Child Care as a Human Right: A New Perspective on an Old Debate

SUMMARY

A range of international human rights documents recognize the importance of child care for both parents and children, including the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. While domestic advocates within the United States have long argued for an expansion of government-supported child care, the significance of child care's status as an international human right has not been explored. In other nations, international law has played an important role in spurring governments to expand childcare services. Reframing the child care issue in the United States as a question of international human rights could be an effective way to enlist new allies, posit new paradigms, re-energize the child care debate and shift the domestic focus toward more progressive models.     

Family Foster Care,Kinship Networks,and Residential Care of Abandoned Infants in Egypt

While infant abandonment has occurred in all segments of society, on all continents, and across all generations, the motivations for this practice are varied and depend upon the social norms of a specific geographic region at a given point in time. Western approaches addressing the care of abandoned infants focus on terminating parental rights and placing the child in an adoptive home. The child assumes the family name and is privy to all rights and responsibilities as biological children. In Egypt, Islamic family law does not allow for adoption of an infant by a nonbiological individual. Nor does the country of Egypt allow assignment of guardianship or fostering of a child by a non-Egyptian parent. Therefore, models of care cannot simply be transferred from one context to the other, although they may learn from each other. Egypt's system of family foster care, kinship networks, and residential (institutional) care are models that are consistent with the cultural values and customs of this population. The family foster care model and kinship networks have been shown to provide the most positive psychosocial outcomes for the child. The purpose of this article is to compare and contrast culturally acceptable approaches to caring for abandoned infants in Egypt.     

Youth in Foster Care and Social Media: A Framework for Developing Privacy Guidelines

Although youth in foster care most likely use social media websites, there appears to be a lack of policy guidelines related to this use. When one considers youth in foster care, the state's mandate to provide safety, and foster parents' rights to exercise parenting responsibilities, the notion of privacy and the use of social media becomes complex. Critical Systems Heuristics will be introduced as a tool in developing policy recommendations. An application of this framework will be provided which can serve as a guide for an agency or workgroup tasked with developing policy guidelines for social media use by youth in foster care.     

Fostering cultural development: Foster parents' perspectives

Given the increased number of children from racialized groups requiring foster care and the decreasing number of foster parents from racialized groups, transcultural foster placements are on the rise. Addressing racial and cultural diversities within the context of transcultural foster care placements is one of the most pressing dilemmas of contemporary child protection practice, in Canada. In this qualitative exploratory study, the perspectives of regular non-kinship foster parents in two Canadian provinces, who provide foster care to children and youth from racialized groups, were explored through open-ended semi-structured interviews. Participants consisted of nine foster parents, between the ages of 30 and over 60 years old, who were asked to share their experiences regarding transcultural foster care placements. The results of this study indicated foster parents were culturally receptive and ‘fostering cultural development’ in their homes as well as their respective communities.     

Engaging substance-affected families in child welfare: parent perspectives of a parenting intervention at program initiation and completion

Families affected by substance abuse are at an increased risk of child welfare involvement and poor child welfare outcomes. One strategy to improve outcomes among these families is evidence-based parenting interventions. While these interventions show the potential for advancing the child welfare field, they have not been widely and rigorously evaluated with birth parents, especially those affected by substance abuse, who face marked vulnerability and marginalization. We sought to draw on parents’ expertise and to understand their first and changing impressions throughout involvement in a parenting intervention, as well as overall impressions at program completion. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a purposive sample of 10 parents who were involved in child welfare and a family drug treatment court. All parents were affected by parental substance use and had recently completed the Strengthening Families Program. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed for prominent themes. The study’s findings showed that parents described four key themes that influenced their perspectives of the parenting intervention: program reputation as communicated by peers, relevance and applicability of the program, children’s involvement and enjoyment of the program, and program structure issues that pointed to the need for high-quality group facilitation. Implications for practice and research are discussed.     

