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Whilst the contribution of good supervision to high-quality social work practice is widely recognized, research exploring practitioners' experiences of supervision is surprisingly limited. Set within the context of the supervision framework for employers of social workers in England, this small-scale survey, using an extended questionnaire, examined the experiences of supervision of a group of child care social workers. The aim was to find out what aspects of supervision worked well and where there was room for improvement. The findings suggest that whilst the majority of employers had appropriate supervision policies in place, day-to-day practice varied enormously, frequently falling well short of national standards, with the quality of supervision often depending more on the characteristics of the supervisor and the agency context than the needs of the worker. Supervision sessions typically focused predominantly on case management, with much less attention paid to the worker and opportunities for them to reflect on their practice. Only a quarter of the social workers in this survey could be considered to be satisfied with their current supervision, with a much higher proportion clearly dissatisfied.
Endings in youth mentoring relationships have received little attention to date despite the frequency with which they occur. In this paper, we bring an attachment theory perspective to bear on youth mentoring relationship closures and consider how the rich empirical and theoretical literature on attachment can inform mentoring programme practice and possibly help prevent premature and poorly handled mentoring relationship endings. We consider what is known about endings in youth mentoring relationships, articulate an attachment perspective on mentoring relationships and their endings and offer recommendations informed by these literatures for how mentoring programmes can promote positive closure when relationships come to an end.
Although the law in England and Wales requires a child's wishes and feelings to be heard in LAC (Looked After Children) reviews, there remains limited research into how far this is achieved. This study interviewed 25 children and 16 foster carers to explore how well children understand and take part in reviews, and what factors impede this. The study found that levels of participation, as experienced by children and foster carers, were very low and the methods used were relatively ineffective. Children experienced significant barriers in engaging with the review process. The paper concludes that, as a vehicle of children's participation, LAC reviews are still not working well and calls for more attention to the views of children and young people and to the effectiveness of LAC reviews.
This paper examines how women who experienced severe adjustment problems during adolescence, and who had troubled childhoods in families with high levels of conflict, construct their self-conceptions as mothers. Applying data from a 30-year-long follow-up study, this paper examines how participants with troubled upbringings experience social norms of motherhood. Two overall themes emerged along with their associated subcategories, and these are identified as significant findings. The first theme is the stigmatizing gaze, exemplifying how the intervention of the child welfare service is recognized as essential to the women's self-conception; its three subcategories are prejudiced motherhood, predestined motherhood and self-critical motherhood. The second theme is significant relationships, exemplifying the mothers' personal bonds and contributing greatly to their self-conception; its three subcategories are the other half, next of kin and disturbed relations. The findings reveal that the way these women view themselves as mothers cannot be separated from the way that others view them, and in addition, they must negotiate their positions as mothers through the normative discourses of motherhood. The findings apply to both theoretical and practical social work, addressing the need for an understanding of motherhood within the field of child welfare.
Parenting may be particularly challenging for substance-dependent mothers who have grown up with parents who themselves had substance use disorders (SUDs). The aim of this study was to explore how substance-dependent mothers describe their childhood experiences with substance-abusing parents and the association between these earlier experiences and their own role as caregivers. Using purposeful sampling, mothers admitted for 1 year to a family ward at a substance abuse clinic were approached. Through in-depth, qualitative interviews, nine substance-dependent mothers described their lives in the form of present, past and future tense. The findings indicate that substance-dependent women, who have experienced SUDs in their families of origin, face several major challenges when they become mothers. Some describe having lived their whole lives 'on the edge of society'. This makes their rehabilitation process more complex. All mothers work to abstain from substances, process traumatic experiences and integrate their family into society. They need help to build supportive social networks and to establish a safe and predictable family environment for themselves and their children. The therapeutic implications of these findings will be discussed.
Inspectorates have been criticized for assessing compliance with the rules rather than outcomes for children. In the Netherlands, inspectorates have developed a 'journey tool' to reconstruct children's travels through all the organizations providing care. Using document analysis and semi-structured interviews, we evaluated how inspectors use this tool in practice. We applied an ontological theoretical framework to the coordination of care to analyse 24 journeys through care organizations, including a selection of six journeys in further detail. Our analysis shows that up until now, inspectors used only one form of coordination, the creation of a hierarchy, resulting in one problem definition. However, in complex care practices, children have multiple and often incompatible problems so that one coherent problem definition cannot be made. We show that 'patchwork', a form of coordination that allows discrepancies enables inspectors to reflect on complex care practices and evaluate options to improve outcomes for children.
The contribution peer relationships make to positive adolescent development is well recognized. Accordingly, peer problem measures typically assess youth with few age-appropriate peers as having peer problems. Yet, youth facing high levels of personal and/or social adversity may reduce their association with antisocial peers as part of coping or risk mitigation strategies. While such strategies will result in higher scores on peer problem measures, they may also facilitate resilience and constitute a resource social workers can draw on in their work with youth. To test this proposition of peer adaptation as a risk mitigation strategy, mixed-methods data relating to two groups of youth who were exposed to different levels of adversity were compared on a standardized peer problem measure and a range of risk measures. Qualitative interviews extended this data and explored vulnerable youth perceptions of social withdrawal as a coping strategy. Results from the survey and qualitative data indicated that a subgroup of youth facing high levels of adversity restricted association with antisocial peers to reduce their behavioural risks. However, without adequate support from adults in both formal support systems and youths' social ecologies to compensate for the loss of peer friendships, this strategy did not reduce behavioural risk in the medium term. The social withdrawal strategy also appeared to heighten mental health concerns for these youth. The implications of this finding for the development of policy and practice with vulnerable youth are discussed.
Little is known about how mental health services consider the parenting role and the well-being of children when assessing parents with acute mental illness. This paper investigated how crisis mental health services addressed child well-being in the Wellington region, New Zealand. This mixed-method case study included: (i) an audit of the electronic clinical records of all adults presenting to the crisis assessment team; (ii) interviews with 22 key informants; and (iii) a documentary review. We found that data about children were not systematically collected. Less than half of (49 of the 104) the records of patients who were parents included information on their child's well-being; only six (6%) contained a specified plan for action. The focus for services was the adult patient. Key informants were unclear about their role. They identified inadequate training and institutional support, inflexible funding models and limited availability or inappropriateness of referral services as problems. They saw a need for children to become more visible, for collaborative working to improve the use of existing services and for new funding models, resources and roles. Existing national policy documents contained little guidance and no practice guidelines were in use. These were lost opportunities to improve support for the parenting role and promote child well-being.
We used a regional sample of children in long-term foster care to investigate the prevalence of placement breakdown in adolescence, and to assess risk factors/risk markers for placement disruption. The sample consisted of all 136 foster children in the region, born 1980–1992, who on their 12th birthday had been in the same foster family for at least 4 years. They were followed in case files until date of disruption or their 18th birthday. Data on conditions before and during placement were retrieved from case files, and analysed in bi- and multivariate models. Results showed that one in four placements broke down in adolescence. The median child who experienced a breakdown was 14 years old, and had been in the same foster home for more than 10 years. Prominent risk factors were (i) being placed after age 2 and (ii) having a birth sibling in the same foster home. We also uncovered strong risk markers that can be viewed as precursors of placement disruption. When the child or the foster parents repeatedly over time expressed dissatisfaction with the placement, this ended with a placement breakdown in 60% of cases. Implications for practice are discussed.
Online consultation is increasingly offered by parenting practitioners, but it is not clear if it is feasible to provide empowerment-oriented support in a single session email consultation. Based on the empowerment theory, we developed the Guiding the Empowerment Process model (GEP model) to evaluate text-based consultation. By content analysis of the email advice (n = 129; 5997 sentences in total), we investigated the feasibility of the newly developed model (inter-observer agreement, internal consistency and factor structure) and its validity. Concurrent validity was evaluated by comparing coding results using the GEP model and a Social Support model that partially intersects with empowerment. Results showed good inter-observer reliability and internal consistency of the GEP model. The results provided evidence for its concurrent validity by a significant correlation of the coding results from the GEP model with the Social Support model, although it was also distinctive. All described techniques which practitioners may employ to guide the parental process towards empowerment were observed in the sample. Also, guidance was provided in all components of the empowerment process. Feasibility of the GEP model for content analysis of email consultation in parental support from a theoretical empowerment perspective has been demonstrated.
