High Stakes: Time Poverty,Testing, and the Children of the Working Poor

Sociological interest in the implementation of policy generally focuses on the ways a single stream of policy creates a set of measurable consequences either for parents or children. This article takes an ethnographic approach to the study of conflicting policy mandates that collide in the lives of families moving from welfare to work at the same time that schools are implementing high stakes tests and the end of social promotion. We show that these two policies make contradictory demands on parents, to the potential detriment of children. Ethnographic research reveals the ways in which multiple and incompatible forms of policy impact poor families, putting them in the unhappy position of choosing between economic stability or mobility and children's educational performance.     

Moving beyond the child care debate toward implications for social and political agendas

Early nonmaternal child care, for at least some portion of the week, is now the reality for most families in the United States. Ongoing debates surrounding what these changes mean for our society have focused on the possible negative consequences of extended nonmaternal care and the potential impact of such arrangements on children's later development. The NICHD-Early Child Care Research Network (ECCRN) Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development has made great strides toward addressing methodological limitations in previous research through a series of landmark examinations of child functioning from transition to school through 15 years-of-age. The primary goal of this commentary is to put the child care findings into a broader developmental, social, and political context by reframing the discussion to move beyond the current daycare debate and consider implications for social policy and research agendas. Given that daycare has become a normative social institution, we first consider what the research findings mean for the healthy social–emotional and cognitive growth of children. Second, we articulate the implications of the data for social interventions to improve those outcomes. Finally, we address the issue of what political changes are necessary to produce those improvements.     

A Canadian experience with an intervention programme for vulnerable families: lessons for German social work and policy

Schools are an important community resource that can foster social connections and enhance the health and wellbeing of children and families in Germany through information, health promotion and interventions. While developing social connections between the school and vulnerable families—those who are most limited in their access to other sources of information, education and intervention—is complex and challenging, it is nonetheless critical. This paper reports on the role of Families and Schools Together (F&ST), a school-based intervention aimed at vulnerable families, in building and promoting the social connections, or social capital, that strengthen families and communities. Thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews revealed that programme participants perceived an increase in their social capital in all three of its dimensions (bonding, bridging and linking). The paper highlights the importance of social capital in building stronger, more resilient families and of strengthening relations between parents and schools, and contributes to the sharing of experience and views on matters concerning families in Germany.     

Understanding contextual effects on externalizing behaviors in children in out-of-home care: Influence of workers and foster families

The expression of externalizing behaviors of children in-care can be influenced by a multitude of factors. The current study examined the simultaneous levels of influence of workers and foster families on children's externalizing behaviors in those receiving out-of-home care. A cross-classified multilevel model was used to partition variance in children in-care's externalizing scores into worker, foster family and child-specific levels of influence. The extent to which processes are explained by worker and foster-family level predictors was examined. Assessment and Action Record (AAR) data from the Ontario Looking after Children (OnLAC) project were analyzed. The sample included data from 1063 children between 10 and 17 years of age (M age = 13 years, 6 months, SD = 2.08 years). While individual differences in children's externalizing behaviors were primarily attributable to child-specific effects (72%), 10% and 18% of the variance can be explained by worker and foster family influences respectively. Worker education accounted for substantial differences seen between workers where more difficult children were monitored by workers with less educational attainment. Furthermore, foster-family level predictors also explained variance in children's externalizing behaviors. Relative to children in foster care, those in kinship care displayed significantly lower levels of problem behaviors while children in group care displayed significantly higher levels. Higher levels of parental negativity within the foster family and the experience of more differential parental negativity relative to siblings were significantly associated with more externalizing behaviors. Lastly, children who were more satisfied with their placement displayed significantly lower levels of problematic behaviors. These results suggest that children in-care can be conceptualized within a multilevel framework.     

Gender Differences in Stories of Violence and Caring by Preschool Children in Post-Divorce Families: Implications for Social Competence

Themes of violence and caring in the spontaneous play of preschool-aged children in response to a revised version of the Attachment Story Completion Task (Bretherton, Ridgeway, & Cassidy, 1990) were analyzed in relation to their social behavior in child-care settings. All children (n = 66, 39 boys) lived in post-divorce families, primarily in the custody of their mothers. Some story enactments of violence predicted negative social behavior in child-care for both boys and girls. Other story enactments were strongly associated with gender and did not uniformly predict social behavior, suggesting that gender socialization plays a significant role in children's play representations of violence and caring. Implications for children's development and the interpretation of children's play behavior are discussed.     

