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The present scoping review aims to outline the main features of vulnerable families engaged with welfare services and referred to a parenting intervention. Preventing child maltreatment and any other adverse outcome that may hinder children's developmental or psychological well-being is a joint effort for welfare systems, policymakers, practitioners, and researchers. A consistent amount of evidence shows that poor, negative, and dysfunctional parental practices significantly impact children's well-being and that supporting parents through parenting interventions has many positive outcomes for children and also families' well-being. While being so fruitful, however, the field of research lacks a defined shared conceptualization of "vulnerable families" involved and targeted by parenting interventions and this may ultimately limit the potential of research outcomes and the implementation of parenting programs in real-world settings. The objective of the present work is, consequently, to map features, risk factors, and possibly protective factors, according to the ecological framework, of at-risk families who have received parenting programs, in an effort to characterize them from a child protection perspective. The knowledge retrieved would be informative for practitioners, policymakers, and researchers, sustaining their effort to protect children's rights and promote their well-being and psycho-social adjustment. The present scoping review will follow the six-step framework provided by Arksey and O’Malley (2005), subsequently improved by Levac and collegues (2010) and ultimately developed by the Joanna Briggs Institute (Peters et al., 2020), and the guidelines by the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Met Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR; Tricco et al., 2018). The PCC mnemonic (Population, Concept, Context) details the inclusion criteria and involves families considered at-risk, already engaged with social services (or analogue services) and directed to a parenting intervention, with children between 2 and 18 years old.

There is limited understanding of mental health service utilization among youth in the juvenile justice system (JJS). Using administrative data, the current study examined service system trajectories of two cohorts of youth who initially entered the JJS in 2003 (N = 10,170) and 2012 (N = 5,787). We tracked mental health (MH) service utilization and dosage and child welfare system (CWS) involvement for 3 years and found that utilization and dosage of MH services increased between both cohorts. Notably, MH service use positively associated with CWS involvement and concurrent (dual) involvement in the CWS and JJS associated with decreased MH dosage if youth remained at home versus being placed in out-of-home care. Lastly, African American children received less services than their Caucasian peers. Future efforts should focus on preparing MH providers to detect youth who are dually involved and tailor services to enhance collaboration and information sharing across systems.

Parent advocates are peers with lived experience who were formerly involved with the child welfare system and who interact with child welfare-involved parents and families to provide varying types ...

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted children and parents involved in the child welfare system and the professionals working with these families. Using survey data collected August–September of 2020, this mixed-methods study examined the perspectives of 196 child welfare-involved professionals (77 attorneys, 99 caseworkers, and 20 therapists) in the United States about the impact of COVID-19 on parents of origin, children, foster parents, and child welfare professionals. Particular attention was paid to the implications of COVID-19 and associated challenges for parent–child contact and reunification. With respect to professional stresses, more than half of participants worried about their own personal safety and health amidst COVID-19, and more than three-quarters expressed concerns about the safety and well-being of child welfare-involved families. Participants, especially attorneys, expressed concerns about parent–child contact and disruptions to reunification. In-person parent–child visits had all but ceased during the early part of the pandemic, and participants identified barriers to effective virtual visits, including lack of foster parent oversight, technology issues, and children’s developmental stage and/or lack of engagement. Attorneys were especially critical of the cessation of in-person visits and viewed this as a serious threat to child-parent bonds and reunification. Participants, especially child welfare workers, voiced concerns about children’s mental health and educational outcomes amidst the pandemic. Findings have implications for attorneys, child welfare workers, and other practitioners who directly and indirectly interface with child welfare-involved families.

Rising Strong is a housing-based intervention created to reunify families involved in the child welfare system by providing housing, opioid and other substance use disorder treatment, and other sup...