The number of unaccompanied minors arriving in Sweden continues to rise. The majority are placed in residential care units. This qualitative study aims to increase the understanding given by the professionals to the concept of 'home' within the framework of residential care for unaccompanied young people. Data are based on participatory observations at two residential care units, followed up by individual interviews with staff. The findings confirm that the concept of home has a complex meaning involving both objective aspects such as physical buildings, and more subjective components that can be seen as state of mind. The staff's desire to offer an 'ordinary home' fails because of the surveillance, their dominant positions and especially due to the legal restrictions that were not initially meant for this target group. Unaccompanied young people have to be considered based on their own specific needs in order to make it possible for society to offer the most suitable care.
Studies have shown relatively high rates of emotional and behavioural problems among children living in out-of-home care. This study reports the prevalence of social problems at an 8-year follow-up for a group of children/young adults. Predictors for prevalence and change in emotional and behavioural problems at the follow-up are examined. A prospective cohort design with 233 children who had been living in foster care was used. Forty-eight per cent (n = 111) of those interviewed at baseline were located and interviewed at follow-up. Mean age was 17.4 (standard deviation = 2.9) years. Mental health symptomatology was measured with Child Behaviour Checklist and Adult Self-Report. Linear and generalized mixed model analyses were used. Changes in internalizing and externalizing problems from baseline to follow-up was associated with gender. Boys showed more problems at a young age, whereas girls developed more problems later. Predictors for social problems at follow-up were mental health at baseline, kinship care and care placement away from the local community.
This paper analyses how social support enhances family resilience in kinship foster families by involving the families in an educational group programme. Sixty-two kinship foster families from Spain participated in the research. The data were collected before the programme (interviews) and after the programme (interviews and focus groups), and it was analysed by content analysis with the program Atlas.ti. The results show that the factors that contribute most to the development of family resilience are (i) feeling able to look for solutions when faced with problems; (ii) an increase of their network of formal support; (iii) being able to offer support to other foster families; and (iv) feeling that the support they give to parents' foster children is socially recognized.
Using exploratory data analysis techniques, we propose a model of parent psychosocial well-being that links financial strains and household stressors to adolescents' pro-social behaviours and vulnerability through parent mental health and social supports. Parents of urban youth (n = 781) who planned to attend a summer camp for at-risk youth responded to questions surveying household, parent and child factors related to early adolescent development. We expected that the relationship of household stressors – including financial strain and household difficulties – with adolescent behaviours would be mediated by parent depression and anxiety. We also anticipated that parent social supports would have both direct and indirect effects (via parent mental health) on adolescents' pro-social behaviours. Study findings are consistent with our hypotheses and the model performed similarly for both adolescent males and females. Implications for practice and policy in the context of programmes for urban youth are discussed.
In 2013, academics from a Scottish university came together with social work managers and practitioners from two local authorities (LAs) in Scotland to run a knowledge exchange (KE) project co-sponsored by the Economic and Social Research Council and the LAs. The project's aim was an ambitious one: to contribute to culture change in the children and families' departments in the two partner agencies. The project grew out of an earlier KE venture that had explored ways of engaging better with involuntary service users in social work; it thus both anticipated and reflected wider concerns about services for children that were also demonstrated in Munro's Review of Child Protection. The KE project had three components: training for managers, practitioner research projects and critical reflection workshops. Whether, and to what degree, the KE project changed culture is not the focus of this paper, which is written jointly by academic researchers and practitioners. Instead, one element of the KE project, namely the critical reflection workshops, is discussed. Findings provide strong evidence of the pressures currently experienced by children and families' services in the UK public sector. They also indicate how important good relationships are in building meaningful KE.
This paper utilizes data gathered as part of an exploratory study to assess the costs and impact of the Common Assessment Framework (CAF), to examine the impact that the lead professional role had on families and workers. The study found that both families and workers believed the lead professional to be central to the CAF process, providing a range of support, coordinating multi-agency responses to need and acting as a single point of contact between families and workers. The paper highlights the need for consideration to be given to inter-agency working, data sharing, training for workers and the capacity implications for those taking on the role. The extent to which the lead professional might be more integrated into the continuum of support for vulnerable children and families is also examined. The paper highlights the need to consider the lead professional's role in not only preventing the need for more intensive services, such as those provided by statutory social work, but also maintaining outcomes achieved once a child protection plan is closed, or a child is reunified with his or her birth family after a period of being in care. The implications of the findings for policy and practice are discussed.
Adoption disclosure is an important indicator of the healthy development and psychological well-being of adopted children. However, findings from studies conducted among Asian domestic adoptive parents have highlighted some concerns. Using Kirk's theoretical proposition, a study was conducted among 86 Indian domestic adoptive parents to determine the societal and familial factors related to adoption disclosure. The results showed that while many of the parents had talked openly about their adoption to their immediate families (95.3%) and others of their social network (88.4%), they were hesitant in telling the child. Only 12.8% of the Indian parents had told their child about adoption, and 31.4% were planning to tell. The results of the logistic regression analysis revealed that children who were above 6 months at adoption were more likely to have had disclosures from their parents about their adoption. Further, adoptive parents who had told or were planning to tell their child about adoption perceived less about the loss of the biological parenthood and were more likely to perceive the beneficial effects of adoption disclosure to the child. These findings have implications for the provision of appropriate strategies, resources and support to adoptive families seeking to deal with adoption disclosure.
The family courts in England and Wales are being significantly reformed in line with the coalition government's aim to speed up the process and increase the numbers of children being adopted from care. In September 2013, the Court of Appeal handed down a judgment, Re B-S (Children) [2013] EWCA Civ 1146, that has wide-ranging implications for professional practice and decision making in care proceedings. The judgment challenges the policy direction and provides guidance about what is required before courts can make orders separating children from their birth families, particularly in cases of non-consensual adoption. In this paper, we outline the changes occurring in the family justice system, some key elements of Re B-S, and examine the challenges for implementing practice consistent with the requirements of Re B-S. It is argued that the standards set by Re B-S are unlikely to be fully implemented without much further attention to the complexities posed by the policy and practice context of social work with children and their families involved in care proceedings.
Examining the concepts underpinning the reasoning processes of social worker's decision-making provides important insights into how social work practice is undertaken. This paper examines one of the major discourses used by social workers in decision reasoning in a non-governmental organization child protection context in Aotearoa/New Zealand: family maintenance. This study found that family maintenance as a concept was strongly privileged by social workers. This resulted in attempts to preserve families and created a hierarchy of preferred decision outcomes. A preference for family maintenance was supported by legal, moral, psychological and Māori cultural concepts. This pattern of constructs underpinned the 'weighing up of harms' when considering removal, and generally reflected a child welfare orientation. In addition to this, it was found that 'family' was broadly defined, and could include people who had a relationship with the children, or Māori definitions of extended family, in addition to legal ones.
Understanding the experience of women who become mothers during their teenage years is central to ensuring that the support that is offered is appropriate to meet their needs. This paper reports on a small part of a larger ethnographic study that captured the lived experience of young mothers who were between the ages of 16 and 19 years that potentially typifies and illuminates the experiences of young women who become mothers in their teenage years. By collecting data from narrative interviews as well as participant and non-participant observations over an extended period of time it was possible to identify how the young women experienced a range of difficulties as they made their transition into motherhood. Drawing on the findings, this paper argues that this transition for teenage mothers can be significantly different from the experience of older mothers, and it identifies the importance of appropriate support to mediate the challenges that they face. Understanding the young women's journey to 'becoming' is critical when planning services because if their experience of support is negative, it can lead to increased levels of maternal stress and reluctance to engage with support services.
Although research with hard-to-reach populations is necessary to deepen the social work knowledge base and improve services to these groups, recruiting members of hard-to-reach populations for research projects is often a challenging process. Frequently, non-probability sampling is used to obtain participants. However, the difficulties and limitations associated with this process in quantitative research are rarely discussed in depth in the literature. Sampling issues can significantly impact a research project, delaying it, extending it or even causing the premature termination of a project. Challenges to recruitment can limit the type of research that is completed, impact the knowledge base or introduce threats to validity through sampling bias. Using a preliminary quantitative study on parental engagement with child protective services as an illustration for the discussion, the challenges of non-probability sampling with a hard-to-reach population and the implications for research practice are explored and discussed. Implications for future research practice are considered.
