Search

Objectives: This article describes the Standard Interview for Evidence Use (SIEU), a measure to assess the level of engagement in acquiring, evaluating, and applying research evidence in health and social service settings. Method: Three scales measuring input, process, and output of research evidence and eight subscales were identified using principal axis factor analysis and parallel analysis of data collected from 202 state and county child welfare, mental health, and juvenile justice systems leaders. Results: The SIEU scales and subscales demonstrate strong internal consistency as well as convergent and discriminant validity. Conclusions: The SIEU is easy to use and can be administered as a complete scale or as three smaller scales to separately examine evidence in acquisition, evaluation, or application. The measure demonstrates potential in understanding the role of research evidence in service settings and in monitoring the process of evidence-based practice and application of scientific principles in social work practice.

Peer-learning networks (PLN) can be valuable tools for doctoral students. Participation in these networks can aid in the completion of the dissertation, lead to increased scholarship productivity, and assist in student retention. Yet, despite the promise of PLNs, few studies have documented their effect on social work doctoral education. This article explores aspects of an interdisciplinary PLN focused on child welfare. This study used a questionnaire with scaled survey items and open-ended questions to examine the use, benefits, and challenges to participating in the PLN. After a brief review of the literature, this article presents findings from the study, discusses the implications for social work education, and concludes by explicating strategies for developing PLNs in social work education programs.

Child welfare agencies often experience challenges in meeting the unique needs of immigrant families. In this qualitative study, semi-structured interviews were conducted with child welfare agency representatives to examine models used to effectively serve this population. Findings show that child welfare agencies utilize: 1) specialization of immigrant-related knowledge and skill sets; 2) formal and informal relationships with consulates and external stakeholders; and 3) innovative approaches to engage immigrant families. Implications highlight the importance of child welfare staff developing expertise on immigration policy, navigating international borders and systems, and training caseworkers in implementing culturally and linguistically sensitive transnational engagement strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A growing population of immigrant children and families to the U.S. from Latin American countries requires consideration of their unique historical, sociocultural, and linguistic contexts in child abuse and neglect prevention. In light of the Family First Prevention Services Act's focus on evidence-based child maltreatment prevention interventions, this systematic review analyzed interventions with relevance for use with immigrant populations coming from Latin American countries. Sixty-two interventions met inclusion criteria. This review revealed few gold standard interventions that address the unique needs of Latinx immigrant populations, highlighting a need for the development and study of interventions for these populations that are federally reimbursable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction is presented discussing the issue's focus on child welfare and immigration.

This paper describes specific challenges to family unity and child welfare among children in immigrant families resulting from immigration enforcement. Surges in immigration activity over the past decade have resulted in family economic hardship, psychological trauma to children, and difficulty accessing social services. Children whose parents are detained/deported are at risk of unnecessarily entering the child welfare system, and encounter significant barriers to family reunification. In recent months, the scope of enforcement priorities that previously safeguarded many parents now target a much larger group of immigrants for deportation, increasingly disregarding the needs of children. Immigration raids have terrorized communities across the country, and repercussions are being felt by the child welfare system and social service providers. Within an anti-immigrant political climate, there is a desperate need for social workers to lead initiatives to respond to immigrants' needs. Strategies include: (1) development of social work expertise in working with immigrants; (2) cross-systems and cross-disciplinary collaborations; (3) leveraging existing resources and supports; (4) documentation/collection of data; and (5) focused advocacy efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research identifying racial and ethnic disparities in child protective services (CPS) involvement in the U.S. has focused on the overrepresentation of Black children and the growing Latino child population. Little attention has been paid to children of Asian origin, the most underrepresented group of children in the U.S. CPS system. The objective of this analysis was to examine subgroup patterns of CPS involvement in California for Asian and Pacific Islander (API) children prospectively based on maternal nativity and ethnic origin. We extracted data for API children born in California in 2006 and 2007 ( N = 138,858) from population-based birth records and linked those records to CPS records spanning the first 5 years of life (through 2012). We assessed distributional differences in risk indicators for the full birth cohort of API children and calculated a summary risk variable representing the cumulative number of risks present at birth. Generalized linear models were used to estimate API children’s adjusted relative risk of CPS report by subgroup. Overall, 12.2% of children born in California in the 2006–2007 birth cohort were API. The majority of API children had foreign-born mothers (80.9%). Children of U.S.