Examining hearing quality in child abuse and neglect cases: The relationship between breadth of discussion and case outcomes

Child abuse and neglect court hearings are complex, multifaceted, and necessary for judicial oversight to ensure safe, timely permanency for youth and families involved in the system. While best practices have been suggested, little research has been conducted to examine what the critical components of a “high quality” dependency court hearing are, and, more importantly how these factors might be related to improved outcomes for children and families. The current study explores the relationship between breadth of discussion at the first hearing on the case and subsequent case decisions and outcomes. Findings suggest a positive relationship between breadth of discussion at the initial hearing and a higher likelihood of relative or parent placements compared to foster care placements, increased presence of parents throughout the life of the case, and higher likelihood of case closure and reunification. The study is limited by a small sample size and focus on one of many court hearings; however, it does provide empirical support that the quality of the court hearing may be related to better outcomes for families.     

Reunification of foster children: Factors associated with reunification outcomes in Flanders and the Netherlands

Although a significant number of foster children eventually return to their birth parents, evidence-based models for permanency planning are scarce, and there is a lack of clear decision-making criteria for reunification. This study aimed to establish further knowledge about reunification. Both reunification pace and factors which are associated with reunification were examined. The focus was on factors related to the foster child, the birth parents, the foster parents and the foster placement, and reasons for removal. Case file analysis was performed for 580 Flemish and Dutch foster children ages 0–18. Cox regression analyses showed contact with birth parents to be most strongly associated with reunification. Moreover, particularly placement related factors (e.g., legal framework, additional support services, contact with birth parents) increased the likelihood of reunification. Furthermore, over a period of six years approximately 15% of foster placements led to reunification notably during the first 2.5 years of placement. Policy makers and foster care professionals are therefore encouraged to timely aim for permanency planning. Reunification efforts should be planned from the start of the foster placement. If subsequently reunification proves not feasible, permanency should be secured within the foster family.     

Evidence-based practice in family group decision-making for Anglo, African American and Hispanic families

This study addresses the need and gap in the literature on evidence-based practice in family group decision-making services by reporting on the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services' Family Group Decision-Making study, conducted between December 2003 and July 2005 with Anglo, African American and Hispanic families throughout Texas. These services are compared to standard practice by assessing satisfaction, child well-being and exits from care. Findings indicate that both parents and relatives are more satisfied with family group decision-making conferences than standard practice on a number of dimensions, with relatives reporting feeling more empowered than parents. Children are reported to be less anxious if their families participate in a conference, and they may be more adjusted when they are placed with relatives following a conference. Finally, exits from care are faster if families participate in family group decision-making conferences, and exits to reunification are increased; this may be especially true of African American and Hispanic children.     

The disparate impact of alcohol,methamphetamine, and other drugs on family reunification

Parental substance abuse is one of the most prominent reasons that children enter foster care. The relative role of substance type in delaying reunification has remained elusive. This study sought to understand the impact of parental use of alcohol, methamphetamine, other drugs, and poly-substances on reunification rates for children in foster care. The authors used administrative foster care data from a Midwestern state between years 2007 and 2012 to evaluate the unique contribution of each substance use domain. Results suggest that parental methamphetamine use has the most significant impact on the likelihood of reunification, followed by other drugs, and poly-substances. These findings further indicate that children removed due to any parental drug use stay in foster care for an average of 49–156 days longer than their peers. Implications for research and practice are addressed.     

Child maltreatment victims' attitudes about appearing in dependency and criminal courts

In the present study, we investigated the attitudes of maltreated children involved in court hearings. Specifically, this pilot research examined whether type of abuse (sexual vs. physical vs. neglect), type of court (dependency vs. criminal), and child and abuse characteristics predicted child victims' feelings about seeing defendants in court and answering questions in the courtroom. Data were collected from interviews with the children and from their court files. Results indicated that greater negativity about seeing defendants in the courtroom was significantly predicted by testifying as a sexual abuse victim in criminal court and by being female regardless of court system, whereas greater positivity about seeing defendants in the courtroom was predicted by appearing in dependency court hearings as a physical abuse victim. In addition, greater severity of maltreatment and older age of the children were significantly associated with greater negativity about answering questions in court. Implications for future research are discussed.     

