Child & Family Social Work最新文献

A “Housing First” approach to homelessness, showing promise for single adults, might also be effective for families whose homelessness combined with other challenges bring them to the attention of the child welfare system. This paper reports impact findings from the evaluation of a randomized, controlled trial in San Francisco that tested the effectiveness of an intervention designed to provide permanent housing and supportive services to such families, with the goal of safely reducing the use of foster care. Compared with families in the control group (33 families with 60 children), we found no significant impact on the likelihood of out-of-home placement up to 2 years after randomization. For families whose children were already in foster care, children in the treatment group (43 families with 63 children) reunified faster than those in the control group (42 families with 68 children), although nearly always before being housed. There was no difference between groups in time to case closure or likelihood of subsequent child welfare involvement. We discuss these findings in the context of important implementation challenges that have implications for further testing this intervention in tight housing markets.

Children and young people in residential care continue to experience significant harmful sexual behaviour, dating violence and child sexual exploitation. Power to Kids is a programme developed in Australia to prevent and respond to these forms of abuse for this cohort. The aim of the study was to explore how a Communities of Practice initiative could further support the implementation of the Power to Kids programme in the residential care practice of a community service organisation. Qualitative data were collected through feedback loops (n = 12) with residential carers and senior staff and focus groups (n = 4). Quantitative data were collected through two surveys (n = 89) and (n = 46). The data revealed inductively the EMBED model: Executive commitment to Communities of Practice, Members of Communities of Practice engage with content, Becoming part of everyday practice, Enhanced knowledge of sexual health and safety and Decline in going missing and better relationships. Findings suggest that a Community of Practice approach to implementing Power to Kids is promising in embedding the sexual health and safety programme.

This study aims to explore the differences in psychological flexibility, psychological capital and the perception of marital quality between parents of children with and without autism and to examine whether psychological capital could serve as a moderator of the association between psychological flexibility and the perception of marital quality. One-hundred fifty parents of children with autism and 192 parents of children without autism completed an online survey. Parents of children with autism had lower psychological flexibility and psychological capital than the comparison group. The levels of psychological flexibility and psychological capital were also found to be significantly and positively correlated with the perception of marital quality of parents in both groups. Amongst parents of children with autism, hope significantly moderated the association between psychological flexibility and the perception of marriage quality. Hope buffers the relationship between psychological flexibility and the perception of marital quality amongst parents of children with autism. Designing unique, specific and tailored therapeutic interventions for parents of children with autism is recommended.

Kinship fostering in Igbo indigenous communities is an enduring alternative child care practice that promotes collective responsibility for child care in a family environment. The practice is believed to be fundamental for family and community continuity. Weakening extended family ties and a lack of social work support services in this care arrangement have cast doubt on the continual viability of this alternative child care practice This is an exploratory study using grounded theory. In-depth interviews with six community leaders and six senior public social welfare officers provided insight on belief systems promoting kinship fostering in Igbo indigenous communities. Findings were thematically analysed to show continuity of lineage, preservation of family name and challenges associated with kinship fostering. Belief systems on kinship fostering provides insights on how children are viewed in Igbo culture, which can help policymakers design intervention programme that are culturally relevant in child-care formation in Nigeria given challenges in kinship fostering. The study promotes indigenous knowledge that is vital for social work education and practice in Nigeria. Further study suggests exploring the belief of foster children and their experiences in kinship fostering.

This study focuses on Latino fathers and investigates the role that cultural concepts and fatherhood identity play in the stigma associated with having a child with a disability. Disability stigma is a widely held concept that acknowledges the role of culture; however, there is a lack of information on Latino fathers. Using a panel survey provider a US cross-sectional survey was completed by 92 Latino fathers who had a child with a disability. Multiple regression was used to investigate the relationship of cultural Latino constructs (personalismo, machismo, caballerismo and respeto) and fatherhood identity on the stigma experiences of Latino fathers who have a child with a disability while controlling for the child's age and acculturation (R² = 0.43, p < 0.001). Latino fathers with higher levels of personalismo (p = 0.05), and fatherhood identity (p < 0.001) had lower levels of stigma. Latino fathers with high levels of machismo had high levels of stigma (p < 0.001). There was no significant relationship between caballerismo and respeto towards stigma. Specific recommendations for Latino fathers include (1) the development of personalismo by focusing on the child–parent relationship; (2) a re-frame of machismo to focus instead on caballerismo characteristics to de-emphasize harmful effects on stigma experiences; and (3) heightening the identity as a father as a protective mechanism to strengthen resilience from stigma.