The concept of children's agency can be used to understand how children actively shape their lives. While in social work there is a growing body of research on how children experience meetings that involve collaborating professionals, little is known about the ways in which they exert an influence. The purpose of the study is, in a Swedish context, to investigate children's perceptions of their agentic capacity in regulating participation and exerting an influence on outcomes in interprofessional collaborative meetings. Interviews were carried out with 28 children in receipt of social services support. Findings revealed that children perceive professionals' talk as restricting opportunities for input. They also perceive that they have the capacity to exercise agency by (i) conforming to expectations by feigning boredom and seeming disengaged, but at the same time paying close attention; (ii) by using exit strategies; and (iii) by developing 'in-situ' strategies to end meetings. Rather than, as previously suggested, being powerless in such circumstances, the children tell how they carefully assess situations, and, from a position of apparent subordination, talk of ways of acting that reveal their agentic capacity. These insights are of importance for practitioners who are encouraged to look beyond behaviours that first meet the eye.
This paper examines the place of ethnicity in local authority foster care in the context of the sufficiency duty to secure adequate local placements for looked after children. The analysis draws on two main sources, namely Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (OFSTED's) annual survey of fostering agencies and inspection reports for around half the local authority fostering services in England. Sufficiency is gauged in two main ways, comparing numbers of black and minority ethnic (BME) foster carers first with numbers of BME looked after children and second, with local adult (age 25–64) populations. Statistical analysis shows very wide variation on both measures and a significant minority of authorities that perform poorly in terms of the ethnic diversity of their foster carers. Inspection reports also vary widely in the degree and nature of attention given to issues of ethnicity with many offering limited (and sometimes no) challenge to poor performance. These findings are discussed within the broader context of recent trends towards de-emphasizing the significance of ethnicity in child welfare.
It has been argued that contact visits between foster children and birth parents can help maintain attachment bonds and support the child's development. However, some research suggests that such visits can be detrimental. This study analyses the characteristics of contact visits and examines children's perceptions of the emotional relationship they have with foster carers and their biological parents. Participants were 104 non-kinship foster children and their respective foster carers and social workers. Fifty-six of these foster children had contact visits with their birth parents. Foster children rated the quality of their relationship with foster carers and birth parents using the Affect Scale. Foster children, foster carers and social workers all completed the Evaluation of Contact Visits Questionnaire. Results showed that (i) a high proportion of children had no contact visits; (ii) the contact agreement was often not fulfilled; (iii) many visits were rated as poor quality; (iv) foster carers' evaluation of visits was more negative than that of both foster children and social workers; and (v) children who experienced poor-quality visits and perceived less warmth and more criticism/rejection from their parents. These results highlight the need to improve contact visits by developing intervention strategies targeted at all those involved.
Child welfare systems internationally exhibit very large inequalities in a variety of dimensions of practice, for example, in rates of child protection plans or registrations and out-of-home care. Previous research in the midlands region of England (Bywaters; Bywaters et al.) has detailed key aspects of the relationship between levels of neighbourhood deprivation and intervention rates. This paper reports further evidence from the study examining the intersection of deprivation with aspects of identity: gender, disability, ethnicity and age. Key findings include a decreasing gender gap and a decreasing proportion of children in need reported to be disabled as deprivation increases. The data challenge the perception that black children are more likely than white to be in out-of-home care, a finding that only holds if the much higher level of deprivation among black children is not taken into account. Similarly, after controlling for deprivation and age, Asian children were found to be up to six times less likely to be in out-of-home care. The study requires replication and extension in order that observed inequalities are tested and explained. Urgent ethical, research, policy and practice issues are raised about child welfare systems.
In Chicago, African-American youth experience disproportionately high rates of exposure to community violence. Growing evidence documents that such exposures are related to youth sexual behaviours. This qualitative study seeks to illuminate the various ways in which violence and sex are intertwined in the lives of African-American youth. Analysing data from four focus groups (N = 54), major themes indicated that parents linked community violence with: (i) influencing youth sexual interests and opportunities for having sex; (ii) specific notions of youth sexual identities and social status; (iii) increased gang involvement and sexual initiations; and (iv) girls' grudges and their sexual concurrency with boys. These findings suggest that addressing these specific issues is important in parent-centred and community-grounded interventions aimed at reducing risky sexual behaviours among African-American youth.
During young adulthood, many transitions occur in family relationships. This paper explores family roles for young adults in the transition years who have been in the custody of the child welfare system and have mood challenges. To capture the voices of this less studied subpopulation, we conducted in-depth qualitative interviews with 44 young adults in a Midwestern state. Through coding interview transcripts, we identified how these young people defined family and issues they were navigating in family relationships. These young people were commonly resolving family history issues especially related to ambiguous and actual losses, as well as the legacy of this history in their present-day family relationships. Professionals who intervene with this population should be prepared to help young people as they navigate these family transitions and change the future by rewriting family narratives.
This paper describes and analyses the portrayal of children's mental health and developmental issues (CMHI) in articles located in a random sample of a selection of available high-circulating English language North American 'women's magazines' indexed in the Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature from 1990 to 2012. It is based upon a qualitative discourse analysis. CMHI are portrayed as materially, biologically real, prevalent and growing in incidence, and severity. They are also portrayed as located in the 'non-normal', 'non-nice', 'disliked' and 'non-successful' individual child. Neither the facticity nor the biomedicalization of CMHI is questioned. The psy-scientists and practitioners cited as experts for the 'disorders' offer contradictory and confusing information and advice. The possible theoretical and pragmatic explanations and consequences of this portrayal are discussed.
Parental sense of competence is one of the central dimensions targeted on psychosocial interventions aimed at supporting at-risk families. Researchers and practitioners need reliable instruments to assess the parental role adapted for these families. Although the parental sense of competence (PSOC) scale has been frequently used to assess this construct, there is still no adapted version for Portuguese parents. In this study, the reliability, validity and factor structure of the PSOC scale is examined with a clinical sample of 146 mothers from at-risk families receiving psychosocial interventions for family preservation from Child Protective Services. Results show that the Portuguese version of the PSOC measures three distinct constructs with acceptable psychometric properties: efficacy, dissatisfaction and controllability. As expected, the obtained factors were significantly and positively related to parenting alliance and family cohesion, and negatively associated with parenting stress. In sum, the proposed Portuguese version shows reliability and validity evidences to measure three relevant dimensions of parental self-evaluation, and it constitutes a cost- and time-effective instrument suited for at-risk mothers.
The association between parental military work factors and adolescent's well-being was examined. Data were collected from 1036 military youth. Using a within-group design, we examined adolescent's well-being related to parental absence, school and neighbourhood transitions, paygrade/rank and participation in military-sponsored activities, and differentiated outcomes by sex and age. Two parental work factors primarily influenced adolescent's well-being, parental paygrade/rank and engagement in military-sponsored activities. Parental paygrade/rank was the only factor uniformly related to poorer well-being, and this variable likely represents a more complex set of family circumstances. Engaging in military-sponsored activities served as a resource and was related to enhanced well-being. Individual-level differences and implications for social workers are discussed.
The efficacy of child protection social work is regularly being questioned in the media as vociferous critics deride the profession for the apparent failings of its practitioners. This paper aims to examine the impact this hostility can have on practice and the relationship practitioners develop with their organization and subsequently the families they work with. By using autoethnography, a personal experience I encountered whilst working as a statutory social worker for an Emergency Duty Team will be explored in detail in order to analyse how discursive regimes can endorse and encourage particular ways of thinking and doing for social workers. I also intend to demonstrate that when workers operate in a risk averse environment, oppressive practices can develop subconsciously. These not only affect professionals' values and assumptions but also fortify distance between the social worker and the client. If social work is to facilitate positive change in the current climate of uncertainty, then it is hoped that this story may enable both practitioners, and their critics, to recognize that being open to different forms of knowledge could lead to better outcomes for all involved.
This research explores whether readiness to leave care mediates the association between social support – from peers, staff and biological parents – on the verge of leaving care and life satisfaction a year after among young people ageing out of care in Israel. The results represent two waves of a longitudinal study. Two hundred seventy-two adolescents from residential settings in Israel completed a self-administered questionnaire shortly before they left care, and one year later, 234 of them were interviewed to assess their life satisfaction. Readiness to leave care was found to mediate the relationship between most social support measurements and life satisfaction. At the same time, the findings also suggest that this mediating effect varies for different types of support and has a lesser amount of influence for profound emotional support than other types of support. These findings highlight the need to include both the preparation to leave care and the reinforcement of emotional support available to young people who aged out of care, before and throughout the transition from care to adulthood.