Child safety at reunification: A case-control study of maltreatment recurrence following return home from substitute care

When considering reunification, child welfare caseworkers are faced with the difficult challenge of predicting which caretakers will be able to provide a safe environment for their children once they return home. Unfortunately, although an increasing number of studies have examined maltreatment recurrence during investigation and following case opening, little is known about the factors that predict maltreatment recurrence following reunification. Using a case-control design and information gathered from a child welfare administrative database and client case records, the current study examined the factors that predict short-term (i.e., within 60 days) maltreatment recurrence among 174 families with children returning home from their first stay in substitute care. From a variety of child, caretaker, placement, family environment, and service provision characteristics, seven variables uniquely added to the prediction of maltreatment recurrence: 1) child age, 2) caretaker mental illness, 3) number of placements, 4) type of placement, 5) length of time in placement, 6) number of children in the home at reunification, and 7) the interaction between household structure at reunification and the presence of siblings returned home with the index child. The implications of these findings for child welfare practice and future research are discussed in detail.     

Exploring the needs of parents for achieving reunification: The views of foster children,birth family and social workers in Spain

BackgroundFamily reunification refers to the process through which children and adolescents under a measure of temporary separation (foster care or residential) return to live with their biological families. The research has begun to reflect a paradigm change in intervention and support for these families that affects the consolidation of reunification and the prevention of new processes of separation and reentry into the protection system.ObjectivesThis article examines the needs of parents who are susceptible to an educational intervention from a positive focus that contributes to the consolidation of family reunification.MethodEighteen semi-structured interviews were conducted and 22 discussion groups were convened with 135 participants (63 protection-system professionals, 42 parents and 30 children and adolescents). The data were analyzed through content analysis and were subject to peer revision.ResultsA series of parents' specific educational needs when their children return home was recognized. These needs can be the objects of family intervention based on a positive focus directed toward highlighting parents' strengths and are related to awareness of family progress, emotional management, giving and receiving help from other families and social support. The participants' comments show that feelings of self-sufficiency and positive reinforcement are fundamental for consolidation of the process.ConclusionsSocial support through formal and informal networks may be a path to explore for providing more and better support after returning home. Empowering families so that they can be agents of support for other families can be a way to consolidate reunification, allowing families to be active agents in the reunification process. In addition, listening to children's voices can be a good strategy for family consolidation.     

Older children in preadoptive homes: issues before termination of parental rights

In many jurisdictions, after the end of reunification services to birthparents, but before termination of parental rights, children are placed with parents who are licensed as foster parents but are committed to adopting the child. Using case examples, this article discusses the emotional and psychological difficulties often encountered by children and their prospective adoptive parents when birthparent visitation takes place and legal uncertainties exist. In addition, this article offers clinical and policy recommendations to help both the children and families in these situations as well as the professionals who work with them.     

The Child Protection Clinic: A mixed method evaluation of parent legal representation

Providing parents with low incomes accused of child maltreatment access to quality legal representation is both a social justice issue and potential resource for improving their children's well-being. This mixed methods research evaluates a law school clinic which provides indigent parents with legal representation by law students supervised by experienced attorneys. Thirty-nine individuals knowledgeable about the clinic (12 court professionals, 5 law school faculty, 2 parent mentors, 11 students, and 9 parent clients) participated in in-depth, semi-structured, audiotaped interviews focusing on the quality of parent representation. Interviews were contextualized by extensive participant observation and document reviews. Quantitative analyses of administrative data focused on case outcomes identified by participants as desired during qualitative interviews: family reunification, timely case closure and children's placement with relatives. Outcomes for 19 children whose parents were represented by student attorneys did not differ significantly from those of a propensity score matched comparison group of 19 children whose parents were represented by fully licensed attorneys. Participants described clinic staff as providing strong legal counsel to parents, building positive attorney–client relationships, possessing positive personal characteristics, and providing a needed service to the broader community. Participants also identified areas for improvement including: educating parents around court procedures, and better cross system collaboration between child welfare and legal professionals. The Child Protection Clinic is a promising model for providing quality legal representation to parents involved with child protection in order to support child well-being.     