Older peoples ability to thrive independently of their adult children is an important feature of a universalistic welfare system. However, population ageing puts this notion under stress. In separate multinomial logistic regression models for older men and women, we examined whether adult childrens gender, number and proximity were associated with older parents relocations into residential care facilities, and whether the effects of these childrens characteristics on older parents institutionalisation vary by parents severe health problems, operationalised as closeness to death - specifically, dying within the two-year observation period. Analyses were based on the Swedish register data between 2014 and 2016 (N = 696,007 person-years). Older parents with at least one co-resident child were less likely to move or become institutionalised than those without a co-resident child. We did not find a relationship between older adults institutionalisation and the closest childs gender. The negative effect of having a non-resident child living nearby on the likelihood of becoming institutionalised was more pronounced for mothers than fathers. Having a child nearby decreased the likelihood of moving to an institution more for mothers who had severe health problems than for those in better health. We found no evidence of a relationship between number of children and likelihood of institutionalisation. Funding Agencies|European Research Council (ERC) under the European Unions Horizon 2020 research and innovation programmeEuropean Research Council (ERC) [740113]; Swedish Research Council for Health, Working Life and Welfare (Forte project) [2016-07115]

Children entering custody within the child welfare system have been found to have high levels of trauma and significant behavioral health needs. In this paper, authors demonstrate how a structured functional well-being assessment can be used with the custody population to promote an understanding of behavioral health needs, inform case planning, and measure functional improvement over time. Specifically, this paper will: (a) briefly describe how two states implemented a common standardized assessment of functioning to inform case planning and measure well-being progress of children in the custody of a public child welfare system (b) examine what this common assessment tool reveals about the strengths and needs of children entering custody across two sites and (c) describe the magnitude of change in functional improvement measured across 6 months. This paper will contribute to the existing knowledge by sharing possible themes in functioning related to children entering custody while examining changes in functioning over time. Implications for practice, policy, and future research will be discussed.

The adoption of children involved in the child welfare system is viewed as a favorable outcome when family reconstitution is impossible, partially due to the relationship security afforded by long-...

Early adverse experiences are believed to have a profound effect on inhibitory control and the underlying neural regions. In the current study, behavioral and event-related potential (ERP) data were collected during a go/no-go task from adolescents who were involved with the child welfare system due to child maltreatment (n = 129) and low-income, nonmaltreated adolescents (n = 102). The nonmaltreated adolescents were more accurate than the maltreated adolescents on the go/no-go task, particularly on the no-go trials. Paralleling the results with typically developing populations, the nonmaltreated adolescents displayed a more pronounced amplitude of the N2 during the no-go trials than during the go trials. However, the maltreated adolescents demonstrated a more pronounced amplitude of the N2 during the go trials than during the no-go trials. Furthermore, while the groups did not differ during the go trials, the nonmaltreated adolescents displayed a more negative amplitude of the N2 than the maltreated adolescents during no-go trials. In contrast, there was not a significant group difference in amplitude of the P3. Taken together, these results provide evidence that the early adverse experiences encountered by maltreated populations impact inhibitory control and the underlying neural activity in early adolescence.

Housing insecurity and involvement with the child welfare system are common experiences for low-income families. To date, previous empirical studies on family housing insecurity have focused on the most severe form of housing insecurity (i.e., entering the emergency shelter) and its association with foster care placement of the children. However, we know relatively little about the relationships between other forms of housing insecurity and types of child welfare involvement. This study, a systematic review, examines various forms of housing problems and their relationship to different types of child welfare involvement. Five electronic databases were searched and a total of 12 studies were included in the review. Overall, research findings indicated mixed findings. Most studies suggested that housing insecurity was associated with child maltreatment investigation, foster care placement and prolonged time before achieving case closure, while some studies found no relationship between housing insecurity and child maltreatment substantiation. The findings have implications for practice and research for families who experience housing insecurity and child welfare involvement.

Education is a basic human right, critical to the social and economic well-being of children and youth. It is so fundamental to a child’s well-being that Ontario courts have repeatedly recognized that educational neglect is a stand-alone child protection concern justifying state intervention. Courts in Ontario acknowledge that educational neglect is also a significant indicator of greater neglect within the child’s family. Education law, and child protection law, are remedies that should both be utilized to remedy educational neglect in a child’s life. Children involved with child welfare system are vulnerable and often fail to achieve basic educational goals as a result of preexisting neglect but also as a result of the system itself. Greater collaboration is needed between educators, social workers, and responsible Ministries to ensure that vulnerable children’s educational needs are met.

Children of color are overrepresented in the child welfare system, and Black children have been most significantly impacted by this racial disproportionality. Racial disproportionality in child welfare exists because of influences that are both external to child welfare systems and part of the child welfare system. We summarize the causes of racial disproportionality, arguing that internal and external causes of disproportional involvement originate from a common underlying factor: structural and institutional racism that is both within child welfare systems and part of society at large. Further, we review options for addressing racial disproportionality, arguing that it needs to be rectified because of the harm it causes Black children and families and that forcible separation of children from their parents can no longer be viewed as an acceptable form of intervention for families in need.

