Parental substance misuse and statutory child protection in England: Risk factors and outcomes

Parental substance misuse is a significant child welfare issue and associated with increased risk of child maltreatment. The aim of the present study was to understand what social care outcomes children who live with parental substance misuse have, and to assess factors associated with those social care outcomes over a two-year period. The paper reports on a retrospective longitudinal study of 299 children all living with parental substance misuse and referred to one local authority in England. Data were collected from children's social work case files about procedural social care outcomes and factors which may be associated with those outcomes. Using cluster analysis, a new typology of children's longitudinal trajectories through the children's social care system was developed, consisting of five distinct types. Analysis indicated that some children received too little intervention from children's social care despite ongoing concerns, while other children were potentially unnecessarily caught up in the social care system. Factors associated with children having the poorest outcomes were: caregiver instability resulting from substance misuse, parenting capacity and household instability. The study's findings indicate that some children who live with parental substance misuse are at significant risk of harm, but others are not and may be better supported through non-statutory services such as early help.     

New configurations of labour insertion processes. The case of secondary technical and vocational education and training students in Chile

This article presents the results of a longitudinal study that followed a sample of 1011 young people who completed their secondary technical and vocational education and training studies in Chile between 2011 and 2016. It adopts a mixed design that combines both quantitative and qualitative methodological strategies to analyse transitions and post-study trajectories. Analysis has helped to identify the prevalence of non-linear and unstructured transitions to the labour market. It has also shown the existence of education-work links and employment alternatives that are generated in certain sectors as well as identified how these give rise to specific opportunity structures that affect on aspirations and career pathways. Results indicate that graduates of the industrial area of study experience more substantive educational integration and labour links following course completion due to greater levels of alignment between their training and the productive demands of the industrial sectors. However, their experiences over the medium term are fragmented and, thus, reflect those of their peers from other areas.