Research internationally has identified large differences in rates of child safeguarding interventions, recently characterized as child welfare inequalities, markers of social inequalities in childhood with parallels to inequalities in health and education. This paper reports a Nuffield Foundation-funded study to examine the role of deprivation in explaining differences in key children's services interventions between and within local authorities (LAs). The study involved an analysis of descriptive data on over 10% of children on child protection plans or in out-of-home care in 14 English LAs at 31 March 2012. The data demonstrate very large inequalities in rates of child welfare interventions within and between LAs, systematically related to levels of deprivation. There is evidence of a gradient in child welfare inequalities across the whole of society. There also appears to be an equivalent of the inverse care law for health: For any given level of deprivation in local neighbourhoods, LAs with lower overall levels of deprivation were intervening more often. The findings raise fundamental questions for research, policy and practice including whether the allocation of children's service resources sufficiently recognize the impact of deprivation on demand and how we judge whether a safeguarding system is effective at the population level.
Custodial grandparents play a significant role in sustaining healthy families, but the caregiving is demanding. A social research design and development process informed a school district-university partnership project responding to the needs of a group of custodial grandparents. Three phases of the project are described: (i) needs assessment; (ii) design and implementation of a psychoeducational group facilitated by social work faculty and a school district administrator; and (iii) evaluation of programme impact. Major themes from the needs assessment and evaluation are presented. Discussion highlights the need for school and family engagement, recognition of the significant changes in family role required for grandparents, and viewing custodial grandparents as leaders and engaged caregivers. The meaning of diversity in group intervention for this population is also explored.
Family foster care placement decision-making has a weak scientific underpinning. The identification of clusters of foster children (groups of foster children with similar characteristics) can help improve decision quality. In this study, we investigated if foster children could indeed be clustered, which problems were identified at the time of placement and what might be the influence of placement history. Two clusters of foster children were found: (i) young children with coinciding parental child-rearing incapacity and familial problems, and (ii) older children with child problems. At the time of placement, familial problems were more often identified in younger children with a placement history. These findings stress the importance of approaching foster care assessment as part of a dynamic decision-making process. It is key to finding the most appropriate situation for the child. At the same time, it must be decided how the desired situation can be realized, wherein placement decisions are based on an appraisal of whether or not a foster placement is an appropriate solution. In conjunction with this, it needs to be decided how the parents can be supported towards reunification, or whether or not long-term foster care is the best option for the child, and if so what conditions need to be met.
The assessment of parenting capacity continues to engender public concern in cases of suspected harm to children. This paper outlines a model for approaching this task based on the application of three key domains of knowledge in social work relating to facts, theory and practice wisdom. The McMaster Model of Family Assessment is identified out of this process and reworked to give it a sharper focus on parenting roles and responsibilities. Seven formative dimensions of parenting are then elicited and combined with an analytical process of identifying strengths, concerns, prospects for growth and impact on child outcomes. The resulting assessment framework, it is argued, adds rigour to professional judgements about parenting capacity and enhances formulations on risk in child protection.
The purpose of this exploratory qualitative study was to investigate the early intervention (EI) experiences of mothers who have a young child at risk for autism spectrum disorder. Data were collected through observations, interviews and document analyses. Results of the study suggest (i) interpersonal skills of practitioners and provisions for family choice and collaboration lead to positive experiences for mothers; (ii) asset-based attitudes lead to family progress and competence; (iii) effective partnerships are developed through supportive provider communication techniques; and (iv) satisfaction with EI services results from practitioner responsiveness to help families access resources and facilitate child development.
Mentoring programmes show significant promise for enhancing the well-being of youth with complex needs. Research indicates that high quality mentoring, although difficult to achieve, positively impacts youth development across behavioural, social, emotional and academic domains. The difficulty of sustaining long-term matches between mentors and youth, however, remains an important concern for the field of mentoring, as foreshortened matches can be harmful to youth. The 4Results mentoring programme has been identified as a Promising Practice through the Washington State Inventory of child-serving behavioural and mental health programmes and has developed a unique infrastructure to support critical programme values such as match longevity. In 7 years, the programme has successfully retained 98% of mentors for at least 1 year with an average match length of 3.7 years. The following article describes the programme's guiding philosophy and approach to recruiting and training mentors in the context of existing best practices research.
Child protection authorities in many countries are concerned with reducing the rates of investigations and with diverting at-risk families from the child protection service system. In several countries, differential responses have been introduced into child protection law providing service providers with some choice between investigative or family support pathways, depending upon the level of risk posed in the circumstance. In this paper, we report on a study into a form of differential response known as Intervention with Parents' Agreement introduced in Queensland, Australia, in 2005. A unique feature of this differential response is that it occurs after an initial child protection investigation, although it does provide child protection services with options for providing supportive interventions to at-risk families to prevent the further escalation of concerns. In this paper, we analyse practitioners' perceptions of factors that inhibit and promote implementation of the Intervention with Parents' Agreement. Drawing upon interviews with 25 practitioners, we identify factors that become important for securing participation after an initial investigation has occurred. We discuss the implications for the development of differential responses in child protection service systems.
In recent years, the experience of gender dysphoria has gained public prominence through an explosion of sensationalized interest in the popular media. However, childhood gender dysphoria remains poorly understood and both parents and children often find themselves having to educate professionals around them. This not only creates a sense of disconnect between family and professionals, but also means that social workers can often be unaware of the myriad of competing perspectives that seek to explain gender variance. This review of the literature seeks to provide interested social workers with an overview of gender dysphoria, current research in the field and theoretical paradigms, with a view to promoting understanding and better practice with families in this little understood field.
Matching describes the process of selecting the substitute home for a child who needs to be placed away from the care of his/her birth parents. However, very little theorizing is done about matching and there is also a lack of systematic investigation into models of practice currently in use. Most importantly, very little is known about front-line matching practices in different socio-historical child welfare contexts. This paper aims to explore the concept of matching by addressing it theoretically and empirically as a decision-making practice in social work. Based on the analysis of phone interviews (49) and focus group interviews (five groups with 18 child welfare practitioners) in Finland, we claim that matching includes a high degree of navigation: decision-making balances between professional discretion, legal norms and principles, subjective views of the children and their parents as well as the economic and bureaucratic conditions of the service provision administration in the municipality. Navigation is shadowed by uncertainty and compromises. The analysis suggests that the notion of matching needs further analysis as it plays an important role in child welfare decision-making. The interplay between front-line practice and the socio-historical context needs to be further addressed.
Youth leadership development is a growing area of research and practice in recent years. This paper will present a conceptual model highlighting the key components necessary in cultivating young leaders including skills development, environmental factors and commitment to action. In each of these categories, a number of aspects, supported by international literature known to be important in developing leaders, are presented. In the skills section, important factors include social and emotional intelligence, the ability to collaborate with others (including problem solving and conflict resolution), the ability to articulate a vision and finally the ability to gain insight or knowledge into the particular subject area. Environmental conditions include having authentic opportunities that enable young people to practise and hone their skills. In terms of action, both the ability to inspire and motivate followers through high expectations and role modelling pave the way to having a good team on which to build youth leadership. This, together with mastery as developed through the ability to persist and endeavour, is critical to any successful youth leader.
Little research has been done into what social workers do in everyday child protection practice. This paper outlines the broad findings from an ethnographic study of face-to-face encounters between social workers, children and families, especially on home visits. The social work practice was found to be deeply investigative. Children's bedrooms were routinely inspected and were the most common place where they were seen alone. A high proportion of children were not seen on their own because they were too young and the majority of the time was spent working with parents and children together. Small amounts of time were spent with children on their own and some first encounters were so rushed that social workers did not even introduce themselves to the child. This arose from two key factors: firstly, organisational pressures from high workloads and the short timescales that social workers were expected to adhere to by managers and Government; secondly, practitioners had varying levels of communication skills, playfulness and comfort with getting close to children and skills at family work. Where these skills and relational capacities were present, social workers were found to have developed deep and meaningful relationships with some children and families, for whom it was apparent that therapeutic change had occurred.