-born Hawaiian, Guamanian, or Samoan mothers had the highest rate, with 20.4% being reported to CPS by their 5th birthday. The lowest rates of child abuse and neglect reporting were observed among children of foreign-born Asian Indian (2.5%), Korean (2.7%), and Chinese (2.8%) mothers, compared to 5.4% of all Asian and Pacific Islander children, and 14.8% of children in general population. Findings underscore the presence of disparities in CPS involvement among API children, which has implications for health and well-being across the life course and for targeted maltreatment prevention strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explored perceptions of community informants on socioenvironmental factors that explain why rates of child maltreatment reporting are different in neighborhoods with similar population characteristics. This study used data from the SoCal Neighborhoods and Child Welfare study, a multiphase, mixed-methods study of neighborhoods in Los Angeles and San Diego counties. Semistructured qualitative interviews with key informants ( N = 28) in 22 census tracts explored factors that account for differences in maltreatment rates among sociodemographically similar neighborhoods. Thematic content analysis revealed three themes regarding neighborhood contributors to maltreatment behaviors and reporting: (a) community norms and values, (b) community resources and providers, and (c) housing dynamics and built environment. Findings indicate complexity in forces that affect maltreatment behavior and reporting. Adding to research on neighborhood social dynamics and child maltreatment, findings suggest that composite indicators of maltreatment within neighborhoods are affected by maltreatment behaviors and the definition, recognition, and reporting of maltreatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The goal of this study was to determine whether differences exist in problematic substance use and receipt of services by nativity (U.S. born, foreign born) and legal status (U.S. citizen, legal resident, undocumented) among Latino parents reported for child abuse and neglect. We used data from the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being II and weighted bivariate chi-square tests to compare rates of problematic substance use and services receipt by nativity and legal status. Weighted logistic regression models estimated the effect of immigrant status on the odds of service receipt. Rates of problematic substance use were not significantly different by nativity or legal status. Service receipt was significantly lower for foreign-born (2.1%) versus U.S.-born (9.4%) parents. Compared to U.S. citizens (8.1%) and legal residents (4.3%), services receipt was least likely for undocumented parents (0.3%). Adjusting for covariates, nativity did not affect services receipt but undocumented legal status reduced the odds of receiving services by 95%. Data indicate that disparities do exist in receipt of substance use services among immigrant parents, especially undocumented parents, compared to U.S. born parents. Findings also suggest that the protective effect of immigrant status on problematic substance use, i.e., the immigrant paradox, may not apply to child-welfare-involved families. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Peer-learning networks (PLN) can be valuable tools for doctoral students. Participation in these networks can aid in the completion of the dissertation, lead to increased scholarship productivity, and assist in student retention. Yet, despite the promise of PLNs, few studies have documented their effect on social work doctoral education. This article explores aspects of an interdisciplinary PLN focused on child welfare. This study used a questionnaire with scaled survey items and open-ended questions to examine the use, benefits, and challenges to participating in the PLN. After a brief review of the literature, this article presents findings from the study, discusses the implications for social work education, and concludes by explicating strategies for developing PLNs in social work education programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Latino families may be at risk of experiencing stressors resulting from the immigration process, such as those related to documentation status and acculturation, that may increase their need for mental health services. However, little research exists on the mental health needs and service use of Latino children. This study examined how parental nativity and legal status influence mental health needs and service utilization among children in Latino families investigated by child welfare.Methods: Data from the second National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being, a nationally representative, prospective study of families investigated by child welfare agencies for maltreatment, were used to examine mental health need and service use in a subset of Latino children who remained in the home following a maltreatment investigation (N=390).Results: Although children of immigrants did not differ from children of U.S.-born parents in levels of clinical need, they had lower rates of mental health service receipt. After the analyses accounted for other relevant variables, the odds of receiving services were significantly lower (odds ratio=.09) for children whose parents were undocumented compared with children whose parents were U.S. citizens.Conclusions: This study contributes to growing discourse on Latino family needs within the child welfare system. Analyses support earlier research regarding the effects of parent nativity on mental health service use and advance the literature by identifying parent legal status as a unique barrier to child service receipt. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many children involved with the child welfare system witness parental domestic violence. The association between children's domestic violence exposure and child welfare involvement may be influenced by certain socio-cultural factors; however, minimal research has examined this relationship. The current study compares domestic violence experiences and case outcomes among Latinas who are legal immigrants ( n = 39), unauthorized immigrants ( n = 77), naturalized citizens ( n = 30), and US-born citizen mothers ( n = 383) reported for child maltreatment. This analysis used data from the second round of the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-being. Mothers were asked about whether they experienced domestic violence during the past year. In addition, data were collected to assess if (a) domestic violence was the primary abuse type reported and, if so, (b) the maltreatment allegation was substantiated. Results show that naturalized citizens, legal residents, and unauthorized immigrants did not differ from US-born citizens in self-reports of domestic violence; approximately 33% of mothers reported experiences of domestic violence within the past year. Yet, unauthorized immigrants were 3.76 times more likely than US-born citizens to have cases with allegations of domestic violence as the primary abuse type. Despite higher rates of alleged domestic violence, unauthorized citizens were not more likely than US-born citizens to have these cases substantiated for domestic violence ( F (2.26, 153.99) = 0.709, p = .510). Findings highlight that domestic violence is not accurately accounted for in families with unauthorized immigrant mothers. We recommend child welfare workers are trained to properly assess and fulfill the needs of immigrant families, particularly as it relates to domestic violence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose -- The purpose of this paper is to examine the experiences of Latino clients following a naturalistic cultural adaptation made to SafeCare, an evidence-based home visiting intervention designed to address specific linguistic and cultural issues affecting the Latino community during implementation in San Diego County, California. Design/methodology/approach -- Hierarchical linear models examined whether Latino clients experienced differences in