The majority of alleged abuse or neglect reports to the U.S. child welfare system are either screened out prior to an investigation (i.e., at the “hotline” stage) or investigated only to be closed with no finding of immediate child safety concerns. Yet while many of these children and families are at risk of subsequent incidents of child maltreatment or child welfare system involvement, they are not systematically offered services or benefits intended to reduce this risk at the point that child protective services (CPS) ends its involvement. This article provides an overview of the “front end” of the child welfare system, commonly referred to as CPS, highlighting which families are served and which are not. We then argue for a systematic and coordinated child maltreatment prevention infrastructure that incorporates elements of “community response” programs that several U.S. states have implemented in recent years. Such programs are focused on families that have been reported to, and sometimes investigated by, CPS, but no ongoing CPS case is opened. We further argue that such programs need to pay particular attention to economic issues that these families face.

Parents with intellectual disabilities (ID) are overrepresented in the child welfare system. Valid instruments are needed to assess parenting skills in this population. This research evaluates the psychometric properties of the Skills Assessment for Parents with Intellectual Disability (SAPID), an observational instrument completed to assess parents with ID with child welfare involvement.All clients enrolled in a prevention program for parents with ID were included in the sample (N = 133). Confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to understand the validity of the SAPID. Predictive validity was assessed by examining change over time with two outcomes: out-of-home placement and program completion.The validated SAPID consisted of three latent constructs: daily life skills, parent-child interaction, and overall safety. Parenting skills across all domains significantly improved for families remaining intact and those completing the program.The validated SAPID should be considered for use in assessing parenting skills for those with ID.

In Canada, there is increasing recognition that poor educational outcomes of children and adolescents involved with the child welfare system represent an emerging crisis for youth, their families, and the broader society. Interprofessional education and collaboration between educators and social workers may facilitate better outcomes for children in care. Although interprofessional education (IPE) and interprofessional collaboration (IPC) are well established in the allied health fields, there is not an equivalent acceptance within the applied social sciences, specifically in education and child welfare contexts. This may partially be attributed to the “siloed” nature of these professions, which limits both capacity and opportunities for professionals to understand each other’s mandates, roles, and policies. The purpose of this paper is to describe the development, implementation, and evaluation of a graduate elective course for social workers and educators that was geared toward educational outcomes of children in care. Thirty-eight students from both disciplines participated in a summer institute. Although participants valued the content and process of the course, it is unclear whether these types of initiatives facilitate enhanced IPC. Findings do however suggest that IPE initiatives targeted toward a specific population may have more positive outcomes, compared to general IPC.

The child welfare system disproportionately harms Black children and families through systemic over-surveillance, over-involvement, and the resulting adverse outcomes associated with foster care. E...

Introduction and objective The family is a reliable and permanent source of support for every human being. It is the key link in the welfare system. The aim of the study is to assess parents' attitudes towards the occurrence of a difficult situation resulting from a child's chronic illness. Material and methods The study involved randomly selected parents of children with chronic diseases (N=107). The study was carried out at the Dental Clinic of the 'Little Prince' Children's Hospice in Lublin. Results The study revealed that for parents a difficult life situation is mainly associated with the disability of a family member or a friend, whereas the action approach is the most frequently chosen attitude towards a child's chronic disease. In the examined group of parents, a significant correlation was observed between the age of the parents and the choice of a specific parental attitude towards the child's chronic disease (in terms of intellectual approach). However, no significant correlations were found between the parents' place of residence and the choice of a specific parental attitude towards the chronic disease of a child. Conclusions During the diagnosis of chronically ill children, parents should also be educated in this regard. Therapy and psychological help, as well as directing parents to relevant support groups, organizations or associations, will prove immensely valuable while coping with a difficult life situation.

Caregivers involved in the child welfare system are at heightened risk for depression, which has innumerable, deleterious effects upon the family. Screening and active outreach can facilitate ident...

Despite the fact that family reunification remains the foremost permanency-planning goal for children in the child welfare system, reunification is not always successful and reentry into foster car...

Fathers can have a significant impact on their children, yet important gaps in the fathering literature exist. Increasing knowledge of fathers in the child welfare system is important in order to i...