Children in families with mental health problems may encounter multiple risks to their well-being. General aims of peer support programmes for these children include fostering resilience and effective coping strategies, and enhancing self-esteem and social skills. This study aimed to evaluate outcomes from a pilot multi-site implementation of the ON FIRE peer support programme. The purpose of ON FIRE is to cultivate hope, resilience and well-being in children and adolescents aged 8–17 years living in families affected by sibling or parental mental health problems. We employed a pre-post test (baseline and 4 months) evaluation using a suite of outcome measures. The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), Children's Hope Scale, Kids Connections Scale and Positive and Negative Affect Scale for Children (PANAS-C) were completed for 64 child/adolescent participants. At baseline, participants had significantly greater difficulties compared with Australian norms. At 4 months, there were significant differences in children's hope and in connections outside the family. There were no significant differences in the SDQ or the PANAS-C.
Research has documented that foster children have high rates of school mobility, and it is widely believed that this contributes to their poor educational outcomes. Recent US policies address this by attempting to minimize schools transfers for foster children; however, these policies have largely ignored the issue of school quality. The current study uses descriptive statistics and mixed factor analysis of variance to assess (i) the quality of schools attended by elementary-aged US foster children living in a large, urban school district (n = 683); (ii) their rates of school mobility; and (iii) differences between the quality of schools located in their birth parent vs. foster placement neighbourhoods. Results indicate that these foster children were attending poor performing schools and had high rates of school transfers. For the sample as a whole and specifically for African-Americans and Hispanics, schools located in placement neighbourhoods were higher performing than schools in birth parent neighbourhoods. For white children, however, birth parent schools outperformed placement schools. These findings highlight the importance of considering school quality, not just continuity, when making educational decisions for children in out-of-home care.
The aim of this literature review was to critique the state of the research on the effects of implementing parenting programmes in shelters for homeless families. A comprehensive search of multiple databases yielded 12 studies for inclusion. The methodological sophistication of the studies varied, with most investigations based on very small samples and one-group pre-post designs. Results indicated that parents generally viewed the interventions as enjoyable and informative, and attendance was good. Incentives were often used to encourage attendance. Evidence was limited in terms of effectiveness of the interventions, but the few studies of evidence-based parenting programmes showed changes in parenting and child functioning. Suggestions are provided for future investigations in this important yet challenging field of study.
Contact with family for children in care is identified as a right under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. However, such contact often presents challenges because of the protective concerns that have led to care arrangements being made. The Family Links: Kinship Care and Family Contact research study explored the nature and extent of family contact in kinship care, with a particular focus on the circumstances that create positive contact and foster family relationships. Findings included evidence of a large proportion of parental contact that was negatively affecting children's well-being, and was sometimes unsafe. By contrast, the frequent contact that children were enjoying with their siblings and wider family was reported to be mostly positive and supportive. Kinship carers described a range of services needed to facilitate more positive parental contact and to enable children to keep contact with significant family members.
This paper explores findings from an exploratory study on sibling relationships following adoption reunion in adulthood. The qualitative data was gathered through in-depth interviews with 33 adopted adults who were reunited with their birth sibling(s) through an adoption agency in the Republic of Ireland. The findings throw light upon the development of the emotional, often complex, relationships which may emerge when siblings meet for the first time in adult life. Factors influential in facilitating or hindering these post-reunion relationships are discussed. The important insights are then considered in the context of the wider international literature on adoption, search and reunion.
There has been a shift towards social workers in many areas of the UK being based in large open plan offices and working more flexibly and remotely in space. This approach is commonly referred to as 'agile working'. The paper explores the impact of agile working on social workers' practices and experiences in office spaces. It discusses data from an ethnographic study of children's safeguarding social work teams in two locations. One team was based in a large open plan office and was engaged in agile working, the other team was located in a much smaller office and was not using this approach. Data from observations of practice, analysis of material spaces, and interviews with social workers and those responsible for planning office space are examined. The paper concludes that there are qualitative differences between such spaces which are due to agile working arrangements and which are likely to impact significantly on social workers' experiences of practice, interactions with colleagues and development of practice knowledge. The data also suggest a lack of understanding in social work of the spatial requirements of practitioners and the significance that private and open space has for children's social work in the current UK context.
In a climate of austerity, timescales and targets, this paper probes whether parents matter sufficiently within the current child protection system in England. Evidence suggests that achieving partnership working in the context of child protection has become increasingly illusive, particularly when parents are notified that the local authority is considering compulsory intervention to remove their children under the Children Act 1989. Recent changes to legislation, policy and practice ushered in with the aim of achieving earlier decisions within the time frame for the child are laudable, but there are consequences for both children and their parents. The aspirations of the Public Law Outline (2008) are well rehearsed, but the changes being introduced with the recent reform of the family justice system, alongside particular constructions of parenting, may be failing to recognize the potential of many parents, if offered appropriate support, to care safely for their children.
The aim of the present study was to investigate residential child care staff satisfaction with their involvement in the Webster-Stratton Incredible Years Basic Parent Programme (IY). In an exploratory, not randomized study, 27 professionals from two different short-term Portuguese residential child care centres (IG1, n = 15; IG2; n = 12) completed weekly IY evaluations and an overall satisfaction questionnaire at the end of their participation in the IY intervention. The weekly level of satisfaction was assessed with regard to each of the programme's components (content, DVDs, group leaders, group discussion). At the last session, they filled out a questionnaire aimed to evaluate the levels of satisfaction regarding the programme overall, the teaching format, the group leader(s) and the usefulness of specific educational techniques they learned. Data indicated that residential staff carers were highly satisfied with the weekly sessions and with the overall usefulness of the intervention programme. Results are discussed in terms of implications and future research directions.
Little is known about how children themselves understand their moves to and between foster homes. The data presented in this paper come from a study that sought children's views on becoming and being a foster child. A key finding of that study was how children's accounts of being fostered illustrated a high level of anxiety and concern about their moving to live with a foster family. This paper firstly explores the key issues about looked-after children's moves. It then describes the research study undertaken, before exploring the data generated from children's accounts of their moves to a new foster home. Lastly, there is a discussion of the implications for social work practice in this area.
This study examines the effects of child care arrangements on children's cognitive outcomes. It is a secondary analysis, using data on 5107 children born in 2004 and their families from Growing Up in Australia: The Longitudinal Study of Australian Children. Data were collected in 2004 (Wave One), in 2006 (Wave Two) and in 2008 (Wave Three). This study asks (i) Do children receiving non-parental child care have different cognitive developmental outcomes at ages 4–5, compared with those who never had non-parental child care during the first 3 years of life? Do parental factors affect these associations?; and (ii) among children with non-parental child care, do child care characteristics such as types of care, quantity, entry age and stability of child care affect child outcomes? Do parental factors affect child outcomes? The study's findings suggest that children in non-parental child care had higher Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test scores at age 5. Among children in non-parental child care arrangements, quantity and entry age of non-parental child care affected children's cognitive developmental outcomes. Along with child care arrangements, parental mental health was associated with children's cognitive outcomes.
Using data from a national survey (n = 6979) of young people in their last year in Norwegian secondary schools in 2007 (aged 18–19), this paper explores the relationship between sexual abuse and experiences of violence among young people in Norway and their reporting of suicidal ideation and self-harm. This investigation includes three types of abuse experienced by young people: non-physical, physical and sexual. We investigate suicidal ideation and two types of self-harming behaviour: non-suicidal self-injury and suicidal self-injury. The analyses that are reported involve descriptive analysis, chi-square and t-tests, and logistic regression. The hypothesis that was confirmed by the analysis was that being subject to sexual abuse or other violence was associated with increased risk of self-harm. The hypothesis that was partially supported by the analysis was that violence experienced during childhood would have more effect on suicidal ideation and self-harm than violence experienced at a later age. Contrary to our expectations, it was found that peer bullying has a stronger effect on young people's suicidal ideation and self-harming behaviours than sexual abuse or physical violence. The implications of these findings for practitioners working with children and youth involve raising awareness about the long-term effects of verbal, physical, sexual and witnessed abuse.
Participation by children in child protection remains a complex area of practice. This paper presents findings from a qualitative study exploring the views of 26 children, aged 6–17 years, about their participation in the child protection system in England. All of the children were subject to a child protection plan and were living at home at the time of interview. The children's understanding of the child protection process was categorized, and the majority of children, including the youngest, were found be at least partially aware of the child protection process, often struggling to make sense of the professional intervention in their families on the basis of partial information. It is argued that decisions about children's involvement should take into account not only children's age and understanding, but be seen in the context of wider family dynamics. Participation in formal processes such as child protection conferences was experienced as difficult and emotive. The child's relationship with their social worker was central to meaningful participation.