perceptions of SafeCare delivery, working relationship with the home visitor and satisfaction with services when compared with non-Latino clients and whether language of service delivery and provider-client ethnic match were related to Latino clients' experiences of the intervention. Findings -- Overall, across several different dimensions, there was no decrement in experience with SafeCare for Latino clients compared to non-Latino ones, implying that adaptations made locally adequately engaged Latino and Spanish-speaking clients in services without compromising perceived adherence to the programme model. Research limitations/implications -- Because this was a non-experimental study, conclusions could not be drawn as to whether the locally adapted SafeCare would fare better in Latino client ratings than SafeCare unadapted. However, the findings are important because they contradict concerns that EBPs may not be relevant to diverse client groups, and support the idea that when adaptations are made, it is possible to maintain adherence at the same level of adherence as when the programme is delivered in its non-adapted form. Originality/value -- The study explicitly documents and generates knowledge around an organic adaptation made in a community to an evidence-based intervention for a client group about whom there has been documented concern regarding the relevance of and engagement in services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The underutilization of concrete services by immigrants is widely documented across several service sectors, yet evidence is lacking on the use of such services among immigrants reported to child welfare for the purposes of reducing maltreatment. It has been suggested that Latino immigrants involved with the child welfare system may face steep challenges to receiving needed services due to issues surrounding legal status, language and cultural barriers. The purpose of this study was to determine whether referral to and receipt of concrete services by Latino families reported to child welfare agencies, was associated with legal immigration status. The sample included children of Latino parents who participated in the second National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-being (NSCAWII), who remained in the home following a child welfare investigation (n=561). Over a third (37%) of Latino families were referred for at least one concrete service, yet only 17% received any. Weighted logistic regression models showed that families in which the primary caregiver was undocumented had significantly lower odds (OR=.24) of receiving services once referred. Families who had trouble paying for basic necessities (OR=7.52), those with active domestic violence in the home (OR=4.98), and those receiving ongoing child welfare services (OR=4.52) had increased odds of referral for services by the caseworker. The odds of receiving services increased when the primary caregiver was unemployed (OR=5.24), when there was domestic violence in the home (OR=4.59), and with the receipt of child welfare agency services (OR=8.83). There appears to be an unmet need for concrete services among Latinos investigated by child welfare, as demonstrated in the gap between overall service referral and receipt. A parent's legal status may be one reason for that unmet need, implying that children of undocumented parents are less likely to have basic needs met to mitigate economic stress and reduce maltreatment risk upon contact with child welfare. Policy recommendations and implications for child welfare practice are discussed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Using data from the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being, this study examined the relationship between connectedness in major social domains (i.e., caregiver, peers, deviant peers, and school) and suicidal ideation among adolescents (11–17 years old) investigated by child welfare agencies ( N = 995). Weighted logistic regression models were used to evaluate the relationships between connectedness variables and suicidal ideation, after adjusting for covariates. Youths with a stronger connection to caregivers were much less likely to report suicidal ideation, whereas youths with stronger deviant peer relationships were significantly more likely to report suicidal ideation. Significant associations found between primary caregiver and deviant peer connectedness and suicidal ideation highlight the need for attentive consideration of these relationships when working with this highly vulnerable population. Identifying domain-specific connectedness factors related to suicidal ideation presents an opportunity for the development of targeted early intervention for child welfare-involved youths. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to estimate the proportion of Latino children with non-citizen parents involved with the child welfare system and to identify how their household, community, and maltreatment characteristics differ from children of U.S. citizens. Data were drawn from the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-being -- II, a nationally representative sample of children (n=5872) who were subjects of maltreatment reports to child welfare agencies in 2008 and 2009. This study included Latino children who remained at home with a parent, for whom information was collected on citizenship and legal status (n=822). Children of unauthorized immigrants represented 5% of all children and 19% of Latino children, reported to child welfare agencies. Additionally, 11% of Latino children had a legal resident parent. While the majority of children were citizens, 20% of children living with an unauthorized parent were also unauthorized. Children with unauthorized and legal resident parents exhibited both risk and protective factors for maltreatment. Non-citizen parents more often reported financial hardship, low educational attainment, and neighborhood disorganization. Despite these risks, children of non-citizen parents did not have higher rates of substantiated maltreatment than children with U.S.-born parents. Protective factors, such as a higher proportion of two-parent families, lower teenage childbearing, and lower active drug and alcohol abuse among noncitizen parents may act as buffers against maltreatment. Understanding the diversity within the Latino population based on factors such as citizenship and legal status is necessary to ensure provision of services that are responsive to the needs of non-citizen families. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the use of research evidence (URE) in decisions to adopt evidence-based practices (EBPs) by 151 leaders of youthserving systems in California and Ohio. With some exceptions, demographic characteristics were not associated with URE, but leaders of child welfare agencies were more likely than leaders of other systems to ignore the research. Leaders consider other forms of evidence, including resources necessary and available to support EBPs, demand for research evidence, and personal experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]