Multiple forms of violence and other criminal activities as an indicator of severe child maltreatment

Child protection practice still appears to view child maltreatment as an event largely isolated from other family violence and criminal activities. Research undertaken by the authors suggests that children who have been subjected to the more severe forms of abuse are likely to have come from families who engage in several forms of criminal activity, inside and outside the family, which is often severe in nature. The child who has been maltreated may also become a participant in these activities. The authors recommend that these factors should be investigated in families who have maltreated a child, as the presence or absence of several forms of concurrent violence and other criminal activity may provide an important clue about the welfare of the child. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Changing Sibship Size and Educational Progress During Childhood: Evidence From the Philippines

This paper investigates the association between changes in coresident sibship size and children's educational progress in the Philippines. When conceptualized at the household level, sibship size is a dynamic aspect of the family context with potentially important implications for resources needed to support a child's education. Individual‐level change models suggested that adding younger siblings in early childhood (from birth to age 9) and losing both younger and older siblings later in childhood (from age 9 to 19) were associated with less educational progress by the focal child between ages 9 and 19. These effects were additive and indicated the importance of assessing both type of change and timing in evaluating the relationship between coresident sibship size and educational progress during childhood.     

Marriage and Child Well-Being: Research and Policy Perspectives

Over the past decade, the linkages between marriage and child well-being have attracted the attention of researchers and policy makers alike. Children's living arrangements have become increasingly diverse and unstable, which raises important questions about how and why family structure and stability are related to child outcomes. This article reviews new research on this topic, emphasizing how it can inform policy debates about the role of marriage in reducing poverty and improving child outcomes. It also pays special attention to new scholarship on unmarried, primarily low-income families, the target of recent federal marriage initiatives, to appraise the potential contributions of family research to ongoing policy discussions.     

Implementing a strengths perspective in child welfare and protection: a challenge not to be taken lightly

Although it can be observed that the popularity of a strengths perspective in social work is increasing, social work researchers have articulated the necessity to gain empirical knowledge about actual social work practice that claims a strengths perspective. We explore the findings of recent research into a strengths-oriented pilot project in the field of child welfare and protection in Flanders (the Flemish speaking part of Belgium), in which we examined whether the strengths-oriented discourse in social work actually took place in the relationship between social workers and families in practice. The research reveals an ambiguous picture of the ways in which the strengths perspective can be implemented in practice, because social workers walk a tightrope between responsibilizing and governing families. We argue that the implementation process needs a conceptual and theoretical foundation that goes beyond mere eclecticism. We also argue that this demands a broadening of the focus of strengths-oriented social work from a relational to a political level, as this strengths-oriented social work practice remains situated within the broader social, economic, and political context.     

Assessing Family Outcomes: Psychometric Evaluation of the Beach Center Family Quality of Life Scale

There is currently a lack of reliable scales with which to assess the construct of family quality of life, particularly for families who have children with disabilities. The current work presents 2 studies, including a total of 488 families with children with disabilities, which were conducted to complete the development of a scale to assess family quality of life. The measure was refined through confirmatory factor analyses into 25 items that assess 5 domains of Family Quality of Life: Family Interaction, Parenting, Emotional Well‐Being, Physical/Material Well‐Being, and Disability‐Related Support. Each subscale was found to be unidimensional and internally consistent. An initial examination of test‐retest reliability and convergent validity is also presented. Implications for future research, scale use, and policy are discussed.     

Family Environment and Adolescents' Well‐Being Before and After Parents' Marital Disruption: A Longitudinal Analysis

Although previous research has noted that children of divorce tend to fare less well than peers raised in families with two biological parents, much less is known about how parents' marital disruption affects children as a continuous process in its different phases. Based on two waves of a large, nationally representative panel, this study demonstrates that even before the disruption, both male and female adolescents from families that subsequently dissolve exhibit more academic, psychological, and behavioral problems than peers whose parents remain married. Families on the verge of breakup are also characterized by less intimate parent‐parent and parent‐child relationships, less parental commitment to children's education, and fewer economic and human resources. These differences in family environment account for most well‐being deficits among adolescents in predisrupted families. Furthermore, the deterioration in different domains of the family environment appears to be associated with maladjustment in different aspects of children's lives. The postdisruption effects on adolescents can either be totally or largely predicted by predisruption factors and by changes in family circumstances during the period coinciding with the disruption. Finally, the analyses indicate that female adolescents are as likely to be affected by the parental divorce process as male adolescents.     