This paper reports on a qualitative study of child protection in the UK. The research involved children's practitioners from a range of agencies, including social care, education, health and youth offending, who were asked about working together on complex child protection cases. The aim was to explore how participants talked about complexity in these cases, in order to deconstruct influential perspectives on interprofessional working. Interview transcripts were analysed using critical discourse analysis, a qualitative method that examines patterns of language use in relation to social structures of power and control. The findings identified three overall perspectives: clinical, expert system and relation-centred approaches, which practitioners combined in various ways. These perspectives have a bearing on how the 'team around the child' is conceptualized in discourse about child protection. The paper links these findings to the assumptions of predictability and control currently embedded in policy and practice guidance, and explores their implications for social workers and other children's practitioners.
Although several variables have been reported to be associated with behavioural problems in foster children, few studies have sought to establish more precisely the extent to which these variables may explain problematic behaviour. The main aim of this study is to determine the extent to which certain variables may predict behavioural problems shown by foster children. Participants included 104 foster children and their respective foster families. Multiple linear regression analysis revealed that the following variables predict behavioural problems in foster children: impulsivity/attention deficit in the child, level of burden in the foster carers, rigid or authoritarian parental discipline, and criticism/rejection by the foster parents. The model explained 46% of the variance in behaviour problems, with the greatest predictive power (29%) corresponding to the variable 'impulsivity/attention deficit'. The results show that impulsivity/attention deficit is the most powerful predictor of behavioural problems in foster children. This is consistent with the findings of various studies that have reported an association between a lack of inhibitory control and problematic behaviour.
Option 2 is an intensive family preservation service for families with serious child protection concerns related to parental misuse of drugs or alcohol. A previous evaluation indicated that it reduced the number of children entering care and, as a result, produced cost savings; however, little data were gathered from families. This study involved interviews with 15 families (46 children) who had received the service, and a comparison group of 12 families (28 children) referred but not provided the service due to no workers being available. Outcomes and experiences were compared, on average, 5.6 years following referral. Findings included a significant reduction in children entering care, and improvements in relation to substance misuse, parental well-being and family cohesion. There was no difference in emotional and behavioural welfare of children. Qualitative accounts were very positive about the impact of the service, identifying effective engagement of parents and key elements of good practice in supporting families to change. The findings provide additional support for suggesting that high quality, intensive interventions with families affected by parental substance misuse can be effective. Key lessons for current attempts to deal with the increase in children entering care and the English government's 'troubled families' initiative are considered.
Grandparents whose grandchildren are exposed to domestic violence are faced with some unique challenges in their grandparenting, which have thus far been little discussed in research. This paper discusses the narratives of 10 Swedish grandparents whose grandchildren have been exposed to violence towards their mother. The aim was to explore grandparents' narrations of their responses in the face of violence, and their understanding of the role they play in their grandchildren's social networks. Two significant responses are discussed: 'being there' and 'acknowledging the independence and self-determination of the adult children'. Grandparents experienced these responses as contradictory and felt powerless when it came to their possibilities to protect their grandchildren. The paper suggests that grandparents could be a resource for domestic violence services, and social work practice needs to assess the roles of grandparents of children exposed to domestic violence. Social workers should consider the challenges these grandparents are facing and what support they may need in order to support their grandchildren.
Generations of parents lost to AIDS and other causes have created a vacuum of care for the orphaned children they leave behind. This crisis has resulted in rapid changes in caregiving and family life, with extended family members, having to care for orphaned children. As a result of high numbers of vulnerable orphaned children residing with kinship carers, and the fundamental importance of the relationship between carers and orphaned children, we need to understand more about these relationships. This paper explores the nature of orphaned children–kinship carer relationships in Botswana. Interview guides were used to collect data from 15 caregivers and 15 orphaned children. The results indicate that the nature of relationships between orphaned children and caregivers is influenced by the way the parties communicate, how adolescents behave and the competing responsibilities of caregivers. Lastly, the paper recommends how positive relationships can be developed and nurtured between orphaned children and their caregivers in an African setting.
Even though the social work profession has been increasingly sensitized to the spiritual needs of those that they are working with, recent history has demonstrated that professionals lack the knowledge and skills needed for understanding those who are subscribing to strong religious beliefs. The research reported in this paper draws on a qualitative study that examined the perceived caregiving practice of parents from the Seventh-day Adventist faith community associated with the conservative Protestant sub-culture. Twenty-five participants aged 20–50 were invited to recall their experiences of being reared by practicing Adventist parents in the UK. An integrative phenomenological analysis yielded a number of themes that shed light on the relationship between religion and parenting. This paper will focus on the three key ideas that emerged: parenting was influenced by beliefs that parents held; a combination of warm and strict parenting was found with some evidence of stricter upbringing amongst black respondents; responses to parenting reported varied between acceptance and discomfort. The study gave valuable insight into individuals' experiences of a religious upbringing received within a secular environment.
Child welfare officers experience stress from exposure to child neglect and abuse and the burden of responsibility for children's well-being. This qualitative study addresses the question: How do social workers who are child welfare officers perceive and cope with the influence of their professional occupation on their relationships with their own children? The research is based on in-depth interviews with a purposive sample of 10 child welfare workers who are mothers (of 2–4 children aged 2–23 years). The data analysis illustrates how the professional identity and the maternal identity of the child welfare officer fluctuate between two positions. The first is 'anxious motherhood' in which anxiety is the prism through which the welfare officer views the world as dangerous for her children, stimulating protective, control-enhancing actions. The second position is reflective motherhood in which the welfare worker struggles with her own stresses and conflicts as a mother and searches for an experience of meaningful, positive motherhood. The findings reinforce the need to raise the consciousness of child welfare officers regarding the impact of encountering distress and trauma on their own well-being as parents. In this way, they can prevent secondary traumatization and enhance professional and maternal growth.
The work that is done with children and young people by the practitioners of health, education or social care forms part of their experience of growing up, and can have a profound impact on their future outcomes. Children may find themselves 'impotent at the hands of powerful others', particularly where their behaviour causes concern. This paper reports on a key theme from the author's doctoral research, demonstrating the ways that the emotion-laden interactions between practitioners in multi-agency children's services, children and parents, affected the diagnosis, treatment, communication and outcomes for children's well-being, as defined within Every Child Matters. Exploring the emotion within interactions permits a different perspective on 'need', and finally, the paper argues for a more careful and emotionally reflective practice from those who work with children.
Evidence suggests that children in out-of-home care function better when placed in kinship compared with foster care. Less is known about the functioning of children in the unique form of kinship care where grandparents are caring full-time for their grandchildren in informal care arrangements. As grandparent carers are increasingly taking on this role, it is timely to investigate the functioning of the children in this form of care and the characteristics of the grandparents themselves. We compared the functioning of children in the two types of care. We also investigated carer characteristics, including the relationship between child functioning, social support and daily hassles on carer stress. One hundred fourteen cares and 180 children were assessed on a range of demographic and clinical measures. Children in grandparent care were displaying better behavioural and adaptive functioning than children living with foster carers. Grandparent carers reported higher levels of distress in the carer role. Predictors of carer stress included severity of child behaviour problems and daily hassles. Both group of carers and the children in their care would benefit from increased support from treatment services.
Domestic violence continues to be one of the most significant aspects of child abuse and neglect in Australia. However, the children are not well served by either child protection or domestic violence service sectors, which continue to operate as segregated, tertiary response systems. This paper reports on research that examined bridges and barriers to effective collaboration between child protection and domestic violence services in responding to children affected by domestic violence. The differing conceptions and responses of the workers from each service sector, in relation to children and families affected by domestic violence, is discussed in the light of gaps in service provision in both sectors. In doing so, areas of common ground for more effective collaboration between these service sectors are identified, including the prioritizing of emotional and psychological abuse, supporting and empowering abused mothers, strengthening the mother–child relationship, and supporting children and families across a continuum of service provision, particularly in the medium- to long-term. Understanding each other and finding common ground across the two service sectors is paramount to improving how each responds to children and families affected by domestic violence.