Parental Expenditures on Children's Education

This study examined selected factors related to parents' allocation of money for children's primary and secondary education and, if money was spent on education, the variation in the amount spent. Cragg's double-hurdle model was utilized to analyze data from the 1996 Consumer Expenditure Survey on 331 families that spent money on their children's primary and secondary education and 827 families where parents reported no such expenditures. Factors that were significantly related to spending money on children's primary and secondary education, included after-tax income, parent's education, region, and season of the year. Variables significantly related how much was allocated to children's primary and secondary education, included after-tax income, parent's education, age, and race.     

Crisis nursery effects on child placement after foster care

The results of a study of the relationship between receiving crisis nursery services and the placement outcomes for young children leaving the child welfare system in Illinois are reported in this paper. The placement outcomes for children leaving foster care whose families received crisis nursery support prior to the children's placement in foster care is compared to the placement outcomes for children whose families received only foster care services. The children in two samples were identified by matching crisis nursery children's data from FY 2006 with children's data in the Illinois Child Abuse and Neglect Tracking System and Children Youth and Services Information System databases. After children served by crisis nursery and foster care services were identified, a comparison group of children with like-characteristics whose families received only foster care services was identified using propensity score matching. The children were followed until their out-of-home placement was terminated or until June 30, 2009. The placement outcomes and the length of stay were compared for the two groups. Using logistical regression analysis the results showed that children whose families received crisis nursery services prior to foster care placement were twice as likely to be reunited with their biological families (birth or extended family members) when compared to children whose families received only foster care services. The difference in the length-of-stay in foster care was not statistically significant when the two groups were compared. This preliminary study using administrative data shows that receiving crisis nursery services may have positive effects on the children's ultimate placement outcome after foster care. Additional research is needed to further explore the relationship between placement outcome and crisis nursery services.     

Evaluation of what parents know about their children's drug use and how they perceive the most common family risk factors

Research on family risk factors for addictive behaviors in young people has not paid a great deal of attention to parents' knowledge of their children's addictive behaviors and of the family risk factors that affect such behaviors. The aim of this work is to compare knowledge about these two aspects in two groups of parents that differ regarding their children's declared drug use. The research was carried out with a sample of 309 schoolchildren and their families, divided into two groups: one of 154 families with children defined as non-Drug Users and another of 155 families with children defined as Drug Users. The results show that parents with children who consume drugs tend to strongly underestimate their children's use. Moreover, they overestimate the control they exercise over them and appear to be more familiarized with the use of drugs, if we compare them with parents of non-Drug Users. It is suggested that these results may be relevant for the planning of strategies that increase motivation in families with drug-risk children to participate in prevention programs.     

CCRC Here We Come! Reasons for Moving to a Continuing Care Retirement Community

Abstract

To better understand why people move to CCRCs, we conducted qualitative interviews with 20 elders who were planning on moving into one such facility within six months of the interview. In this paper, we describe participants' reasons for moving and their perceptions of the trade-off or anticipated gains and losses inherent in the move. Push factors included desire to plan while still able to do so; optimal timing and being ready for a change; fear of burdening family; burden of home and yard maintenance; own or spouse's failing health; and environmental barriers. Pull factors included attachment to the community; joining friends and neighbors who were moving at the same time; proximity to family; amenities of the CCRC and the prospect of long-term care in the future. One of the unanticipated findings was that far from considering this as their last move, participants looked forward to anew and exciting phase of life.     

DIVORCE TRANSITIONS: IDENTIFYING RISK AND PROMOTING RESILIENCE FOR CHILDREN AND THEIR PARENTAL RELATIONSHIPS

This paper gives an account of qualitative research linked to clinical work relating to some of the short-term effects of divorce on children within a British perspective. The transitions that accompany divorce and family reordering are shown by many studies in the United States, Australia, and New Zealand as well as in the United Kingdom to have stressful effects for children that can lead to long-term negative outcomes. Other studies have focused on the differential social and family factors that may contribute to the "differences that make a difference" to whether divorce has harmful effects on children. This paper describes clinical intervention into family relationships in divorcing and postdivorce families and suggests some high-risk issues for children. The focus of the work is one promoting long-term connections between parents and children in reordered+ families. Some interactions that may promote resilience in children as well as in their parents are alluded to briefly.     

