Invisible from View: Leaving and Aftercare Provision in the Republic Of Ireland

Abstract

The adequacy of provisions for young people leaving care and in aftercare in the Republic of Ireland has been the subject of recent policy attention. A landmark report, the Ryan Report (2009), into historic abuse in state institutions recommended strengthening provisions in this area. However, the legislative basis for aftercare remains relatively weak and services for young people leaving care remain ad hoc and regionally variable. This article outlines the current context of leaving and aftercare provision in the Republic of Ireland and traces some of the recent policy debates and recommendations in this area. A genealogical analysis of leaving care and aftercare provision highlights that this issue has historically only emerged as a concern in the context in which young people leaving the care system are perceived as a “threat” to social order. It is argued that the failure to adequately reform leaving and aftercare provision is reflective of wider social inequality and of a context in which young people in care are largely invisible from view.     

生育政策调整及其风险规避

现行生育政策对遏制中国人口过快增长作出了历史性贡献,但是政策本身具有阶段性和局限性,不宜长期实行,否则会因下一代人口的过快衰减而影响家庭、社会甚至国防安全。为了让公民满足在生育上的刚性需求和实现平等的生育权利以及降低政策的负面影响,建议将现行生育政策调整为全国统一的“补偿一孩,允许二孩,控制三孩”,并将这一政策延续到2033年前后。调整生育政策可能会出现生育率波动、推迟和抬高人口峰值、计划生育工作滑坡、独生子女家庭总负担加重、人口与资源生态环境关系更加紧张等风险,需要切实规避。     

Child support and non-resident fathers’ contact with their children

The paper presents a model of a non-resident father’s child support and contact with his child, which combines the public good treatment of “child quality” with “trade” in father–child contact time in a setting of non-cooperative interaction. It predicts that father’s income and mother’s non-labour income should have exactly the same effect on the frequency of father–child contact if he chooses to make lump sum payments to the mother. If he does not or there is a binding child support payment order, they have effects opposite in direction. A higher binding support order reduces father–child contact but may well raise “child quality”.

独生子女规模估算及其对政府奖励性支出的影响——以苏州市为例

本文将抽样调查资料与人口普查资料相结合,利用多种统计方法、多方案推算苏州市独生子女存量规模以及未来各年数量,并据此测算了未来各年政府可能的配套奖励性支出。研究结果表明：独生子女大规模进入婚育年龄将势必引起政策生育率的上升,未来各年政府用于独生子女家庭及其父母养老等计划生育政策奖励性支出将逐年增加．财政负担日益加重。建议政府对计划生育配套奖励政策适时进行调整,由现行的提供物质奖励向提供优质服务和社会保障转变。     

Examining cross-state variation in the increase in father-only families

Each state has the power to establish its own policy and laws relating to child custody determination. The number of single-parent families with children that are headed by fathers has been growing in the United States. This paper explores the extent of cross-state variation in the prevalence in father-only families in 1990, and the extent to which there was cross-state variation in the increase in father-only families in the 1980s. The 1980 and 1990 Public Use Microdata Samples (PUMS) drawn from the US decennial censuses are used. Decomposition analyses of growth indicate that increases in the number of father-only families occurred across all states during this period, but at varying rates. The primary reason for the increase in most states is an increase in the proportion of ever-married single-parent families that are headed by a father. It is for these families that are headed by divorced or separated parents that state policy relating to child custody determination is most relevant.     

Fathering With Multiple Partners: Links to Children's Well‐Being in Early Childhood

The claim that multiple partner fertility may pose a risk of adverse outcomes for children has not been tested. We test this argument using a sample of 4,027 resident fathers and children from the Fragile Families and Child Well‐being Survey by examining the pathways through which fathers' multipartnered fertility is associated with children's externalizing behaviors and physical health status at 36 months. Path analyses indicate that multiple partner fertility exerted both a significant direct and indirect effect through paternal depression to influence children's externalizing behaviors. Fathers' multiple partner fertility also exerted a significant indirect effect through one mediator—father involvement—to influence children's physical health. This evidence suggests that the disruptions brought about by multipartnered fertility are important for understanding child well‐being.     

Material hardship and 529 college savings plan participation: The mitigating effects of Child Development Accounts

Experience of material hardship can adversely affect a family’s ability to make long-term investments in children’s development. We examine whether material hardship is associated with one indicator of such investments: participation in a tax-advantaged college savings plan (529 plan). Data for this study come from the SEED for Oklahoma Kids (SEED OK) experiment, an intervention that offers Child Development Accounts with financial incentives to encourage the accumulation of college savings for children from the time of their birth. Results show that material hardship is negatively associated with 529-plan participation, and this association varies by treatment status. At all levels of material hardship, treatment-group mothers are more likely to hold accounts than control-group mothers. These findings suggest that CDAs can be a useful policy tool to support families’ financial preparation for college.     

Predicting adoption dissolutions for children involved in the child welfare system

While the majority of foster care adoptions are stable and secure, some dissolve, resulting in the return of children to the system. The purpose of this study was to identify factors associated with children’s reentry into the foster care system after adoptions are formally finalized. Using case records from the Los Angeles Department of Children and Family Services’ (DCFS) Bureau of Information Systems (BIS), we compared 123 dissolved adoptions to 74 successful ones. We found that children’s gender, history of physical abuse, exposure to drug use, and the number of foster care placements prior to adoption are associated with greater odds of dissolution. Furthermore, the odds of dissolution were higher for relative adoptive parents and for adoptive parents with prior substantiated Child Welfare cases. Implications for practice include ongoing targeted training and supportive services for families and improved screening procedures that address the unique needs of adoptive parents.