Out‐of‐Home Placement of Children Exposed to Violence

There is growing concern about the increasing number of children in the USA who are exposed to community violence and the need to remove some of them from their families. This study examines risk factors for out‐of‐home placement among a large pool of children and adolescents who were referred for general clinical assessment following exposure to violence and/or psychological trauma in their communities or homes. Children with greater familial and environmental support and children exposed to incidents involving a non‐parental personal threat were associated with a significantly lower risk of out‐of‐home placement. A greater likelihood of being placed out of home was associated with older age (adolescents), history of mental health service use, involvement with law enforcement agencies, higher clinical ratings of depression or impaired thought processes, lower clinical functioning and greater exposure to traumatic events. Evidence of maltreatment and a threat to life was associated with 13.6 times greater likelihood of being placed out of the home. This study raises an important issue in respect to the children's past use of mental health service and current symptoms. It is not just the risk of violence but also evidence of psychiatric problem that trigger out‐of‐home placement. Further studies are needed to assess the quality and effectiveness of mental health services provided to children exposed to violence. © 2007 The Author(s). Journal compilation © 2007 National Children's Bureau.     

Prevention of child abuse and neglect and improvements in child development

The aim of the study was to evaluate the implementation of a section in the Danish Social Assistance Act which encourages local authorities to offer families services in order to support children at risk of child maltreatment. The specific purpose of the present paper is to answer the question: Will the socio‐psychological development of children known to social services be improved when abuse and neglect are reduced? A sample of 1,138 children was drawn at random from new social services cases starting in 1998. Subsequently, about 80 per cent were evaluated by local caseworkers on the basis of a standardised questionnaire covering a period of four years. The most damaging family conditions seemed to be psychological maltreatment, physical/sexual abuse and neglect. Maltreated children were more often in a depressed state, unhappy, socially isolated, or they had an eating disorder, inadequate or under‐nutrition, suicidal tendencies, lack of concentration, or disturbed behaviour, compared to those children who were not exposed to abuse and neglect. If parental behaviour improved, effects on children's well‐being were also observed and positive changes in children's socio‐psychological development were identified. The questionnaire explored the impact of various interventions, including services geared to strengthen the child's network, but results indicated that the child displayed reduced risk of reactive symptoms only when parental behaviour improved and abuse and neglect were reduced. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Early multiple intervention: a view from On Track

On Track started life in 2000 as part of the Crime Reduction Programme in the Home Office, but was shifted to the Children and Young People's Unit less than a year later. This paper describes tensions that emerged during the first phase of the evaluation of this innovative programme, designed to provide interventions for four to twelve year olds at risk of becoming involved in crime. Analysis of interventions and multiple intervention is presented, together with reflections on the need for a different kind of evaluation and a more positive approach to services for children and young people.     

The Area and Community Components of Children's Well‐being

Until recently, mainstream services for children in the UK have largely relied upon individual and reactive approaches to safeguarding children's welfare. However, recent legislative and policy reforms require the development of a more preventive orientation, capable of promoting the well‐being of all children. This will require that agencies responsible for the integrated delivery of children's services develop strategies that, for the first time, take full account of the area and community components of children's well‐being. The challenges presented by these reforms, to existing organisational and professional cultures and ways of working, are examined in the light of recent research evidence. Copyright © 2006 The Author(s).     

Developing Responsive Preventative Practices: Key Messages from Children's and Families’ Experiences of the Children's Fund

As part of the prevention and social inclusion agenda, the Children's Fund, set up in 2000, has developed preventative services for children at risk of social exclusion. Drawing on a large qualitative dataset of interviews conducted in 2004/05 with children, young people and their parents/carers who accessed Children Fund services, this article analyses key practices and approaches valued by children and parents. These included: specialist support tailored to individual support needs, family‐oriented approaches, trusting relationships with service providers, multi‐agency approaches and sustainability of services. Finally, the article draws out key lessons for the future development of preventative services.     