The aim of the present study was to determine the prevalence and severity of teen dating violence victimization in Spanish adolescents from both community and at-risk samples. The sample comprised 1,105 community adolescents from secondary schools, 149 adolescents from child, and adolescent mental health centers, 129 from residential care centers associated with the child welfare system, and 101 from centers in the juvenile justice system. The participants, aged between 14 and 17 years, were interviewed using the Juvenile Victimization Questionnaire. The lifetime prevalence of victimization in dating relationships ranged from 2.5% to 33.7%. The prevalence of physical victimization was slightly higher in boys, while sexual and electronic victimization and injuries were more prevalent in girls. In conclusion, teen dating violence is a prevalent problem in Spain that needs to be addressed to prevent adolescents from developing risk behaviors and to avoid adverse consequences on mental health, especially in at-risk adolescents.

Recent policies have the potential to address the gaps between need for and access to mental health (MH) services among youth involved in the child welfare system (CWS). Yet, little is known about whether changes in the pattern of MH service use have occurred. This study sought to uncover whether the rates and predictors of MH service use among CWS-involved youth have changed over the past decade. This study relied on administrative data of CWS-involved youth in a large mid-Atlantic city of the United States. The sample consisted of two cohorts of youth who entered the CWS in 2003 and 2012, respectively. Logistic and negative binomial regression models were conducted to examine utilization and dosage of MH services in relation to individual (e.g., cohort, gender, age, and race/ethnicity) and case characteristics (e.g., placement type/instability, and juvenile justice system involvement). Both utilization and dosage of MH services were found to have increased between cohorts, even after controlling for individual and case characteristics. There were also promising trends toward more equitable access and utilization of MH services along age and racial lines. However, disparities by gender and placement type were still prevailing problems. Potential positive effects of the recent policies are likely reflected in our findings of increased MH service use between the two cohorts. Given disparate MH service utilization based on gender and placement type, however, additional efforts to adhere to recent mandates to enhance child well-being are warranted.

Foster care is intended to be a temporary placement option. Viewing permanency as central to child well-being, current U.S. policies aim to limit the length of time a child spends in out-of-home foster placements. There is little recent research, however, on predictors of length of time in out-of-home care. The purposes of this study were to test if more frequent contact with biological parents predicted less time in out-of-home care, and determine if more frequent contact with biological parents was associated with better mental health outcomes using three waves of data from the National Survey on Child and Adolescent Well-Being II, a U.S. nationally representative dataset of youth involved with the child welfare system. Findings revealed that more frequent contact with biological mothers was associated with fewer cumulative days in out-of-home care. Among covariates, older child age was related to longer stays in out-of-home care, and Black youth experienced more cumulative days in out-of-home care compared to White youth. Links between frequency of contact and youth mental health outcomes also were tested, and more frequent contact with both mothers and fathers was associated with lower mental health symptoms. Being separated from siblings also was associated with more mental health problems, and compared with foster care, being in kinship care was negatively associated with mental health problems. A discussion of the findings in light of U.S. polices and best-practices is included.

La literatura existente centrada en el estudio de la salud sexual de los/as niños/as y adolescentes, ha reportado resultados heterogéneos que varían en función de las experiencias vitales y de la historia sexual. Los/as niños/as y adolescentes del sistema de protección, a diferencia de los/as jóvenes en conflicto con la ley o de la población general, han sido retirados de sus hogares por sufrir abusos físicos o sexuales, entre otras razones. La vivencia de este tipo de sucesos en la infancia se ha vinculado con una serie de conductas disruptivas, entre las que destacan las conductas sexuales problemáticas. A pesar de ello, tanto los/as niños/as y adolescentes del sistema de protección como los/as jóvenes en conflicto con la ley, son poco accesibles y, en escasas ocasiones, se ha puesto el foco de atención en su salud sexual. Por este motivo, el grupo de investigación SALUSEX se ha embarcado en el presente proyecto que tiene como objetivo principal conocer la salud sexual de estos grupos poblacionales, mediante la realización de un estudio descriptivo que permita identificar posibles variables asociadas a un desarrollo sexual no saludable. La viabilidad de esta línea de investigación reside en dos convenios de colaboración con la DGIA y la Fundación Diagrama, respectivamente. Actualmente, se han evaluado mediante una batería de instrumentos a 326 niños/as y adolescentes (30.5% mujeres; 69.5% hombres) de entre 11 y 19 años que residían en 48 hogares de acogimiento residencial situados en la provincia de Castellón y Valencia; y se ha comenzado a entrevistar a los/as jóvenes de centros socioeducativos. Como fin último, se busca que este estudio revierta en la sociedad mediante la elaboración de materiales específicos que permitan trabajar los posibles déficits de conocimientos y desarrollar estrategias útiles para atenuar las consecuencias que se derivan de un desarrollo sexual no saludable.