Agency and structure in the life-world of Aboriginal children in Central Australia

This paper offers ethnographic observations on the place of “agency” in the lives of Aboriginal children in Central Australia. The focus is on children's play and adult-child interaction in the remote community of Ernabella, the oldest settlement in the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands, northern South Australia. The circumstance of Aboriginal children in remote areas is introduced as a contrasting picture: on the one hand, the life of Aboriginal families is shaped by their marginalised socio-economic position and dependency on the state, which has become especially evident in the recently intensified efforts by the government to “mainstream” Aboriginal communities deemed in “social chaos” in order to regulate and thereby improve children's lives; on the other there is the social fact that children enjoy a comparatively high level of autonomy within the Aboriginal domain. The much-observed “freedom” from parental discipline, however, does not simply mean that children assert their will without regard for certain social rules. Rather, it is suggested that it is precisely the relatively low level of direct instruction and reprimand by adults that fosters children's ability to pattern their behaviour in relation to one another and to structure their social world and understandings according to the meanings that they co-create. Agency of this kind often occurs through imaginative play and spontaneously. This paper does not address policy issues directly. However, it is relevant as a background paper on Aboriginal children's lives that contributes to the understanding and recognition of existing social capacities outside institutional settings.     

Integrating a family-centered approach into social work practice with families of children and adolescents with disabilities

This article identifies a family-centered practice construct for working with children and adolescents with disabilities and their families. The experiences of these families have shifted considerably over the past 30 years. A legislative and historical context provides the basis for an understanding of present policies and practices that influence current approaches to service delivery. Though family-centered practice is emphasized in various practice settings, there is still a need to integrate this philosophy into social work practice with children and adolescents with disabilities and their families. In order to enhance the ability of the social worker to integrate this construct into practice, a framework for exploring the experiences of children, adolescents and families is provided. This framework provides an overview of factors related to the individual child, the family and siblings for the social worker to consider when working with these families. The social worker's role as collaborator, advocate, team member and family resource is highlighted.     

Family Relationships,Social Connections,and Depressive Symptoms Among Chinese Older Adults in International Migrant Families

This study explored whether and how family relationships and social connections influence depressive symptoms of older migrants and older adults in transnational families using the data gathered from a cross-sectional survey in Los Angeles, California, United States, and Beijing, China. Regression results showed that the older migrants reported significantly higher levels of depression than the elders in transnational families. The findings highlight the importance of maintaining close family relations and having large friendship networks for older adults in international migrant families.     

Examining the trajectories of children providing care for adults in rural Kenya: Implications for service delivery

Research on caregiving children tends to be limited to children's caregiving experiences of parents with a specific disease or disability. This has led to a common perception that children's caregiving is a single, uniform and often long-term experience. Whilst this is most certainly the case for many children in economically more advanced countries, this may not hold true in rural Africa, where poverty and AIDS can have significant knock-on effects on entire families and communities. This paper seeks to develop a more complex understanding of children's caring experiences by asking children whom they have cared for over time and explore the different pathways that lead to their caregiving at different stages of their lives. The study reports on qualitative data collected from 48 caregiving children and 10 adults in the Bondo district of western Kenya in 2007. A multi-method approach was adapted, with historical profiles, Photovoice and draw-and-write essays complementing 34 individual interviews and 2 group discussions. A thematic network analysis revealed that children's caregiving was not confined to a single experience. Children were observed to provide care for a number of different family and community members for varying periods of time and intensities. Although their living arrangements and life circumstances often gave them little choice but to care, a social recognition of children's capacity to provide care for fragile adults, helped the children construct an identity, which both children and adults drew on to rationalise children's continued and multiple caring experiences. The study concludes that agencies and community members looking to support caregiving children need to consider their care trajectories — including whom they care for as well as the order, intensity, location and duration of their past and likely future caring responsibilities.     