Victim's Response Cycle: A Model for Understanding the Incestuous Victim-Offender Relationship

ABSTRACT

The victim-response cycle is a theoretical and clinical model that can be utilized to assist victims in their healing from the trauma of sexual abuse. This model focuses on the specific aspects of the relationship that victims have with their offenders, particularly in incest cases, which contribute to the degree of trauma that victims experience. This relationship can also become the model for other relationships as the victim matures, and the victim-response cycle can be used to assist these adult survivors in understanding their difficulties with adult intimate relationships. This model addresses aspects of attachment and learned coping responses to assist clinicians in treating symptomatic behavior. While severe trauma is rarely treatable with a short-term approach, this model can assist in providing clients and clinicians with tools for symptomatic relief, which may be achievable in a short-term setting. This model has not been examined empirically, but it has been utilized in several outpatient practices in the Midwest with positive clinical results. A case example demonstrating the use of this model is also presented.     

Employment outcomes of former foster youth as young adults: The importance of human, personal, and social capital

In spite of a prevailing policy focus, little is known about the employment outcomes of former foster youth during early adulthood and the factors associated with those outcomes. We explore how former foster youth who aged out of care in Illinois, Wisconsin, and Iowa are faring in the labor market at age 24 and what explains variability in employment and wages for these youth. We utilize multilevel models to analyze youth's employment using four waves of the Midwest Study. Our findings point to a critical need to better understand and address barriers to education, causes of substantial racial disparities, and characteristics of family foster homes that facilitate youths' employment. We find that youth who remain in care past age 18 attain higher educational credentials which translate into better employment outcomes. This research also highlights the need for policies directed at current and former foster youth who become early parents.     

Child welfare workers go to court: The impact of race, gender, and education on the comfort with legal issues

This study examines perceptions of 425 public and private agency child welfare workers from one state in terms of their level of comfort with the court work components of their jobs, at baseline, which is after their initial training but before beginning their child welfare work, and again after six months on the job. Bivariate and multivariate analyses were undertaken. Bivariate analyses reveal that being older and male were associated with higher court comfort levels at baseline and at six months. Being white was associated with higher comfort levels at six months. In addition, private agency workers were more comfortable with court at baseline and six months. Workers with a social work education had higher court comfort levels at baseline and six months, when compared to those with criminal justice or other education. In the multivariate analysis, there were no significant differences in level of comfort with court work based upon worker characteristics at baseline. However, at six months on the job, predictors of comfort with child welfare work were being white and being male; having a social work education approached statistical significance. When change in comfort level was examined, the only significant positive predictor of court comfort was having a social work education.     

Transitioning youth: Policies and outcomes

The primary policies and outcome studies regarding youth transitioning from foster care and young adults who have aged out of foster care over the past quarter of a century are reviewed. Although several policies have increased services and funding for this population, overall, their outcomes have not significantly improved. In terms of educational achievement, employment, and well-being, many continue to fare poorly in young adulthood. Further policies and practice improvements may need to be implemented. The population of youth transitioning has far outpaced the funding available, state and program eligibility requirements may be eliminating the most vulnerable from services, in many states there is an inadequate provision of basic needs such as housing and healthcare, the expectations of self-sufficiency for this population now exceed societal norms, and the restrictions and placement instability associated with many older adolescents in care may be in contrast to their developmental needs. In order to more fully address the needs of youth transitioning from foster care, child welfare policies and practices may need to focus more attention on the relational and social development of youth while in foster care. Furthermore, during young adulthood, policies and practices may need to provide greater safety nets and resources to this population.     

A lattice of participation: reflecting on examples of children's and young people's collective engagement in influencing social welfare policies and practices

The article introduces four case studies from Wales, France and Finland and explores the situated, intergenerational and dynamic nature of collective participation in child welfare settings. Collective participation is conceived of as a process of engagement in which children and young people have some influence over the initiation or direction of a project; and as seeking a product, or outcome. The case studies represent a range of forms of collective engagement and highlight some key resources which supported children's participation (communicative spaces, time, money, knowledge, social position, attitudes, social networks, institutional commitment, equipment, food and transport). Challenges encountered in achieving effective participation in different nations within Europe are also identified, related to generation barriers and the distribution of resources. These elements are used to construct a lattice of participation: a model for conceptualising children and young people's collective engagement in participatory projects. The model provides a tool for visualising how, at different stages of a project, actors (children, young facilitators, adults and institutions) exercise influence by directing the use of different resources, such as finance and time. It invites reflection on why influence is limited in some stages of a participatory project, and how it is supported in other stages.     