Scholars believe that family ties extending out to previous generations, called kin support, may have allowed American Indians to withstand traumatic events. Although a series of traumatic and historical events disrupted the social structures of family life, kin support was found to be a major factor in the survival of American Indians. This study utilized the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study to compare American Indians and whites (n = 1227) in factors that impact kin support. While urban American Indian mothers were similar to whites in a number of elements, American Indian mothers that were not married, fell below the poverty threshold, were younger in age and co-resided with kin were more likely than their white counterparts to receive kin support. Implications for urban American Indian mothers suggest that maintaining their role as kin keeper may serve as an intrinsic reward and motivation for caring for kin. The role of a kin keeper may also promote the unique contribution in their families and the preservation of their culture. Given the minimal research in this area, results of this study can be used to guide future research and the development of intervention strategies for practitioners working with American Indian families.
The research was undertaken in the context of the ongoing debate about child care social work training and children's participation. Its aim was to explore the views of qualified child care social workers about their skills in eliciting the wishes and feelings of younger children and the relevance of social work training for this task. Questionnaires, focusing on their skills and training, were completed by 70 UK child care practitioners from the Children and Families Court Advisory and Support Service, voluntary agencies and local authorities. On average, practitioners felt able to ascertain the feelings and wishes of children as young as 4 years old. Nevertheless, at qualifying level, only 30% had training in communicating with young children, 16% in ascertaining children's feelings and wishes, and 66% in child development. Many had subsequently relied on in-service training and their own initiatives to acquire further skills and understanding. In conclusion, most participants were experienced practitioners working in supportive organizations and had developed considerable communication skills. However, concerns remain because they identified deficits in child care social work qualifying and post-qualifying training. Consequently, more effective training at all levels is required if social workers are to engage younger children successfully and facilitate their participation.
Intervention to improve educational attainment for children in out-of-home care is increasingly being recognized as important for their well-being and future opportunities. This paper reports on a mixed method study of the school engagement or connectedness of young people in care. The study comprised a survey of 202 young people in care in Queensland, Australia, and a matched comparison group of young people not in care, plus interviews with a subset of 65 young people in care who were surveyed. Both the school environment and the perceived levels of support influenced school engagement, with those who were assisted by carers and caseworkers more likely to be positively connected with school. These young people perceived education as a pathway to achieving work and life goals. The findings suggest that active and focused attention on young people's school engagement should be part of case planning and monitoring as it offers an additional strategy for improving their educational experience.
Previous research suggests a relationship between poverty, caregiver depression, caregiver stress and children's externalizing behaviour. However, little research exists to suggest the manner in which these concepts are interrelated. Latent growth curve analyses were conducted on caregiver–child dyads data from the Early Head Start Research and Evaluation Project to identify the path through which poverty, caregiver depression, caregiver stress and child externalizing behaviours were related. Analyses identified a path through which caregiver stress and depression mediated the effect of poverty on child externalizing behaviours. In addition, the influence of caregiver depression on child externalizing behaviours was mediated by caregiver stress. Implications and limitations of these findings are discussed.
This is the first part of a two-part review of the literature, policy and practice relating to family group conferences (FGCs). This first paper explores the background, the global policy context, the theoretical foundations and the process of undertaking FGCs. The literature is extensive in relation to these elements of FGCs, unlike the limited literature relating to outcomes, which is examined in the second part of this review. In the subsequent review, we examine the issue of outcomes, research findings and explore future challenges in implementing FGCs.
Social support, as a complex, dynamic and multidimensional concept, has been studied extensively. However, a review of research publications on social support and parenting reveals that social work perspectives on social support are underdeveloped in the Social Sciences Citation Index. Social support is predominantly studied in relation to parental health, considering social support as a buffer against potential negative outcomes for children. This, in turn, legitimates extensive research on parents 'at risk'. Specific target groups have been questioned abundantly using social support measures, mainly consisting of self-reports. We conclude that social support is studied as a predefined concept, lacking conceptualizations that encompass the actual enacted support in relation to the perspectives of both givers and receivers of support. Moreover, the focus on targeted groups ignores the experience of social support in more diverse populations in general services and in everyday life. Issues of reciprocity, diversity and multivocality are central to our appeal for social work perspectives truly encompassing the relational aspect of social support. The question whether, and to what extent, social workers (including practitioners, policy-makers and researchers) should give attention to this relational aspect is discussed.
This is the second article of a two-part review of the literature relating to family group conferences (FGCs); it explores outcomes and challenges in implementing FGCs. The complex data relating to outcomes, drawing on a range of national contexts, is presented. The challenges of researching outcomes and the role of longitudinal and randomized, controlled trials are considered. The article concludes with a discussion of the implementation of FGC policy and practice in the contemporary context.


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subset: commoncrawl


text:
All, Need a bit of help on this. I have been thinking about putting together something starfire-ish.
But, I am really not sure where to start. I had one of the deArmonds for a while and it was just really lacking. Played well, sounded good. But just was not "there". I sold it off. I didn't think about it for a while, started thinking about out and looking into it and found out that DeArmond is gone. And also, that everybody put the darkstars in and all of a sudden they became god like..
Well, I obviously screwed up and missed the boat.
So, I checked out a 2001(?) Guild at a place locally $2000! It also seemed like a longer scale than the deArmond? WOW. Ouch! no way. And it was just lacking too..
So, Any ideas? Start off with the Jack Casady? Ibanez art core? Gretsch (tried one, actually pretty nice)?


text:
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Breaking the Mold: PW Talks with Azin Sametipour
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SNL Writer Reaches the Right Readers at the Right Time
Cindy Caponera's new self-published book, 'I Triggered Her Bully,' finds success as a Kindle Single.
Self-Publish Like a Pro: Finding an Audience
When readers discuss a writer's work on social channels and leave positive book reviews, they become active marketers, which is exactly what an indie author needs most.
Wattpad Acquires Red Room Writers' Site
Wattpad, an online writing and reading community, has acquired the Red Room, an online community originally described as a "Facebook for authors." The site will be subsumed into Wattpad.
Kickstarter Diary Chapter 2: Rewards and Goals—Running the Numbers
Once I'd made up my mind I was going to do a Kickstarter campaign, the first thing I needed to do was figure out how the math was going to work—and there were a lot of numbers to run.
PW Select June 2014: The Reviews
This month's installment of PW Select self-published print and e-books.
PW Select June 2014: New Titles from Self-Publishers
Booksellers, publishers, and agents are encouraged to take a look at the following listings of self-published books; some are from authors waiting to be discovered, others are from those with track records and followings who are doing it on their own.
Indie Spotlight on Children's Authors
Picture books are a rapidly growing category in self-publishing, but they can also be one of the most challenging types of books to produce.
How to Create a Successful Self-Published Children's Book
The process of creating and marketing a children's book is very different from that for a piece of fiction or nonfiction meant for adults. Here is some advice for getting it right.
Offset Printing Versus Print-on-Demand
While the vast majority of indie authors turn to print-on-demand when it's time to take their book public, there are certain cases in which offset printing is the way to go.
Copyright Protection: The Best 35 Dollars You'll Ever Spend
Copyright law is a writer's best defense against infringement. It's also one of the most frequently misunderstood aspects of publishing.
Brand Yourself for Indie Success
Unless indie authors can create an emotional connection with readers, they're going to be disappointed with their book sales.
My Self-Publishing Journey: Judging a Book by Its Cover
Great books deserve strong covers, and no indie author wants her cover to be a dud.


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Dalea frutescens
Black Dalea
Fabaceae (Leguminosae)
Evergreen, Shrubs
Extremely useful and attractive desert shrubs from the southwestern states and northern Mexico. All have finely divided foliage and clusters of small sweet pea–shaped flowers. The taller shrub types should be cut back by half during their first 3 or 4 years to encourage dense growth. Overwatering or summer drought can result in partial leaf drop.Dalea frutescens
Mounded growth to 3 ft. tall, 4 ft. across, with silvery green, lacy foliage. Purple flower clusters appear from fall to spring.
Rather open-growing plants to 20 ft. tall and 15 ft. wide, with upright, sometimes twisted branches. S...
Dalea greggii
Has a mounding habit to 1 1/2 ft. high and 6 ft. wide. Pearl gray foliage and clusters of lavender to ...
