Achieving Permanence for Older Children and Youth in Foster Care

Achieving Permanence for Older Children and Youth in Foster Care
Author: Benjamin Kerman
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Total Pages: 416
Release: 2009-05-18
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0231146884

Through a novel integration of child welfare data, policy analysis, and evidence-informed youth permanency practice, the essays in this volume show how to achieve and sustain family permanence for older children and youth in foster care. Researchers examine what is known about permanency outcomes for youth in foster care, how the existing knowledge base can be applied to improve these outcomes, and the directions that future research should take to strengthen youth permanence practice and policy. Part 1 examines child welfare data concerning reunification, adoption, and relative custody and guardianship and the implications for practice and policy. Part 2 addresses law, regulation, court reform, and resource allocation as vital components in achieving and sustaining family permanence. Contributors examine the impact of policy change created by court reform and propose new federal and state policy directions. Part 3 outlines a range of practices designed to achieve family permanence for youth in foster care: preserving families through community-based services, reunification, adoption, and custody and guardianship arrangements with relatives. As growing numbers of youth continue to "age out" of foster care without permanent families, researchers, practitioners, and policymakers have increasingly focused on developing evidence-informed policies, practices, services and supports to improve outcomes for youth. Edited by leading professionals in the field, this text recommends the most relevant and effective methods for improving family permanency outcomes for older youth in foster care.

Permanency Outcomes of Children in Foster Care

Permanency Outcomes of Children in Foster Care
Author: Angela Gaddis
Publisher:
Total Pages: 119
Release: 2010
Genre: Electronic dissertations
ISBN:

This study examined permanency outcomes of children in custody of the Mississippi Department of Families and Children. Outcomes for children who were placed in kinship care were compared with outcomes of children placed in traditional foster care. Secondary data from years 2006-2008 were analyzed. Using a correlational design relying on secondary data, an analysis of the effect of placement type (kinship or nonkinship care) on placement outcome was examined. The outcome variables examined were reunification with parents, adoption, and emancipation or aging out of the system. The degree to which a relationship exists between demographic variables of age, ethnicity, and gender, and the type of placement was also examined. Street level bureaucracy theory provided a framework for the research and an explanation of factors influencing workers' decisions regarding placement for children. These decisions are often influenced by personal discretion, agency policy, and resources. This research provides knowledge addressing the outcomes of children placed in kinship or nonkinship settings that can be used to better inform social workers as they formulate plans of care. Findings of the study show that children in kinship care have higher rates of reunification with parents, but lower rates of adoption and emancipation than children in nonkinship care. Children in kinship care were also found to experience fewer placement disruptions as well as shorter lengths of stay compared to children in nonkinship care. Additional findings suggest different outcomes for African American children in placement when compared to those of other races. The findings of this study can be used to guide policy and practice decisions related to supporting children in kinship and nonkinship placement settings.

Family Foster Care in the Next Century

Family Foster Care in the Next Century
Author: Kathy Barbell
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 263
Release: 2018-01-18
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1351320467

Family foster care is supposed to provide temporary protection and nurturing for children experiencing maltreatment. Although it has long been a critical service for millions of children in the United States, the increased attention given to this service in the last two decades has focused more on its inability to achieve its intended outcomes than on its successes. However, as social and political trends and new legislation reshape child welfare, policymakers and service providers continue to offer innovative policy and practice options for this child welfare service. Though use of the service has changed, family foster care remains important. Responding to a widespread sense of the "drifting" of children in care, Congress passed the Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act of 1980. This legislation became a key factor shaping the current status of family foster care. Its goal was to reduce reliance on out-of-home care and encourage use of preventive and reunification services; it also mandated that agencies engage in planning efforts for permanent solutions for foster children. Yet, despite federal mandates and funding, the child welfare system has continued to struggle to provide the level of services needed for children to reduce the amount of time children remain in temporary foster care. The latest response to these problems, the Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997, established unequivocally that safety, permanency, and well-being were national goals for children in the child welfare system. To comply with the law, public and private agencies are required to initiate significant program and practice changes in the coming years to improve permanency outcomes and child well-being in family foster care. The central theme of the volume is accountability for outcomes, certainly a current driving force in child welfare as well as in other public and private service fields. This volume will be of interest to all concerned with the social welfare of children and families at the end of the twentieth century. Kathy Barbell is director of Foster Care of the Child Welfare League of America, Washington, DC. Lois Wright is assistant dean at the College of Social Work, University of South Carolina, Columbia.

From Child Abuse to Permanency Planning

From Child Abuse to Permanency Planning
Author: Vicky Albert
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 312
Release: 2017-07-05
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1351518771

More than two million child abuse reports are filed annually on behalf of children in the United States. Each of the reported children becomes a concern, at least temporarily, of the professional who files the report, and each family is assessed by additional professionals. A substantial number of children in these families will subsequently enter foster care.Until now, the relationships between the performance of our child welfare system and the growth and outcomes of foster care have not been understood. In an effort to clarify them, Barth and his colleagues have synthesized the results of their longitudinal study in California of the paths taken by children after the initial abuse report: foster care, a return to their homes, or placement for adoption.

