Challenges in Identifying Factors Which Determine the Placement of Children in Care? An International Review

Placing a child in out-of-home care is one of the most important decisions made by professionals in the child care system, with substantial social, psychological, educational, medical and economic consequences. This paper considers the challenges and difficulties of building statistical models of this decision by reviewing the available international evidence. Despite the large number of empirical investigations over a 50 year period, a consensus on the variables associated with this decision is hard to identify. In addition, the individual models have low explanatory and predictive power and should not be relied on to make placement decisions. A number of reasons for this poor performance are offered, and some ways forwards suggested. This paper also aims to facilitate the emergence of a coherent and integrated international literature from the disconnected and fragmented empirical studies. Rather than one placement problem, there are many slightly different problems, and therefore it is expected that a number of related sub-literatures will emerge, each concentrating on a particular definition of the placement problem.     

Promoting Personalization in Social Care Services for Older People

This article presents findings on 4 themes associated with the personalization of social care for older people: integration of health and social care services; initiatives that prevent the need for more costly interventions; services to maintain people at home; and systems that promote choice, control, and flexibility. The quantitative study utilized data from a national postal survey conducted in England. Findings suggest variable progress regarding the range and style of support available to older people. These are discussed in the context of service integration, community-based services, and consumer-directed care. Implications for service development and future research are highlighted.     

Promoting personalization in social care services for older people

This article presents findings on 4 themes associated with the personalization of social care for older people: integration of health and social care services; initiatives that prevent the need for more costly interventions; services to maintain people at home; and systems that promote choice, control, and flexibility. The quantitative study utilized data from a national postal survey conducted in England. Findings suggest variable progress regarding the range and style of support available to older people. These are discussed in the context of service integration, community-based services, and consumer-directed care. Implications for service development and future research are highlighted.     

Foresight Study on the Risk Governance of New Technologies: The Case of Nanotechnology

Technology‐led innovation represents an important driver of European economic and industrial competitiveness and offers solutions to societal challenges. In order to facilitate responsible innovation and public acceptance, a need exists to identify and implement oversight approaches focused on the effective risk governance of emerging technologies. This article describes a foresight study on the governance of new technologies, using nanotechnology as a case example. Following a mapping of the governance landscape, four plausible foresight scenarios were developed, capturing critical uncertainties for nanotechnology governance. Key governance elements were then stress tested within these scenarios to see how well they might perform in a range of possible futures and to inform identification of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats for nanotechnology governance in Europe. Based on the study outcomes, recommendations are proposed regarding the development of governance associated with the responsible development of new technologies.     

Fathers' involvement and the impact on family mental health: evidence from Millennium Cohort Study analyses

This paper reports evidence from the Millennium Cohort Study (MCS) on the relationship between fathers' involvement and the mental well-being of mothers, fathers and children. Drawing on previous research, we use a tripartite definition of father involvement: engagement, accessibility and responsibility. After searching 14 databases and websites, we screened for applicability, coded, quality assessed and synthesised the evidence. The majority of studies focused on ‘accessibility’ in terms of family structure or on ‘responsibility’ in terms of father employment. Overall, the studies suggest that aspects of fathers' involvement can positively influence both maternal and child mental well-being; fathers' mental health was only analysed in relation to one aspect of involvement: parental or father employment was found to influence fathers' mental well-being positively. Further MCS-based research is recommended to examine the impact of fathers' involvement on their own mental well-being, as well as the broader impact of a more active or ‘modern’ fatherhood model encompassing engagement and an understanding of responsibility beyond the breadwinning role.