Triangulating perspectives to inform the development of a smartphone application for foster,kinship, and adoptive parents

Abstract

This article describes the initial phase of a user-centered, inductive process for informing the development of a smartphone application (app) to complement an in-person trauma-focused knowledge and skills training class for child welfare resource parents (i.e. foster, kinship, and adoptive parents). Based on the participatory design approach for technology development, a qualitative study was designed to capture and triangulate relevant knowledge and opinions from resource parents, training instructors, and parenting education experts. The most prevalent themes emerging among these stakeholder groups included the need for a simple app interface and the potential for the app to (1) cultivate connection, affirmation, and combat resource parent feelings of isolation; (2) reinforce in-class knowledge and support skill practice at home; and (3) monitor resource parent, child, and family progress over time. Detailed findings are presented, including direct quotes from focus group and interview participants and elaboration on the prevalent themes, which may benefit others in the early stages of human services app design and contribute to the creation of guidelines for the development of technology-based human services interventions.     

Migrant Children,Social Capital and Access to Services Post‐Migration: Transitions,Negotiations and Complex Agencies

For migrant children, moving to a new country is marked by excitement, anxiety and practical challenges in managing this significant transition. This paper draws upon the concepts of social capital and social networks to examine migrant children's access to services post‐migration. Using data from a qualitative study with Eastern European families in Scotland, we identify a range of cumulative barriers that limit children's access to services and illustrate how their experiences are shaped by ethnicity, social class and place. The study shows that migrant children are often disadvantaged post‐migration and develop their own mechanisms to mitigate the impact of migration on their lives. We argue that migrant children's own social networks are relevant and they need to be analysed through a more individualised approach.     

Young People Leaving Care: Participatory Research to Improve Child Welfare Practices and the Rights of Children and Young People

Abstract

This paper discusses participatory research with young people who are leaving public care in Finland to begin independent lives. The aim of the research, organised by SOS Children's Villages International, was to bring about change in alternative care arrangements, particularly those involving young people's transition to independence. The project used a participatory research design based on employing care-leaving peers as co-researchers. This paper adheres to the methodological principles of empowerment in analysing the personal experiences of young people leaving alternative care with the goal of informing good practice. The findings suggest that the peer research method can be an effective means of empowering young people to develop research skills and to be involved in knowledge production, as well as serving as a means of promoting improved services for “care-leavers”, those young people who are leaving either foster care or institutional care. The participatory and peer research method challenges the traditional understandings of expertise and knowledge production. Although the hierarchy between adult researchers and young people as co-researchers is still evident, the method provides possibilities for better understanding the social- and health-service systems and their challenges and pitfalls from a user's perspective.     

Integrated Substance Abuse and Child Welfare Services for Women: A Progress Review

A review of empirical literature reveals improvements in service utilization and outcomes for women when substance abuse and child welfare services are integrated. The increased use of substances by women involved in the child welfare system has resulted in a call for integrated, coordinated, evidence-based practices. Since the late 1990s, specific system- and service-level strategies have been developed to coordinate and integrate the provision of substance abuse and child welfare services such that women are remaining in treatment longer and are more likely to reduce substance use and be reunited with their children. The strategies reviewed provide useful guidelines for developing components of effective, evidence-based programs for substance-involved women in the child welfare system.     

Parental Imprisonment and Child Protection: A Study of Children Presented to the Melbourne Children's Court

Abstract

This paper reports on a study funded by the Criminology Research Council, Australia, which set out to investigate the intersection between the child protection and criminal justice systems and the extent to which children before the Melbourne Children's Court on child protection matters had a parent currently in prison, awaiting sentencing, or previously in prison. Magistrates identified 156 children as meeting these criteria during the study period June to December, 2006. Analysis of court records gathered quantitative and qualitative data about parents' offending, why the children had been brought to the attention of the court, and the health, welfare, and behavioural concerns the child protection service expressed about the children. There was no coordinated response by the child protection and justice systems to managing these children's situations. Early intervention and the development of child protection service protocols with the corrections system for children whose parents enter prison is essential, to better address the instability and disruption in care these children experience.     