The current paper evaluates a pilot program implementing Trust-Based Relational Intervention (TBRI) among a sample of child welfare staff working across eight organizations in order to (1) describe...

In utero exposure to drugs and alcohol threatens the well-being of infants. Federal law has established child well-being as one of the three main goals of the child welfare system, and recent changes to federal law require state child welfare programs to assess the needs of substance-exposed infants and plan for their safe care. CPS workers are often the first point of contact these infants have with the public child welfare system; yet, CPS workers have no framework for assessing the well-being of substance-exposed infants. In this article, the author applies the Theory of Justice as Well-being to substance-exposed infants as a way to assess the deficits to well-being these infants experience. Furthermore, Justice as Well-being is applied to substance-exposed infants and their families to serve as a conceptual framework for an interprofessional approach to planning for the treatment and safe care needs of this highly vulnerable child welfare population.

Mental health service providers (e.g., social workers, psychologists) working with children in the child welfare system are uniquely poised to evaluate and tailor treatments for maximum eff...

Given the risk of substance use (SU) among adolescents in the child welfare system, identification of risk for prospective impairing SU behaviors is a significant public health priority. We sought to quantify the incremental validity of routine multi-informant assessments of adolescent psychological distress (i.e., the Child Behavior Checklist and Youth Self-Report) and a commonly used SU screening protocol (i.e., the CRAFFT) to predict SU at 18 and 36 months after baseline in a nationally representative child welfare sample ( N = 1,054; Mage = 13.72). We used receiver operator characteristics and reclassification analyses to develop our algorithms. We found that a battery consisting of baseline CRAFFT scores, self-reported delinquent behavior, and parent-reported rule-breaking behavior provided an incrementally valid prediction model for SU behavior among females, while baseline CRAFFT scores and self-reported delinquent behavior incrementally predicted SU for males. Results suggest that leveraging existing assessments within the child welfare system can improve forecasting of SU risk for this population.

Substance use and addiction constitute a prominent factor contributing to families becoming engaged in the child welfare system. Nine key informants, four supervisors and five front line staff, fro...

Youth living in out-of-home placement are presented with a number of challenges to their social-emotional well-being. At minimum, these young people have experienced a disruption to their family and living environment, and in most cases, they have experienced trauma originating from exposure to the abuse and neglect resulting in their out-of-home placement. Despite the complicated emotional consequences of out-of-home placements and the varied experiences that these young people go through, assessment of their social-emotional clinical or behavioral problems deriving from these experiences are rarely self-reported. Thus, an outside perspective limits the ability to understand the social-emotional well-being of these youth and their underlying strengths. This study sought to bridge this gap by investigating how young people themselves define their social-emotional well-being. We identified eight themes through the analysis of 20 individual interviews with youth living in a congregate care placement within the public child welfare system, discussing the implications of the study for practitioners working with these vulnerable young people and critical considerations for the contribution of qualitative methods.

Families in the child welfare system show especially poor outcomes when a parent has a drug use history. These parents may be difficult to engage, which may contribute to their failure to follow through with service planning and receipt. The child welfare system has historically emphasized risk and pathology and does not always use a strengths-based approach, although this has and can greatly increase client engagement. The current study involves data from mothers of young children receiving child welfare services ( n = 336) to examine individual and family risk factors and mothers’ perceptions of strengths-based practices by their caseworker. Roughly one third of women reported past year drug use. Mothers reporting drug use perceived four dimensions of strengths-based practice lower than mothers with no drug use history. Individual and family risks were associated with lower perceived strengths-based practices among mother who used drugs. Strengths-based practices with mothers with drug use histories are discussed.

