risk and nurturing resilience became evident. This exploratory evaluation serves as the initial phase of a comprehensive assessment aimed at understanding how to effectively support youth within this population, including those at higher risk, such as those possibly involved in sex trafficking. The study's findings provide valuable insights into strategies for mitigating the risk of sexual exploitation among vulnerable youth, informing future endeavours to develop and implement similar programs within the child welfare system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

US Federal legislation mandates the treatment of underaged youth induced to sell themselves for commercial sex as victims and not criminal offenders of prostitution laws. Nonetheless, state prosecutors often take action in juvenile court against these youth. This study explored the impact of negative moral emotions, victim blame, and victim believability on public judgments of child sex trafficking victims under varying case facts. We presented an online scenario involving a trafficking case to 682 participants and manipulated youth sex, trafficker sex, vulnerability background, and prior arrest history to determine how emotions, victim blame, and believability mediate child sex trafficking decisions. Two different paths emerged depending on the youth's sex. Participants reported greater victim responsibility and greater negative moral emotions towards a male youth trafficked by a female when he had a prior commercial sex arrest, which in turn predicted a lower certainty of recommending social services over legal consequences. With the same facts, participants reported lower believability for a female youth when she had a prior commercial sex arrest, which in turn predicted a lower certainty of recommending social services over legal consequences. The paper ends with a discussion of the implications of the findings for practice and theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT In the United States, 37 states and 4 territories allow for the termination of parental rights (TPR) due to parental disability. Twenty‐eight of these states and all four of the territories specifically include parental intellectual developmental disability (IDD). Policies that call for the TPR based on factors outside of parental abuse or neglect have myriad negative effects on individuals, families and communities, including long‐term adverse health outcomes for children who have been removed from parental custody, delays in prenatal care for pregnant people whose stigmatized identities may result in involuntary TPR and an increased burden on already overtaxed child welfare systems. This paper analyses policies and proposes an alternative policy modelled after advocacy from other groups of parents with marginalized identities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a statutory duty for all practitioners to record information in child protection work in England. Case recording is a daily task for practitioners, yet an under-researched area of practice. This continuing professional development (CPD) paper will consider the context in which case recording takes place and highlight messages from child protection reviews and enquiries before exploring learning from contemporary research. The complexities of case recording will be considered and how practitioners can reflect upon and improve their daily case recording skills. Practitioners are encouraged to keep the child's views and experiences central and consider the long-term impact of case recording on adults who have experienced abuse and neglect in childhood. Key Practitioner Messages • Case recording is a complex and nuanced task, often missing the multiple perspectives inherent in a child's narrative. • The views, experiences and identity of individual children and young people can be lost in case recording, especially for very young children, older children and those in sibling groups. • Case recording has a support function for care experienced adults to understand their childhood histories, aiding recovery from abuse and neglect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines how children from immigrant background experience and negotiate power relations with family and social workers in the context of child protection services (CPS) in Norway. Using the interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) methodology, 11 children from Pakistani background were interviewed about their lived experiences with CPS. Analysis of the data highlights that children have to negotiate and navigate generational and gendered power relations both within the families and the CPS to exercise their agency. The analysis contributes to a limited research field focusing on immigrant children's multidimensional lived realities in the context of CPS, where children's voices are largely missing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Quality early care and education (ECE) presents an unparalleled opportunity to avert disadvantage and promote children's development. Mealtimes are essential daily routines, yet are often overlooked in research on ECE quality. This paper crystallises a composite case study of ECE mealtimes in highly disadvantaged communities by combining Departing Radically in Academic Writing (DRAW) methodology with parent surveys, scorings of educator‐child interactions (inCLASS), and field notes. Poverty is perpetuated in these centres: children do not have enough food, and educator‐dictated feeding practices restrict children's opportunities to exercise their agency and learn. Systemic policy action is needed to address poverty in ECE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) people have historically been subjected to maltreatment across multiple environments and systems – including their homes, schools, neighborhoods, workplaces, healthcare facilities, and more. The criminal justice and child welfare systems were built on the foundations of cisnormativity and heteronormativity, making LGBTQ+ youth susceptible to systemic oppression and discrimination when compared to their youth counterparts. As such, this paper examines the unique experiences of LGBTQ+ youth in the juvenile and child welfare systems by discussing the systemic inequities and unique challenges that exist for this population – beginning with the risk factors that make them susceptible to exposure to both systems in general. Furthermore, we provide practical recommendations for legal and clinical professionals to better serve their LGBTQ+ youth clients – ranging from changes in policies and legislation, increased staff training, and strategies to create safe and inclusive environments for all youth. Key Points for the Family Court Community: LGBTQ+ youth face higher risk factors (e.g., violence and discrimination at home) that make them more susceptible to both the child welfare and criminal justice systems when compared to cisgender/heterosexual youth.Systemic issues (e.g., mistreatment and biased targeting by police personnel) contribute to the