Debatable Marriages: Marriage and Child Marriage in Saudi Arabia

ABSTRACT

This article examines marriage and the constitution of familial relationships in Saudi Arabia, with a specific focus on one form of marriage that has recently become an issue of public, political, and religious discussion, that of “child marriage.” The situation within Saudi Arabia is compared with gendered relationships in other countries, most notably those in Western Europe, with specific attention given to the United Kingdom. It is argued that policy developments in Saudi Arabia need to be seen in the context of wider Saudi culture, Sharia law, and religious interpretations of the Koran.     

Family policy and critical science research: Facilitating change

The principles of critical science for policy research are outlined and one research project is used as a case study. The study was intentionally designed to facilitate changes that would positively influence the economic well-being of children from divorced families. The project uses the critical science processes of public dialogue about child support guidelines for purposes of collaborative problem solving. The normative theories of procedural and distributive justice are used to guide the research reporting. The project contributes to changes in the practices of estimating the income needs of children, changes in estimating the relative monetary contributions of their parents, and proposed legislation and modifications in the state child support guidelines. She received her Ph.D. in family ecology from Michigan State University. Her research interests include the valuing issues of family life quality, family decision making, divorce,and the economic adjustments of families to economic stressors. She received her M.A. degree in Family Education from the University of Minnesota. Her research interests include decision making and parenting. She received her Ph.D. degree in anthropology from the University of Minnesota. Her research interests include social and cultural change and the integration of research findings into public policy decision making.     

Manufacturing Motherhood: The Shadow Work of Nannies and Au Pairs

This paper explores how working mothers and paid child care providers interpret the division of mothering labor in the context of in-home care. The nannies, au pairs, and working mothers interviewed for this study make sense of their shared mother-work in the context of a dominant belief system that values intensive mothering. Consequently, in addition to negotiating the allocation of mothering tasks, they must also negotiate the meanings assigned to these tasks: specifically, they manufacture an image of shared mothering that contradicts their day-to-day practice.     

The Link Between the Marital Bond and Future Triadic Family Interactions

This study examined how the marital bond, as indexed through the Oral History Interview (OHI), is related to future triadic family interactions. Families (N = 108), with a 7–9‐year‐old child, participated in a longitudinal study (the Family Health Project) examining children's emotional development throughout the transition to adolescence. Parental cohesion and family cohesion, warmth, structure, and problem solving were assessed via behavioral observation during family problem‐solving discussions and parent‐child teaching interactions 18–24 months after the OHI. Results indicated that the marital bond was predictive of parental cohesion, family cohesion, warmth, and structure during teaching interactions. The marital bond was not significantly predictive of family problem solving or parental cohesion in problem‐solving interactions.     

The role of child care social work in supporting families with children in need and providing protective services—past,present and future

This article examines the way in which child care social work with deprived families has changed and developed since the inception of Children's Departments in 1948. It is argued that between 1948 and 1970 child care social workers enjoyed a fair measure of social support. A variety of reasons are considered for explaining this—specialization, smallness of size, privacy and a consensus about the needs of children. From the early 1970s it is argued that broader societal changes, including a shift away from social solidarity towards individualism, organizational changes and the advent of child abuse as a public concern, resulted in con?icting demands on child care social workers and a subsequent loss of credibility and con?dence. The 1990s have seen a return to emphasis on family support policies which has been further accelerated in the new millennium by New Labour's stated commitment to eliminating child poverty and creating better life opportunities for all children. The implications of these new developments for child care social workers engaged in meeting the needs of children living in highly disadvantaged families are considered. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Social insurance and children: The relationship between Social Security,economic well-being,and family context among child recipients

The relationship between social insurance, which provides families protection against certain risks, and child economic security is understudied. Using the 2004 Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) matched to Social Security Administration benefit records, this article investigates the economic welfare effects of the child component of the US Social Security program. We examine how the poverty rate of child beneficiaries would change, absent Social Security income, and how heavily the family incomes of these children rely on it, by family characteristics. Our findings reveal that Social Security plays an important role in mitigating economic insecurity among children deprived of a wage-earning parent through disability, death, or retirement. Family structure, earnings, and employment status are identified as key factors moderating the effect of Social Security on child recipients’ financial circumstance.     

Family group conferences: from Maori culture to decision-making model in work with late modern families in Norway†

Models and methods within social work and child protection services are disseminated across cultural and national borders. The family group conference (FGC), with its origins in traditional Maori culture, is one example of this. The application of this model presupposes an ‘extended family’. Based on sociological theory, we highlight and problematise the explicit inattention to relevant cultural differences. The assumed existence of the extended family is implied in the direct translation of the term. The family in late modern society is often described as diversified, elective and shifting. We argue that FGC is relevant to such families. In our conclusion, we point out that despite changes, the family remains associated with traditional family values as solidarity and joint obligations, responsibilities and continuity. FGC vitalise traditional family values and facilitate for modern families performing traditional family practices. From our exploration of discourses and analyses on how FGC may be transformed from supporting Maori traditional culture to become a decision model in a CPS of a society such as Norway, we find there is a compliance with two fundamental factors: the late modern family's negotiating practices and the revitalisation of traditional family values.     