Children of color are over-represented in the child welfare system. Research suggests that disproportionality is predominately attributable to the resource poor environments in which these children are raised. However, it is important to understand whether the child welfare system is able to diminish these societal level inequities, and consequently disproportionality, by reducing racial/ethnic disparities in outcomes of youth exiting state care. Encouragingly, research in this area has found few racial/ethnic differences in the outcomes of former foster youth. However, these studies are regional and have not investigated outcomes for a broad array of racial/ethnic groups. To fill this gap, the present study uses the National Youth in Transition Database (NYTD) to examine educational attainment, employment, homelessness, and incarceration for white, African-American, Hispanic, and American Indian/Alaska Native emancipated youth. Results reveal that African-American youth are less likely to be employed and more likely to report incarceration than white youth. However, African-American youth were 36% more likely to enroll in higher education than white youth and there were no significant differences in outcomes between white and Hispanic youth. However, AI/AN youth exhibited no advantages and significant disadvantages relative to youth from other racial/ethnic groups. Results suggest that child welfare services and state supports for youth exiting care can contribute to improved outcomes and racial/ethnic parity. However, additional effort is needed to reduce poor outcomes, particularly for American Indian/Alaska Native youth.

The disproportionate representation of Black children in the child welfare system, and its implications for Black female caregivers, must be understood through a critical perspective that considers...

Given the prevalence of trauma and traumatic stress reactions among child welfare system-involved children, families, caregivers, professionals, and other stakeholders, it is critical that child we...

The number of families involved in the child welfare system (including child protective services, foster care, juvenile court) has increased since 2011(Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System, 2015). Professionals involved in these systems have discussed the increase in number of families who return to the child welfare system after an initial case closure. We aim to identify risk and protective factors associated with families returning to the system within a social ecological framework, to identify gaps in the current literature, and to discuss areas for future research. A literature search was conducted using PsycInfo, PubMED, and SociIndex through June 2017 on three case outcomes: reunification, re-entry/reactivation, and termination of parental rights. The authors then reviewed the articles located and highlight the findings using a social ecological framework.

The present study addressed institutionalised children and staff members' perspectives about bullying in Residential Care settings (RCs) in five European countries (Bulgaria, France, Greece, Italy and Romania.). Interviews and focus groups were conducted respectively with 123 institutionalised children and adolescents (age range: 6–18) and staff members (N = 95; age range: 23-63). Thematic analysis was adopted to analyse the data. Overall, findings indicated that participants were not fully aware of the specific features of bullying. Children and adolescents considered bullying as a normative behaviour and were reluctant to ask for adults' help when bullying happened. Staff members attributed bullying to children's traumatic experiences and to a need for adults' attention. Findings shed light on the lack of standardised protocols and of professional trainings to tackle bullying. Implications for intervention programs aimed at preventing and tackling bullying are discussed.

The process of service intensity (SI) or level of care (LOC) determination regarding mental health services has a problematic history. There is a need for reliable and valid SI/LOC determination tools for youth in the child welfare system. In 2004 and 2005, the Tennessee Child Program Outcome Review Team (CPORT) reviewed 437 children and youth in the child welfare system (277 in state custody, 160 at risk of custody) of whom 61.6% were male, 64.8% Caucasian and 28.4% African American. Instruments used included the CASII, CAFAS, CBCL, YSR, TRF, and the CPORT Child and Family Indicators. All CASII subscales significantly correlated to the CAFAS Total Scores (Pearson coefficients 0.225 to 0.454). The CASII Total Score and the CASII SI determinations were highly correlated to CBCL, YSR, and TRF total and sub-scales. Significant correlations between the CASII SI determinations were found across all of the 13 CPORT Child and Family Indicators, while actual placement significantly correlated with only three of the 13 dimensions. The actual SI/LOC placements were significantly divergent from the placement recommendations derived using the CASII instrument (p

A common and critical issue faced by youth discharged from residential treatment is the gradual loss of gains made while in residential treatment. This can put these youth at greater risk for negative long-term outcomes such as poor behavioral and emotional functioning. The objective of this study was to identify factors that can improve long-term outcomes following discharge from residential treatment. Of special interest was the interplay of protective factors, including a variety of youth strengths (e.g., coping skills, family support, educational support) with youth behavioral and emotional outcomes. This study also considered the role of race/ethnicity, age, gender, and post-residential placement type. A sample of 799 youth who were discharged from residential treatment was examined. This study found a positive relationship between the total number of strengths at residential discharge and behavioral and emotional outcomes at 6 months following residential discharge. This study also found that the overall change in the number of youth's strengths (improvement or deterioration) after discharge from residential treatment was associated with decreased or increased youth behavioral and emotional needs over time. Additionally, change in two specific types of strengths—interpersonal and coping skills—following residential discharge was associated with decreased or increased youth behavioral and emotional needs over time. Overall, this study suggests that interventions that help to maintain or build youth strengths following discharge from residential settings may lead to decreased emotional and behavioral needs over time.