Self‐Esteem,the Fear of Crime,and the Decision to Protect Oneself From Victimization

This research extends prior work that examines self‐esteem as an outcome of protective behaviors against crime victimization by focusing instead on the moderating influence of self‐esteem on the relationship between the fear of crime and the decision to protect oneself from victimization. The fear of crime is conceptualized as two separate components (fear of victimization and perceived risk) in accordance with prior work. Self‐esteem is conceptualized as three separate components (worth, efficacy, and authenticity), and measured with a recently designed instrument for capturing each aspect of self‐esteem separately. Data are collected through surveys of a population at high risk for victimization (undergraduate college students). Logistic regression analyses demonstrate that self‐esteem does play a role for deciding whether to engage in protective behaviors, and that the specific components of self‐esteem moderate defensive behavioral outcomes differently. Specifically, the self‐worth, self‐efficacy, and authenticity components of self‐esteem influence the decision to carry protection, but not the decision to take a self‐defense class. Implications for both the fear of crime and self‐esteem literatures are addressed.     

Editorial

In this paper I shall provide a self‐reflective account of the development of a psychoanalytic psychotherapy service for the parents and carers of children considered to be at risk of abuse or neglect by social workers or child mental health professionals. I will discuss some of my thinking in setting up such a service and the difficulties, both clinical and operational, that I have encountered. I will draw tentative conclusions about the effectiveness of once‐weekly psychotherapy for parents in protecting their children from harm and promoting their development. I will illustrate the difficulties and my conclusions with clinical material.     

Prevention in integrated children's services: the impact of sure start on referrals to social services and child protection registrations

Every Child Matters, the English government's plans for integrated children's services, proposed that preventative approaches such as those developed through Sure Start should be able to reduce the numbers of children requiring more intensive support from children's social services and, by implication, the numbers of children on the child protection register. This study examined the impact of Sure Start local programmes (SSLPs) on four local authorities with social services responsibilities in the northeast of England. The researchers analysed routinely collected statistical data concerning over 10,000 referrals of children under four years and over 1,600 child protection registrations (CPRs) in an eight‐year period before and after the introduction of 19 SSLPs. They also analysed interviews with 36 key informants in eight case study SSLP areas. Contrary to expectations, the quantitative data revealed no discernable short‐term effect on the numbers of referrals, or on CPRs. Interview data showed broad agreement on the potential impact of preventative work undertaken by SSLPs and many respondents believed that it was too early to draw conclusions. Alternatively, the universal approach to prevention within the Sure Start areas and the attempts to provide non‐stigmatising and non‐intrusive community‐based services may be ineffective in reducing the need for intensive support for ‘at risk’ families. The findings are discussed in relation to ‘targeted’ prevention programmes and government policy intentions. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Domestic violence: analysis of a community safety alarm system

This paper presents the findings of an analysis of the trial period of a local authority community alarm system adapted to protect adult and child victims of domestic violence and enable them to remain living in their own homes. The system was augmented as a response to government guidance on promoting interagency initiatives to tackle the crime of domestic violence. Qualitative and quantitative research methods were employed to seek the perceptions and experiences of referrers, service users and potential service users in the context of the administration, resource implications and cost‐effectiveness of the new system. The evaluation discovered that potential service users were anxious about police and social services involvement in relation to child care. The system was considered to be protective, enabling women and children to remain in their own homes, and relatively cheap to operate. It has the potential to provide a deterrent to perpetrators and enhance interagency cooperation in protecting children, subject to further refinement and longer‐term evaluation. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

"Reasonable efforts": toward implementation in permanency planning

The "reasonable efforts" criterion for provision of services to the families of children in foster care and to the families of children at risk of entering foster care is designed to provide for external, and presumably more objective, monitoring by a court of the quantity and quality of these services. A standard of "reasonable effort" applicable to all cases in the two populations of concern is both impractical and probably unethical. Legally there must be a case-by-case determination of "reasonable efforts" that will weigh the unique elements of each case. It is hoped that the working guideline proposed here will provide a basis in child welfare practice for minimizing potentially great variations in court decisions. The guideline begins with a list of problems, verified via an adversarial review, as to why the child(ren) entered foster care or is at risk of doing so, followed by the establishment of the relevance of proffered services to those problems, followed by documentation of a sustained effort to facilitate the use of those services.     