Rhus microphylla
Deciduous shrub. Native to southwestern U.S. and Mexico. Grows to 8 ft. (possibly 15 ft.) tall and 12 ...


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Vintage 1940s Heels
Hazelnut Haute Heel$149.99Price: $149.99
Youll take the latt leather and espresso accents of these mid-heels with a hazelnut-brown twist! A style of peep toes known as Jeffrey Campbells Mavis, these buckled Mary Janes are chic for the coffee shop and beyond.
Jade Upgrade Heel$69.99Price: $69.99
Enhance a floral print frock with the remarkable tones of these irresistible Chelsea Crew heels. These leather-lined, cream pumps tout jade-hued contrasting on the mid-heels, T-straps, counters, and wingtip-style toes, so affix their silver-buckle bands and watch your already-charming presence flourish even more.
Keen Dream Heel$164.99Price: $164.99
With the panache of 40s-influenced style, you feel like one dressed-up dame in these kitten-heeled Mary Janes by Miss L. Fire! Made from leather in textured-pistachio and stitch-trimmed sandy-tan hues, this lovely heel touts a frond-like design and a cross strap secured by a pearly round button. Inspired by Hollywoods ...
Hep Hopper Heel$59.99Price: $59.99
Your fancy footwork rivals the hippest 40s-era cats when you cut a rug in these strappy Restricted heels! Beige with black patent vegan faux-leather trim and double-T-straps, these retro-inspired kicks boast shiny black tapered heels, snazzy peep toes, and leather linings for a stylish fit that keeps you in the ...
Sass Up Your Strut Heel in Caramel$69.99 $34.99Price: $69.99 $34.99 50% off!
Buckle the ankle strap of these two-toned heels by Chelsea Crew to put a spring in your step! Patent black perforated pinking outlines the cool cut-outs of these tan pumps for a look worth showing off!
Sass Up Your Strut Heel in Cloud$69.99 $34.99Price: $69.99 $34.99 50% off!
Buckle the ankle strap of these two-toned heels by Chelsea Crew to put a spring in your step! Patent, wine-hued, perforated pinking outlines the cool cutouts of these white peeptoe pumps, for a look worth showing off!
Fleur Those About to Walk Heel$139.99Price: $139.99
Salute your trendsetting style in these unique heels by Poetic Licence! An allover floral motif lends subtle texture and sheen to this chic black pair. Boasting a tri-strapped upper embellished by distressed silver studs, these retro pumps will rock your world. This fun, feminine brand from Brighton, England infuses its ...


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The Mill At McCullough
View property, WalkScore, and Driving Directions
Visit the most amazing gated community located in Tupelo, Mississippi! The Mill At McCullough offers the most luxurious 1 and 2 bedroom apartments for rent. Stop by and see why we are proud to be Tupelo's newest luxury apartment community!
Floorplans and Pricing
1 Bedroom
|One Bedroom
|1 Bathroom
|Check Availability
|One Bedroom Carriage Unit
|1 Bathroom
|Check Availability
2 Bedrooms
|Two Bedroom
|2 Bathrooms
|Check Availability
Features and AmenitiesBack to Top
Special Features
- Sparkling Swimming Pool
- State-Of-The-Art Fitness Center
- Hardwood Style Flooring
- Gourmet Kitchens
- Full Size Washer/Dryer
- Direct TV, Home Phone, Internet Included
- Billard's Table
- Social Meeting Room
- Cozy Fireplace
Community Features
- Apartment
- Club House
- Fitness Center
- Standard
- Surface Lot
Apartment Amenities
- Dishwasher
- Fireplace
- Hardwood Floor
- Microwave
- Washer Dryer In Unit
Pet Policy
Please call for more pet information.
Local Schools
- Joyner Elementary School
- Milam Elementary School
- Rankin Elementary School
- Tupelo High School
- Tupelo Middle School
We believe school data to be accurate, but do not guarantee that. Please be sure to verify where your children will attend school before making your housing decision.
As you search for your perfect apartment, please keep in mind that rental rates (including specials and discounts) and availability are very fluid in the apartment industry. Based on many factors, the rental rates (including specials and discounts) and availability can actually change not just daily, but hourly, if not even more quickly. While our advertisers do take steps to keep their information current, the rental rates or availability you may find here now at ForRent.com may not be the same as when you contact the communities.


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Feb. 28 (Bloomberg) -- Swiss Central Bank Vice President Thomas Jordan said the SNB is ready to defend the limit of 1.20 francs versus the euro with all consequences.
"We will defend the franc limit with all measures needed," Jordan said at an event in Zurich today. "The SNB's balance sheet can be expanded without limits to do that. The current situation is so critical that we won't tolerate an appreciation of the franc versus the euro. And we would also be ready to do that if the turbulences in Europe deepened."
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Klaus Wille at email@example.com


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Glasgow Pays Tribute To MLK
Posted: 01/15/2007 - Outside of Bowling Green, Americans all over the nation are remembering the life of Martin Luther King Jr.
Posted: 01/15/2007 - Outside of Bowling Green, Americans all over the nation are remembering the life of Martin Luther King Jr.
Updated: 01/22/2007 - In last week's Adventures in Kentucky we left Brandon, after repelling off of a 90 foot cliff and wading across the Cumberland River. In the third and final part of the Big South Fork adventures, we catch up with Brandon and learn a little bit about cooking in the woods.
Posted: 01/15/2007 - Kentucky's first black supreme court justice is pushing for reforms in the selection process of appellate judges.
Posted: 01/15/2007 - There's good news for cancer patients after a study identifies a gene in bone marrow.
Posted: 01/15/2007 - State Police say four railroad cars that broke loose on Monday, Jan. 15, 2007, rolled into a standing engine, creating an explosion and fire in Estill County.
Posted: 01/15/2007 - Bible verses painted in a Hopkinsville school bathroom have been removed.
Posted: 01/15/2007 - Two area landmarks are feeling the effects from the weekend's heavy rains.
Posted: 01/15/2007 - The Kentucky Wildlife Commission has taken steps to make it easier for children to hunt, even removing the requirement for the state's youngest hunters to purchase licenses.
Updated: 01/15/2007 - Martin Luther King Jr. had a dream that people of all races be treated equally. Now, nearly 40 years after his death, people across the nation are remembering his message of unity and peace.
Updated: 01/15/2007 - Kentucky House Speaker, Jody Richards, is considering another run for governor on the Democratic ticket.
Updated: 01/15/2007 - Dozens of South Central Kentucky kids audition for a competition benefiting The Family Enrichment Center.
Updated: 01/15/2007 - The civil rights pioneer would have turned 78 years old Monday, Jan. 15, 2007.
Updated: 01/15/2007 - In December 2006, the Kentucky Agricultural Development Board approved $49,000 for the Kentucky Dairy Development Council.
Updated: 01/14/2007 - Federal officials say they're planning to release the report on last year's crash of Comair Flight 5191 in Lexington.
Updated: 01/14/2007 - Flooding continued to be a possibility in Kentucky.
Updated: 01/14/2007 - A gas leak in Butler County forces some Morgantown residents to evacuate their homes.
Updated: 01/13/2007 - Kentucky State Police arrest a Muhlenburg County man for conspiracy to commit a criminal assault.
Posted: 01/13/2007 - Investigators release more information about a burglary that led to the death of a Glasgow man.
Posted: 01/13/2007 - There's been a string of robberies at Bowling Green check cashing businesses over the past several weeks. Now, the person charged in at least one of those robberies has been indicted.
Posted: 01/13/2007 - Muhlenberg County officials vote to change the name of the county's judicial building.
Posted: 01/12/2007 - A group of 81 Kentucky National Guard members based in Western Kentucky won't be coming home in March 2007.
Posted: 01/12/2007 - Former Lieutenant Governor Steve Henry said he intends to file for the Democratic nomination for governor next Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2007, while Billy Haper is not bothered by Congresswoman Northup seeking the Republican nomination.
Posted: 01/12/2007 - Governor Ernie Fletcher has appointed a Monroe County Man to The Forestry Best Management Practices Board.
Updated: 01/13/2007 - Music is a powerful tool, which can touch a lot of people. For this week's Hometown Hero, we meet a lady who uses music to help her come out of her shell and spread the love of the Lord to her congregation even after several health problems have tried to set her back.
Updated: 01/13/2007 - Some Warren County homeowners are going to fiscal court trying to stop a new development.