Purpose This study examined the effect of privatization policy on the issue of racial disparity in the child welfare system. Method Specific outcomes for N = 118,761 foster children across 10 states were compared to determine if the state system type [privatized vs. non-privatized] had any influence on disparities in outcomes by race. Results A main effect emerged for race and in the interactions between system type and race. Discussion The extent of disparity for children of color in foster care was supported, but for some outcomes, both groups fared better in privatized systems.

This study sought to distinguish youth in the child welfare system who became involved with the justice system from youth who did not become involved with the justice system based on the youth's protective factors and their caregivers' parenting skills. This was accomplished by examining the frequency of specific youth protective factors and their caregivers' parenting skills. It was also accomplished by examining the differences in the total number of youth protective factors and the total number of their caregivers' parenting skills at entry into the child welfare system based on justice system involvement. We also sought to describe the demographic characteristics of youth protective factors and caregiver parenting skills. Using chi-square and analysis of variance (ANOVA) tests, study findings indicated that while the majority of children did not become justice involved, of those kids who did become justice involved, the majority of them were minority youth. There was also a higher proportion of youth with identified child-specific protective factors at baseline without later justice involvement compared to the proportion of youth who later became involved with the justice system. In addition, youth with a higher number of protective factors and caregiver parenting skills at baseline did not have future involvement with the justice system compared to youth with a lower number of protective factors and caregiver parenting skills. Lastly, in terms of parenting practices, the most notable demographic differences were related to race/ethnicity. Findings indicated that the biological parents and caregivers of White youth had more parenting skills compared to the biological parents and caregivers of minority youth. One of the implications of these findings is that reducing dual involvement for youth in the child welfare system may be achieved through strength building and providing additional services to youth and families at the beginning of the youth's care in the child welfare system.

The development and maturation of group intervention techniques have conferred more and more to grouptherapy the characteristics of an effective intervention technique on many pathologies and from the ‘70s therehas been a progressive application of this technique to the specific field of addiction therapy with a growing consensusby specialists for the positive outcomes supported by scientific literature.Also in Italy, the use of this work tool is a reality that is characterizing more and more the practice in differentclinical areas of addiction and group intervention has become one of the main therapeutic resources of outpatientand hospital team for the wide range of possible strategies and for the high number of patients that is possibleto treat effectively, combining the criteria of efficacy and of efficiency.This article highlights the specific processes and dynamics of psychodynamic oriented psychotherapeutic grouptreatment, which aims to develop a better self-protective ability not only trough the identification and experimentationof new psyco-behavioural strategies different from the dysfunctional ones of substance abuse but alsotrough the acquisition of instruments and resources to find your own "welfare system", affective, emotional,physic and mental, and to try to keep it in balance as much as possible

There is limited research that examines the experiences of Guardians ad Litems or Court Appointed Special Advocates appointed to cases to represent the best interest of children involved with the child welfare system. The purpose of this paper is to (1) identify and explore the primary mechanisms through which Guardians ad Litem are recruited and/or learn about the program and (2) identify and categorize the motivations that individuals describe for becoming a Guardian ad Litem. Data were collected as part of a larger cross-sectional, qualitative study of the Florida Statewide Guardian ad Litem Office. The perspectives of 553 volunteers and employees comprise the sample. Themes pertaining to how advocates were recruited or became involved included personal contacts; media and advertising; involvement with GAL due to professional/career opportunity; targeted/purposeful recruitment efforts by GAL programs; and employment-related opportunity or involvement. In relation to what motivated advocates to volunteer, themes were life transitions; advocacy for children and families; volunteerism; personal fulfillment; personal/familial experiences; career or professional experiences; time; personal fit or interest; and attitudes/opinion of the GAL program. Implications for recruitment and motivation are discussed, as well as directions for future research.

Parents involved with the child welfare system often have been exposed to traumatic events throughout their lives and have behavioral health service needs. Although connecting parents to trauma-inf...