‘Orphans and Rich People’: A Discourse Analysis of the ‘Children's Lives’ Exhibition in Birmingham,UK

In 2012, an art gallery in Birmingham, England presented an exhibition of ‘Children's Lives’. Through its curation of photography, fine art, objects, video and text, ‘Children's Lives’ claimed to ‘let childhood through the ages speak for itself’ and to contribute ‘to a debate over what it means to be a child’. In this article, we offer a critical analysis of the exhibition, examining the relationship between the exhibition as discourse and the ‘external’ discourses around childhood that are reinforced, negotiated and in some cases challenged by the assemblage of image, text and the spatial ‘narrative’ of the gallery.     

Fostering global dialogue: Conceptualisations of children's rights to participation and protection

The children's rights and child protection sectors are at a critical juncture: will they evolve to reflect and respond to changing conceptualisations in the 21st century or will they continue to reproduce 19th- and 20th-century preoccupations with saving child victims? Informed by systematic reviews of the English- and Latin American academic literature in Spanish and Portuguese and key informant interviews with international stakeholders, this paper fosters global dialogue with some Global South and Global North perspectives about the interconnections of children's rights. It explores current conceptualisations of child participation and protection, and concludes that children's rights will only progress after recognition of limitations inherent to current conceptualisations.     

Groupwork for Parents whose Children are in Care: Challenges and Opportunities

Until recently, the focus for child protection in NSW has been on risk assessment, supportive measures for parents, and ‘the best interests of the child’. The needs of the birth families, once their children have been removed have not received the same attention. An emerging body of research indicates a growing awareness of the importance of the link between good outcomes for children in care and positive ongoing links with their birth parents. Biological parents of children who have been removed invariably continue to have parenting relationships, if not with the removed child, then with subsequent birth children, step children and children in their extended family. Service provision for this group of parents is critical given the complexity and scale of their emotional needs, and the implications for the children they will care for. In this paper, we describe one such intervention: Kids in Care, a group program offered at Relationships Australia NSW, and consider the arising issues and dilemmas for both parents and group workers. Developed to address the particular needs of parents whose children have been taken into care, the group creates an environment of acceptance and support. This opens up possibilities for parents to consider issues of grief, stigma and trauma, as well as to develop skills in communication, assertiveness and emotional regulation.     

Parent Management Training, Relationships with Agency Staff, and Child Mental Health: Urban Foster Parents' Perspectives

Many foster parents are ill prepared to meet the behavioral needs of children placed in their homes. Research suggests they lack training in evidence-based behavioral interventions and feel unsupported by child welfare professionals. Given the complex needs of foster children and increased rates of placement disruption for foster children with behavior problems, implementation of effective interventions is essential. However, little is known about foster parents' receptivity to these types of interventions. In this qualitative study, we examine urban foster parents' perceptions of the specific elements of parent management training (PMT), an evidence-based treatment for disruptive behaviors that teaches parents to improve desired behaviors and decrease oppositional behaviors by rewarding positive behaviors (positive reinforcement) and responding to negative behaviors with mild, consistent punishments such as timeout or a privilege removal. We present data from four focus groups (N = 38). While the questions focused on parent's perceptions of PMT, responses often related to parent interactions with agency staff. Four strong themes emerged from the data. First, foster parents discussed a need for more support and training in how to address children's behaviors, but also had concerns that some PMT discipline techniques would be ineffective based on their past experiences with foster children. Second, they described how staff communication skills and allegations of child abuse could affect parents' motivation to continue fostering. Third, they expressed a need for more detailed information about children's histories and visits with biological families as the lack of information contributed to difficulty in meeting foster children's needs. They suggested that joint training of foster parents and staff in the intervention could improve their ability to work together to support the child's positive behaviors. Finally, parents reported little involvement in child mental health services and doubted the effectiveness of the mental health services their foster children received.     

Prevalence,people and processes: a consideration of the implications of Lord Laming's progress report on the protection of children in England

Media coverage of the death of Baby P revived national concerns about the standard of child safeguarding practice in England following the implementation of widespread structural changes in response to the Victoria Climbié Inquiry chaired by Lord Laming in 2003. This paper discusses the recommendations of Lord Laming's recent Progress Report. It questions whether the scale of the challenge in improving child protection is fully recognised and considers briefly the culture of social care in the UK and the barriers to effective reform. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.