overrepresentation of LGBTQ+ youth in both systems.To effectively serve LGBTQ+ youth, law professionals are encouraged to engage in LGBTQ+‐affirming practices like comprehending the unique experiences of LGBTQ+ youth who identify with multiple marginalized identities and educating themselves on current issues impacting this population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2019–2020, 80,000 children in England were looked after by the state or adopted. Whilst extensive research has explored the experiences and outcomes of children in the care system, much less research has focused on the experiences of their parents. This paper uses the Power Threat Meaning Framework to provide a qualitative synthesis of literature exploring the experiences of birth parents in England who have had a child removed from their care by the state in order to understand how early interpersonal adversity interacts with social disadvantage to bring these families to the attention of child protection services. This paper aims to problematise the individualistic discourse blaming parents who cannot look after their children and offer an alternative perspective by examining the impact of developmental trauma and systemic adversity on birth parents prior to, during and following care proceedings. This paper argues that significant policy changes are needed to support vulnerable families, with an emphasis on trauma‐informed care and tackling levels of deprivation. This approach challenges psychology and psychiatry (Psy) professionals to use their privileged position to call for broader societal change to address the root causes of distress within this group. Please refer to the Supplementary Material section to find this article's Community and Social Impact Statement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction to the journal is presented that addresses various groups of children in developing and developed countries that are characterised by wars and conflicts and children who grow up in stable and democratic states, including irregular adoption practices in Chile, the experiences of children in Norway who collaborated with the Germans during the occupation of Norway from 1940 to 1945, and comparison of two trials of the International Court where children were born of sexual violence.

There is widespread discourse and policy on children's participation in decision‐making. This is not matched with an equal level of implementation in practice. This qualitative research explores the policy to practice gap with senior decision makers in the child protection system in New South Wales (NSW), Australia. Their reflections on the challenges associated with translating the participation principles into practice are deconstructed to understand the complex and overlapping ways in which participation is perceived. The research data indicate there are competing understandings of participation at play, depending on the actor, their role and organisation. This paper suggests that genuine participation in practice relies on bridging the epistemic differences and interests of different stakeholder groups who are all critical to achieving children's participation in service decision‐making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the objectives of the newly adopted European Child Guarantee is to ensure effective and free access to at least one healthy meal each school day for all children at risk of poverty and social exclusion in Europe. However, little is known about the starting point of Member States in terms of school meal provision. This paper aims to fill this information gap. It maps the current free school meal provision in the 27 Member States, reviews existing relevant evidence to illustrate the expected impact and presents estimates of the public budget needed to meet the Child Guarantee's objective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on the evaluation of an integrated violence and abuse prevention programme for children aged 5–11, focusing on children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). The Speak Out Stay Safe (SOSS) programme was delivered in mainstream primary schools across the UK. A small‐scale study of children with SEND nested within the larger evaluation captured their understandings of abuse and harm and readiness to seek help. A specially adapted survey was completed by 76 children with SEND (aged 6–7 and 9–10) at baseline (31 intervention; 45 comparison schools), 12 in intervention schools post‐programme and 37 (four intervention; 33 comparison schools) six months post‐baseline. Qualitative data was captured through 16 teacher interviews. Whilst this nested study was compromised by the COVID‐19 pandemic, it provides important evidence that with appropriate adaptations, a survey approach to investigating the learning of children with SEND can be effective. Findings indicate that awareness of abuse and help seeking strategies may improve over time, whilst interview data suggests that adapting the programme to be inclusive of those children may have a better effect. However, a much larger sample of children with SEND is required to confidently measure the effects of such programmes for this population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to consolidate existing literature on the psychological impact of sending children away to boarding schools in Britain. A scarcity of literature pertaining specifically to independent boarding schools leads the author to examine child developmental theory, peer victimization in the British Army, trauma within captivity and adaptive behaviours. In conclusion, it is clear from this research that more time and effort is needed to understand the psychological impact of sending children away from home to be schooled, socialized and parented institutionally. In particular, the ethos and traditions associated with British and colonial schools, and the way in which these things are preserved warrants further study as it appears to be a significant source of the attitude toward children in boarding schools. The psychoanalytic community may be best placed to understand, and make understood, the positive or negative impact on children attending boarding schools in Britain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transracial adoption was legalized in South Africa through legislative reform as South Africa moved into a post‐apartheid era of non‐racialism. Transracial adoption offers one option of placement for Black children in need of alternative care. However, adoption continues to face obstacles to implementation, including cultural obstacles which impact on placement of Black African children. This paper reports on adoption statistics on national adoption in the period 2013–2021 and a documentary analysis of the current legal and policy framework governing transracial adoption. We cover international instruments, local laws, including the Children's Act of 2005, and relevant policy documents designed to facilitate the implementation of adoption. We show that the law is supportive