Family Processes and Children's and Adolescents' Well-Being

The primary purpose of this review was to examine theory and research published during the past decade that focused on family processes and children's and adolescents' well-being. Scholarship focused on family processes and child and adolescent well-being made significant and exciting advances during this decade based on several key advancements. In addition to a brief introduction and a conclusion, this decade in review is organized into four sections. In the first section, advances made in the literature because of increased attention to complexity and specificity are illustrated. The second section describes advances that were made because of increased attention to family processes in diverse families. Diversity in the samples of families studied, extensions in family process models, and the revisioning of grand theories using a diversity lens that were used to conceptualize family processes are detailed. In the third section, the importance of time in the study of family processes and child and adolescent well-being is described. The emphasis on families' daily lives is noted. In addition, prospective considerations and studies of change over time are highlighted. Strengths in family functioning are detailed in the fourth section of this article: positivity, regulatory processes, and family organization. These three areas were selected to elaborate the idea that one of the major advancements in the family process literature during the past decade was an emphasis on family strengths. This review concludes with a commentary regarding how conceptual and methodological advancements during the past decade can guide future scholarship.     

Intimate Partner Violence and Social Relational Theory: Examining the Influence of Children and Important Others on Mothers' Transition Out of Violent Relationships

Interviews with survivors of intimate partner violence were conducted to gain information on the transition from violent relationships to new non‐violent relationships. A subset of this data was re‐analysed using Social Relational Theory to gain further insight into the roles of children and important others who were identified as impacting this transition for mothers who had exited violent relationships. This paper reviews two major themes discovered during the SRT analysis that were inherent in the women's experiences: (i) agency of children, family, peers and community and (ii) power. In addition, this paper suggests implications for research, intervention and psychotherapeutic practice.     

Aboriginal child placement principle and family group conferences

Throughout the twentieth century, Aboriginal children have been removed from their family and cultural networks under a range of government policies that have professed to be ‘in their best interests’. This article outlines the historical context to the development of the Aboriginal Child Placement Principle, which is currently the operating principle for all States and Territories in Australia when child welfare services have engaged with Aboriginal families and there is likelihood that a child may be removed. Because of problems with the implementation of the Principle, the option of family group conferences is suggested as a way of ensuring the objectives of the Principle are still met. Family Group Conferences originated in New Zealand initially as a response to the over-representation of Maori children in the substitute care system, and have since been part of child welfare legislation in that country for both Maori and non-Maori families since 1989. The application of the New Zealand model to working with Indigenous Australians will be discussed, along with a recommendation for this form of empowering practice to be considered more comprehensively as a family decision-making strategy within the field of child protection.     

Family participation in child protection

The paper summarizes a Department of Health funded research study of the extent to which parents and children were involved in the child protection work of seven English social services departments. The child protection process and the social work practice with a cohort of 220 consecutive cases is described for the period before the initial conference and the 6 months following it. The authors draw on interview data from parents, young people and social workers and on social work records to assess whether the process and practice were participatory and the extent to which family members were actually involved in the decisions and the work. They concluded that there was benefit for parents and children in attempts to involve them, even thought only 3% of 378 family members were rated as partners in the protection process and a further 13% were rated as participating to a considerable extent. There was a statistically significant association between the participation of family members and the interim outcomes for the parents and children being rated by the researchers as good or moderately good.     

Is Family Therapy Including Children?

This paper presents a review of recent child therapy and family therapy texts and training courses in Australia. The aim was to determine the extent to which knowledge and information about child development and emotional and psychological problems in children and adolescents is included in the education and training of family therapists. The paper argues this is crucial to prevent the difficulties of young person's being ignored or exacerbated and discusses relevant ethical issues.     

Families With Young Children: A Review of Research in the 1990s

Research conducted in the past decade on families with young children concentrated on 5 broad topics: (a) the transition to parenthood; (b) the importance of maternal sensitivity for children's attachment security and subsequent adjustment and social competence; (c) the effectiveness of particular parenting styles and practices; (d) interparental, familial, and broader societal factors influencing parenting behaviors and child adjustment; and (e) the impact of family structure and household composition on children's well‐being. Our review documents substantial diversity in family structures, parenting arrangements, and childrearing values and practices both within and across ethnic and racial groups. Collectively, the evidence suggests that in most families with young children, parents and children seem to be doing well. We conclude that substantial work is required to expand the study of families with young children beyond mother‐child dyads in White, middle‐class, two‐parent, first‐marriage families.