Capturing temporal dynamics of fear behaviors on a moment‐to‐moment basis

Identifying patterns of fearful behaviors early and accurately is essential to identify children who may be at increased risk for psychopathology. Previous work focused on the total amount of fear by using composites across time. However, considering the temporal dynamics of fear expression might offer novel insights into the identification of children at risk. One hundred and twenty‐five toddlers participated in high‐ and low‐fear tasks. Data were modeled using a novel two‐step approach. First, a hidden Markov model estimated latent fear states and transitions across states over time. Results revealed children's behavior was best represented by six behavioral states. Next, these states were analyzed using sequence clustering to identify groups of children with similar dynamic trajectories through the states. A four‐cluster solution found groups of children varied in fear response and regulation process: “external regulators” (using the caregiver as a regulation tool), “low reactive” (low reaction to stimulus), “fearful explorers” (managing their own internal state with minimal assistance from the caregiver), and “high fear” (fearful/at‐caregiver state regardless of task). The combination of analytic tools enabled fine‐grained examination of the processes of fearful temperament. These insights may help prevention programs target behaviors that perpetuate anxious behavior in the moment.     

Joined‐Up Services for Young Children and Their Families: Papering Over the Cracks or Re‐Constructing the Foundations?

The idea that services can be provided for young children within their families in a seamless way that serves the interests of children and families simultaneously is problematic. A theoretical flaw underpinning the ideal of integrated services is that families are assumed to be homogenous units. This article explores competing goals for children and families by examining data from the evaluation of three Early Excellence Centres in the north of England piloted by the Department for Education and Employment from 1999 to 2002. The article recommends that extended childcare services should be clearly targeted to the needs of the child‐within‐the‐family, thereby providing a clear theoretical foundation for re‐conceptualising joined‐up services. © 2006 The Author(s). Journal compilation © 2006 National Children's Bureau.     

The Effects of a Family Systems Intervention on Co‐Occurring Internalizing and Externalizing Behaviors of Children with Substance Abusing Mothers: A Latent Transition Analysis

Children of substance abusing parents are at heightened risk to develop problem behaviors, yet little is known about the co‐occurring patterns of internalizing and externalizing behaviors among this population. With 183 children (M age = 11.54 years, SD = 2.55, range 8–16) whose mothers were diagnosed with a substance use disorder, the current study identified subgroups/classes of children that were clinically distinct in their co‐occurring patterns of internalizing and externalizing behaviors, and examined how children in different clinical subgroups responded to a family systems intervention. Latent class analyses identified four classes of internalizing and externalizing behaviors: internalizing only, externalizing only, comorbid, and normative. Latent transition analyses showed that participation in family systems therapy resulted in an increased likelihood of transitioning from the externalizing class at baseline to the normative class at 18 months post‐baseline, and from the comorbid class at baseline to the internalizing class at 18 months post‐baseline as well. The findings support the effectiveness of family systems therapy in interrupting the stability of children's problem behaviors and improving children's behavioral outcomes.     

‘Green‐Collar Crime’: Environmental Crime and Justice in the Sociological Perspective

One of the more neglected areas of research in the field of criminology are the crimes committed by ‘white collar’ offenders. An even more understudied area is the corporate crimes that are committed against the environment for profit. Despite this dearth of research, there have been several sociologically significant examinations into some of the more serious environmental crimes committed over the last three decades. While some of this research is theoretically underdeveloped, more recent studies have attempted to develop a coherent framework to study environmental crime. By linking and synthesizing two literatures in both white‐collar criminology and environmental justice, sociologists have begun to develop a framework for examining ‘green crimes’, the motivations, opportunity context, victimology, and enforcement issues. This article will be a survey of these studies and development literature along with some typological and definitional issues relevant to the subfield. This aims to map where criminology has been in the sub‐field of environmental crime and provides directions for where future research should be headed.     