Accomplishing Permanency: Reunification Pathways and Outcomes for Foster Children

Accomplishing Permanency: Reunification Pathways and Outcomes for Foster Children
Author: Elizabeth Fernandez
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 163
Release: 2012-09-07
Genre: Education
ISBN: 9400750919

Reunification is a primary goal of foster care systems and the most common permanency planning decision. It is defined as the return of children placed in protective care to the home of their birth family and used to describe the act of restoring a child in out-of-home care back to the biological family. Yet reunification decision-making and the process of reintegrating children into birth families remains under researched. This Brief takes a look at family reunification knowledge and research in Australia where there is evidence that most children placed in protective care are eventually reunited with their birth parents. It explores how a knowledge of reunification decision making and outcomes can contribute to strengthening practice and informing policy formulation and program planning in Child Welfare.​

The Nature of Kinship Care Relationships and Permanency Outcomes for Foster Children

The Nature of Kinship Care Relationships and Permanency Outcomes for Foster Children
Author: Jolynne Batchelor
Publisher:
Total Pages: 71
Release: 2016
Genre: Adoption
ISBN:

In recent history, kinship care has become the preferred alternative for placement of children in foster care as evidenced by its codification in federal and state policies. Though kinship caregivers tend to fare more poorly on socioeconomic factors than traditional foster and adoptive parents, children who experience kinship care tend to experience better safety and permanency than children in nonkin placements. The term "kinship" is most often broadly defined in child welfare and includes a child's blood relatives and others who share no biological ties but have a close psychological relationship with the child. Yet, little is known to date as to whether degree of relatedness of a caregiver makes a difference in outcomes for children in foster care. The purpose of this study, which took place in Texas, was twofold: first, to compare the permanency outcomes of foster children placed with kin caregivers as opposed to foster children placed with nonkin caregivers, and, second, to test if degree of relatedness between children and their caregivers makes a difference in permanency outcomes. Based on an analysis of data from the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, results indicated that children in kinship foster care fare better than those in nonkin foster care on permanency measures, while the effect of degree of relatedness on permanency was encouraging but less conclusive. Findings are discussed in relationship to behavioral biology and followed by a discussion of Texas' kinship foster care policies using McPhail's (2003) feminist policy analysis framework.

From Child Abuse to Permanency Planning

From Child Abuse to Permanency Planning
Author:
Publisher: Transaction Publishers
Total Pages: 316
Release: 1994-01-01
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9780202360867

More than two million child abuse reports are filed annually on behalf of children in the United States. Each of the reported children becomes a concern, at least temporarily, of the professional who files the report, and each family is assessed by additional professionals. A substantial number of children in these families will subsequently enter foster care.

From Child Abuse to Foster Care

From Child Abuse to Foster Care
Author: Richard P. Barth
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 312
Release: 2017-07-12
Genre: Family & Relationships
ISBN: 1351518801

More than two million child abuse reports are filed annually on behalf of children in the United States. Each of the reported children becomes a concern, at least temporarily, of the professional who files the report, and each family is assessed by additional professionals. A substantial number of children in these families will subsequently enter foster care. Until now, the relationships between the performance of our child welfare system and the growth and outcomes of foster care have not been understood. In an effort to clarify them, Barth and his colleagues have synthesized the results of their longitudinal study in California of the paths taken by children after the initial abuse report: foster care, a return to their homes, or placement for adoption. Because of the outcomes of child welfare services in California have national significance, this is far more than a regional study. It provides a comprehensive picture of children's experiences in the child welfare system and a gauge of the effectiveness of that system. The policy implications of the California study have bearing on major federal and state initiatives to prevent child abuse and reduce unnecessary foster and group home care.

The Children's Bureau Legacy

The Children's Bureau Legacy
Author: Administration on Children, Youth and Families
Publisher: Government Printing Office
Total Pages: 276
Release: 2013-04-01
Genre: Family & Relationships
ISBN: 0160917220

Comprehensive history of the Children’s Bureau from 1912-2012 in eBook form that shares the legacy of this landmark agency that established the first Federal Government programs, research and social reform initiatives aimed to improve the safety, permanency and well-being of children, youth and families. In addition to bios of agency heads and review of legislation and publications, this important book provides a critical look at the evolution of the Nation and its treatment of children as it covers often inspiring and sometimes heart-wrenching topics such as: child labor; the Orphan Trains, adoption and foster care; infant and maternal mortality and childhood diseases; parenting, infant and child care education; the role of women's clubs and reformers; child welfare standards; Aid to Dependent Children; Depression relief; children of migrants and minorities (African Americans, Hispanics, Native Americans), including Indian Boarding Schools and Indian Adoption Program; disabled children care; children in wartime including support of military families and World War II refugee children; Juvenile delinquency; early childhood education Head Start; family planning; child abuse and neglect; natural disaster recovery; and much more. Child welfare and related professionals, legislators, educators, researchers and advocates, university school of social work faculty and staff, libraries, and others interested in social work related to children, youth and families, particularly topics such as preventing child abuse and neglect, foster care, and adoption will be interested in this comprehensive history of the Children's Bureau that has been funded by the U.S. Federal Government since 1912.