The justifications for terminating parental rights and adoption in the United States

This article examines the normative basis for prioritizing adoption in the “Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997” (ASFA) as expressed by legislators and public witnesses in congressional hearings. By examining six congressional hearings in the period that led to the ASFA, the article provides new insights to understand how adoption is justified in the U.S. not only as an acceptable form of public intervention but also as an actively promoted and preferred approach when reunification is not possible. The article uses a discourse theoretical framework based on Habermas that distinguishes pragmatic, ethical–political, moral, and legal arguments. It reveals that U.S. federal adoption policy is based on three pillars. Pragmatic risk-oriented thinking forms the central knowledge base to inform policy. Parent responsibility ethics stresses individual responsibility for rehabilitation, with secondary support from the welfare system. Child refamilialization ethics emphasizes decisive and authoritative action to protect the child's needs for safety and permanence.     

‘You have to choose your childcare to fit your work’: Childcare decision-making among low-income working families

Regardless of their economic background, most working parents face the task of arranging childcare at some point. The decision-making process they experience is often complex, and this complexity is intensified for particular groups of families with limited financial and social resources. In this paper, we present findings from a three-year qualitative study of the childcare choices of low-income working families, many of whom were immigrants, had limited English proficiency, were parents of children with special needs, or represented some combination of these factors. The study explored families' current care arrangements, their reasons for selecting a particular form of childcare, and the characteristics of their ideal arrangements. Data were coded to identify themes in parental preferences, decision factors, and the barriers families faced in accessing their preferred care arrangements. Most significantly, the parents studied described their preferences for an environment where their children could learn and be in the presence of caring and trustworthy caregivers. About a third of the families said they preferred relatives as caregivers, and selected relatives to provide childcare. Other parents selected care according to cost, location, and availability of the provider; they described the challenges of locating affordable, high-quality care that met their nonstandard schedules. These findings have important implications for childcare policy.     

Juvenile court judicial expertise and children's permanency outcomes

Using a combination of survey and administrative data, the current study examines the relationship between juvenile dependency court judicial expertise and children's permanency outcomes. Specifically, based on several behaviorally-anchored questions about judicial expertise and decision-making from a survey of attorneys representing foster children, we examine the respective relationships between jurisdiction-level judicial expertise and the rates of (a) exit to different types of permanency and (b) transition between various dependency court milestones. Results suggest that judicial expertise is positively related to the rates of some dependency court transitions (e.g., entry to dispositional order approval, termination of parental rights to adoption finalization). However, because of a lack of significant associations with the rates of other transitions (e.g., dispositional order approval to reunification), judicial expertise is not found to be statistically significantly associated with the rate of exit to permanency. The findings are consistent with a growing body of evidence that suggests that the influence of juvenile-court-related factors may be limited to specific court milestones that, by themselves, do not account for a substantial proportion of the overall variability in the population-level rates of permanency exit.     

Accomplishing family reunification for children in care: An Australian study

Whilst child protection systems are concerned with removal of children from their families in the interests of safety, the capacity of child welfare systems to return children safely to their families of origin is of central importance. The multidimensional standardised assessment tool, the North Carolina Family Assessment Scale—Reunification (NCFAS-R) was used by practitioners to assess family strengths and needs in case planning and reunification decision making. The current paper examined (1) whether NCFAS-R domain ratings at intake and closure differ by characteristics of parents and children; and (2) whether reunification is predicted by NCFAS-R score at closure.     

Juvenile court pathways to legal permanence for children in substitute care

Using administrative data describing the contemporaneous substitute care and juvenile court histories of 8116 children entering substitute care in Cook county Illinois, this study examines children's pathways to legal permanence. Specifically, by parsing children's exit to permanence by its constituent legal milestones, and examining the extent to which variability in the rates of these milestones are attributable to the court calendar (i.e., judge) and child levels, respectively, this study attempts to pinpoint the primary sources of variability in children's pathways to legal permanence. Results suggest that the transitions between certain legal milestones (e.g., disposition to reunification, disposition to TPR) account for a majority of the variability in children's exit to permanence. Results also suggest that a moderate amount of variability in permanency rates is attributable to court calendars, but that the magnitude of calendar-level influence varies considerably across legal milestone transitions; for some transitions (e.g., TPR to adoption finalization), calendar-level influence is effectively zero, whereas for other transitions (e.g., entry to dispositional order), calendar-level influence seems to eclipse the influence of observed child-level characteristics. Implications for child welfare and juvenile court scholarship, policy, and practice are discussed.     