of transracial adoption, but that policy documents offer a somewhat contradictory stance to the practice. The lack of success of transracial adoption as a child protection strategy does not lie within the legal framework but may lie in the difficulties in interpreting and implementing the range of different policies by those implementing these policies. More research into the implementation practice of these bureaucrats is required to understand the underutilization of transracial adoption as a placement option for Black children in South Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Family Group Conference (FGC) is grounded in a rights‐based framework, whereby children and their families have the right and responsibility to be primary decision‐makers when child protection issues arise, and the statutory agency has the responsibility to convene the entitled members of the family network to lead the decision‐making. A distinct core component of FGC—private family time (PFT)—allows families to discuss the information and formulate their responses and plans privately during conferencing. This paper describes how a large child welfare agency in the United States adapted PFT in two ways: (1) including a parent advocate (PA) and (2) abbreviating the amount of time allowed for this discussion. Given the lack of empirical research on the PFT component, this qualitative exploratory study sought to understand the functions and perceived impacts of PA‐supported PFT during initial child protective services (CPS) conferences at which decisions of child removal or placement were being contemplated. PFT served multiple beneficial functions and impacted families in several positive ways: families gained greater awareness of safety concerns, felt empowered and confident in the preferred safety and service plan, became increasingly engaged and involved in the case decision‐making process and ultimately felt less apprehensive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are two key questions consistently raised by children and youth since the onset of the school strikes for climate in 2018 in the Global North: Why study for a future, which may not be there? Why spend a lot of effort to become educated, when our governments are not listening to the educated? (conf. fridaysforfuture.org, n.d). While the same questions are shared by young climate activists from the Global South, there are other interrelated economic realities that echo the disappointment, anger, disillusionment, desperation, and frustration driving those utterances in their socio‐political contexts. Comparative insights from so‐called 'developing' countries disclose that institutionalized schooling, commonly confused with education, manipulates the aspirations of younger generations and their wider societies. Contemporary global schooling is one of the key propellers of global economic agendas geared towards producing human capital that is 'employable' in the future job market. The paradox of a global education agenda geared towards generating human capital employable on a job market is that most of those jobs (if at all they will be there) continue serving the very economic system that is threatening the right to life, health, culture (especially for indigenous communities) and the best interests of future generations on this planet. As young climate activists from various countries collectively argue within the framework of the United Nations Convention of the Rights of the Child, major economies are failing to protect the basic human rights of children and future generations. I suggest that the various interrelated crises evident through the key questions raised by young climate activists must be considered as part of a North–South continuum. In this paper, I reflect upon these interrelated crises by developing a decolonial childist approach to education—understood as an intergenerational relationship, implying an effort on part of present adults becoming good ancestors of the future, in the present. Such efforts require larger structural shifts which I consider by means of the four strategies I discuss building upon previous co‐reflections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Family reunification is an area of high policy importance for child protection systems. The safe return of children from out‐of‐home care to their biological parents or relatives and long‐term family preservation can potentially mitigate the subsequent detrimental effects of separating children from their families. In this paper we describe one type of family for whom reunification was considered; namely, families who have been affected by intergenerational trauma. To assist families affected by intergenerational trauma and abuse requires an understanding of the mechanisms and processes that maintain intergenerational trauma and how these might inform therapeutic approaches for working with children and their families. This paper utilises case studies to illustrate the use of the Adult Exploration of Attachment Interview (AEAI) as part of a broader therapeutic reunification program in an Australian state. The AEAI focuses on supporting parents to become aware of the impact of previous experiences in their childhood; the mitigation of feelings of shame, self‐blame, and inadequacy by helping the parent confront the negative experiences of the past. The aim is to assist the parent to recognise the significance of the past, to consolidate their strengths, and to develop more nurturing relationships with their children. Case illustrations demonstrate that this therapy was a component in addressing the causes of behaviour and psychological distress that had been barriers to reunification from care in two families. This was achieved through a process of reflection and self‐awareness, rather than one focused on guilt or shame, with the therapist there to help verbalise and articulate what otherwise might have been hidden or implicit processes. In both cases, this awareness was used to help reframe the parent–child relationship and led to observable behavioural changes in parenting practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children living in out‐of‐home care has more than doubled in the past decade. Research into the experiences of parents who have had their children removed is an emerging area; though very few of these studies are specific to Indigenous children and families. This paper presents a participatory research study that explored the experiences of a group of Aboriginal Australian parents who have had their children removed by child protection authorities in one Australian state, New South Wales. This paper highlights the challenges for Indigenous families navigating the child protection system, specifically the ongoing experience of feeling powerless following the removal of their children, and in creating environments that maintain quality relationships with their children. The paper then offers suggestions for supporting families in light of the findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]