Children's Agency: ‘Getting By,Getting Back,Getting Out and Getting Organised’ Under Welfare‐to‐Work in Australia

One in four children in lone‐parent households in Australia lives in poverty. Welfare‐to‐work policies designed to 'activate' lone‐parents into the labour market is one approach that successive governments have employed to address this issue. This article argues that activation policies that target parents risk overlooking the implications for the children in these families. It concludes that more understanding about how poor children employ agency within the constraints and conditions of their lives could inform policy that better supports their well‐being, values their contributions, and is more sensitive to the diverse and changing needs of families. It draws on child‐centred participatory research with twenty‐six children in Australia that found they were active agents across a range of areas that included strategies for getting by, aspiration for the future, and acts of resistance.     

Leadership in Children’s Services

This paper examines the different contexts for leadership in children’s services with a particular focus on integrated working. It reviews contemporary theories that appear to offer relevant frameworks for thinking about children’s service leadership. It is argued that children’s services require leadership at all levels to enable a dynamic, interactive service on the front line. Multi‐professional team leadership is a crucial and much underestimated role in integrated services, which should be thinking in terms of leadership capacity throughout the organisation rather than focusing predominantly on the most senior roles in the hierarchy.     

Effects of Homelessness and Child Maltreatment on the Likelihood of Engaging in Property and Violent Crime During Adulthood

The current study employs data from the U.S. National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (N = 10,818; 56% female; 21% African American) to test how experiencing homelessness through emerging adulthood and child maltreatment predict adult property crime and violent crime. Unlike many published studies on homelessness, we used propensity score matching to correct for selection bias between homeless and nonhomeless individuals. Logistic regression models were run to predict violent and property crime in adulthood, controlling for child maltreatment. Participants who experienced homelessness by age 26 were 1.6 times more likely to commit violent crime in adulthood and almost 30% more likely to commit property crime. Those who were victims of child maltreatment were 15 times more likely to commit property crime, but no more likely to commit violent crime. Findings show that comparing statistically equivalent groups, homelessness through emerging adulthood significantly predicted adult criminality while child maltreatment showed more variable results. Greater prevention efforts aimed at children and adolescents at high risk of experiencing homelessness, as well as more intensive outreach services to homeless youth, may moderate exposure and reduce reliance on criminal survival behaviors.     

Deaf Children and Young People’s Experiences of Using Specialist Mental Health Services

Deaf children have an increased prevalence of mental health problems compared with hearing children. Generic Child And Adolescent Mental Health Services do not have the skills or expertise to meet the mental health needs of this group of children. Three teams in England provide specialist mental health services for deaf children. This research explored children’s experiences of using these services. Twenty‐four deaf children participated in the study. Overall children valued and benefited from the service. The expertise of the staff and the presence of deaf clinicians were key to these positive experiences.     

Predictors of child protective service contact between birth and age five: An examination of California's 2002 birth cohort

This study utilizes population-level birth data to describe those children who may be at greatest risk of maltreatment during the first five years of life. Based on a unique dataset constructed by linking California's administrative child welfare data to statewide vital birth records, a cohort study design was employed to track reports of maltreatment involving children born in 2002. Twelve variables captured in the birth record were selected for analysis. Generalized Linear Models were used to estimate adjusted risk ratios (RR) for each independent variable. Predicted probabilities of CPS contact were computed based on the count of risk factors present at birth. Results suggest that many of the associations previously observed between birth variables and subsequent maltreatment have sustained value in foretelling which children will be reported to CPS beyond infancy. Of the 531,035 children born in California in 2002, 14% (74,182) were reported for possible maltreatment before the age of five. Eleven of the twelve birth variables examined presented as significant predictors of contact with child protective services.