A Three-Pronged Approach to Addressing Racial Disproportionality and Disparities in Child Welfare: The Santa Clara County Example of Leadership, Collaboration and Data-Driven Decisions

Disproportionality and disparities in the treatment of children of color has been a growing concern in the child welfare system. System stakeholders have begun to recognize the problem through data, which help identify discrepancies within their jurisdictions. Nationally, the primary concern is the overrepresentation of African American children within the child welfare system, where African Americans represent proportions of the foster population at a level more than twice as high as they are represented in the community at large. In some jurisdictions, however, this is only one piece of the disproportionality concern. San Jose, for example, has both an overrepresentation of African American and an overrepresentation of Hispanic children in the child welfare system. Because San Jose’s child welfare population is unique, they have had to take a unique approach to addressing these concerns. This article outlines strategies and tools used to begin reducing disproportionality within the child welfare and juvenile dependency court system, using San Jose’s experience as an example. Some of the key approaches to addressing disproportionality include ensuring a systems approach (creating a Cross Agency Systems Team that prioritizes services for parents and children in various systems, e.g., mental health, substance abuse, etc.); addressing disproportionality from multiple perspectives and examining the roles’ of caseworkers, supervisors, service providers, judges, and attorneys; gaining community and system stakeholder buy-in by maintaining momentum and providing opportunities for dialogue about the complex issues facing families of color; using a data-driven approach to inform ongoing initiatives and changes in policy and practice (e.g., closely examining policies and practices such as the frequency of recommendations to by-pass reunification services); and implementing changes in practice at multiple levels including child welfare and on the bench. The examination of San Jose’s approach reveals challenges, successes, and lessons learned.     

Does fathers' involvement in services affect mothers' likelihood of reunification with children placed in foster care?

Social science literature shows associations between fathers' involvement with their children and beneficial developmental outcomes of those children. A related but smaller body of research in the child welfare services arena has found measures of father involvement to be positively associated with beneficial child welfare outcomes, including child's reunification with parent after placement in foster care. However, the pathway by which father involvement affects reunification likelihood has not been determined. This study builds on the existing body of literature by testing a theoretical basis for the relationship between father involvement (measured as service use) and mothers' reunification in a model controlling for family structure. I find that fathers' involvement in services improves mothers' likelihood of reunification, independently of family structure. Results suggest that agency efforts to involve fathers in services make sense both when the aim is to prepare the father for possible custody, and when the aim is to reunify the mother.     

Let's help caregivers and children in informal kinship care: de facto custodian legislation

Caregivers in informal kinship care encounter numerous difficulties when lacking a legal relationship with the children in their care. The de facto custodian guardianship, a concept that is relatively unknown in social work, provides an additional legal option to caregivers by allowing them to present their caregiving history during custody hearings. This article introduces the significance of the de facto concept and provides detailed information on its components and limitations. Recommendations are forwarded for social education and practice.     

Recovery coaches and the stability of reunification for substance abusing families in child welfare

Substance abuse is a long-standing challenge for child welfare systems. Parental substance abuse disrupts family stability, family cohesion, and jeopardizes the well-being of children. In the current study we test an intervention to improve child welfare outcomes for substance abusing families, specifically the probability of families achieving a stable (at least 12 months) reunification. The intervention was an integrated case management model where recovery coaches were appointed to substance abusing parents associated with an open foster care placement. A diverse group of families (n = 1623) were randomly assigned to either a control group (services as usual) or an experimental group (services as usual plus a recovery coach). Multinomial logistic regression indicated that substance abusing parents associated with a recovery coach were significantly more likely to achieve a stable reunification as compared with similar families in the control group.