Integrating a Family-Centered Approach into Social Work Practice with Families of Children and Adolescents with Disabilities

Abstract

This article identifies a family-centered practice construct for working with children and adolescents with disabilities and their families. The experiences of these families have shifted considerably over the past 30 years. A legislative and historical context provides the basis for an understanding of present policies and practices that influence current approaches to service delivery. Though family-centered practice is emphasized in various practice settings, there is still a need to integrate this philosophy into social work practice with children and adolescents with disabilities and their families. In order to enhance the ability of the social worker to integrate this construct into practice, a framework for exploring the experiences of children, adolescents and families is provided. This framework provides an overview of factors related to the individual child, the family and siblings for the social worker to consider when working with these families. The social worker's role as collaborator, advocate, team member and family resource is highlighted.     

In the "best interest" of immigrant and refugee children: deliberating on their unique circumstances

Each year, state juvenile courts provide thousands of immigrant and refugee children with access to consistent and reliable caregiving and a stable environment. To examine how courts interpret "the best interests" of immigrant and refugee children, this article examines 24 cases in courts across the United States, which indicate they use a territorial approach when evaluating the best interests standard. Although legal status was not an issue, many related factors were. Consequently, the courts restricted immigrant parents' rights in caring, guiding, and visiting their children; increased the risk of wrongfully terminating parental rights; and intensified the unpredictability of immigrant and refugee children's welfare in the long run. This article suggests an approach that encourages communication between social workers and the courts to address the special needs and circumstances of immigrant and refugee children on three key topics: the material and moral welfare of the child, and social welfare for immigrant and refugee families.     

Low-Income Children's Participation in a Public Health Insurance Program in Georgia

To expand health care coverage to uninsured, low-income children, the Congress created the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) in 1997. Given ample evidence that state Medicaid programs have failed to enroll many eligible children, experts questioned whether SCHIP could successfully enroll low-income children. Using Georgia state SCHIP data, we analyzed enrollment patterns and identified factors contributing to program enrollment. This study found that the children's enrollment is explained by perceived costs and benefits of joining the program as well as the underlying family structure, demographic factors, and health status. We discuss implications of these findings on the participation of low-income families in public sector programs.     

The future of adoption for children in foster care: Demographics in a changing socio-political environment

As the next century unfolds, adoption will be influenced by economic, social, and political factors that will influence the number of children needing adoption and the number of families seeking to adopt. For children in foster care who need adoption, these forces are likely to challenge current policy and practice and place greater demands on the child welfare system to respond to the needs of a growing number of children who cannot be reunited with their birth families. Demographic data and the sociopolitical factors impacting the adoption of children in foster care suggest that adoption demand will increase dramatically in the near future, far outstripping the current, already inadequate supply of adoptive families. While demand is not likely to be amenable to any significant level of change given the poverty-related forces already at work, supply can be more readily effected by policy and practice that embrace creative strategies to recruit and support adoptive families. The dynamics of supply and demand can provide the conceptual framework to support resource reallocation and shape a positive future for the adoption of children in foster care     

Tightening the net: children, community, and control

The recent move to revitalize social democracy in the UK under the New Labour government, explored by Giddens as 'the Third Way', embraces many of Etzioni's ideas on communitarianism. The principles that emerge from these political philosophies, such as the involvement of local communities in policy consultations and implementation, have largely been welcomed as a reflection of the aim of revitalizing civic society in the context of a range of social policies. It is argued, however, that for children, contrary to this general trend, many of these policies represent attempts to increase the social control of children. Their effect has been to restrict children's agency and their rights, rather than to increase their participation as citizens, and thus,in spite of the requirements of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, children continue to be marginalized.     

Attachment Themes in the Family Narratives of Preschool Children: A Qualitative Analysis

The family narratives of two preschool children (male and female) rated extremely high in social competence were compared to the narratives of two other children (also male and female) rated extremely low in social competence for differences in qualities of parent-child relationships and narrative structure. The children were participants in a larger study of parent-child relationships in post-divorce families. Three narratives of the ten-narrative Attachment Story Completion Task-Revised were analyzed qualitatively. Differences between children rated high and low in social competence were observed in areas such as the representation of problem resolutions, narrative coherence, predictable consequences for behavior, role modeling, responsiveness of parents to children's needs, emotional expression, children's ambivalence for caregivers, and family integrity. Implications for further research involving representations of attachment security in narrative play are discussed.