Child & Family Social Work最新文献

Interparental conflict is common in families with young children, and this can impact infants' health and development. Therefore, understanding risk factors for interparental conflict in the early parenting period is needed to inform early identification and support efforts. The present study aimed to identify parent, child and family factors associated with interparental conflict in the first postnatal year. Secondary analyses of self-report data from 175 mothers and 175 fathers of children aged 0–12 months (169 parent couples) participating in a co-parenting programme in Melbourne, Australia, were conducted. Multiple regression results revealed that lower co-parenting support, higher depressive symptoms and more children in the family were associated with mothers' and fathers' reports of interparental conflict. Additionally, for mothers only, infant crying concerns were associated with interparental conflict. Mothers also reported significantly more interparental conflict, depression, anxiety and stress symptoms and lower co-parenting support than fathers in the same family. These findings underscore the importance of screening both parents for depression and targeting multiple aspects of family life in the postnatal period to reduce interparental conflict and improve family functioning.

For youth in the child welfare system, relationships can be a catalyst for change and resilience. Child welfare workers are responsible for caring for youth, ensuring their permanency, and—wherever possible—maintaining relationships between youth and their families. Unfortunately, not all youth feel supported during their time in out-of-home care (OOHC). For black youth, research has begun to document the challenges and disparities they face while in the child welfare system. Given the adversities that black youth and families face across the child welfare continuum, there is a need to investigate the interactions between child welfare workers and black youth. This study explores the narratives of 27 black youth with lived experience navigating OOHC in Ontario's child welfare system and their relationships with child welfare workers. Three main narratives emerged: 1) the impacts of worker instability and unavailability; 2) the need for transparency, safety, and youth voice in decision-making; and 3) what relationships meant to black youth and how they can be strengthened. Recommendations include maintaining transparency and inclusion in decision-making, addressing factors that impact workers' capacity to build meaningful relationships, training focused on the impacts of anti-black racism, and supporting black youth in building relationships with their families.

Sibling bullying in multichild families involves concealed power dynamics, where victims' voices are often unheard by both their families and external sources, resulting in prolonged oppression and violence. Given the unclear impact of sibling bullying victimization on parent–child decision-making, this study investigates the relationship and explores whether external support serves as a compensatory resource allocation mechanism in families struggling with equitable resource distribution. Based on data from a sample of 10 164 children in the International Survey of Children's Well-Being, the research reveals that children experiencing sibling bullying are less likely to make joint decision-making with their parents, and external support mediated the relationship between sibling bullying victimization and parent–child decision-making, which suggests that victims of sibling bullying often feel isolated and unsupported by their families. Although external support is a vital resource to help children overcome the negative impacts of sibling bullying, its limited availability leaves victims trapped in a persistent cycle of sibling bullying—a state characterized by ongoing experiences of victimization. This research enhances the understanding of how sibling bullying influences parent–child decision-making and offers valuable prevention and intervention strategies for parents, teachers and social workers to address resource imbalances and implement effective support measures.

Posttraumatic stress symptoms have been closely linked with the use of harsh parenting practices in veteran families. This study was aimed at assessing the potential added importance of parent mentalization in predicting the use of corporal punishment among US veterans. A hypothesized hierarchical regression model in which parent mentalization dimensions (i.e., prementalizing, over-certainty, and interest and curiosity) were examined as predictors of corporal punishment was analysed in monoracial (n = 318) and multiracial (n = 182) US veteran families. For veteran parents in both monoracial and multiracial families, parent mentalization emerged as a significant predictor of corporal punishment, even after accounting for parent posttraumatic stress. While the prementalizing dimension of mentalization was associated with greater corporal punishment among veteran parents in both monoracial and multiracial families, the over-certainty dimension was associated with greater corporal punishment exclusively in multiracial families. The present findings clarify dimensions of parent mentalization that confer risk for the use of corporal punishment in US veteran families, above and beyond the predictive role of posttraumatic stress. Implications of the present findings for social workers working with monoracial and multiracial veteran families are discussed.

There is increasing understanding of the challenges associated with rising numbers of children entering England's public care system. Yet, commentators continue to overlook cases where children are ostensibly placed ‘in care’ of the local authority, but then simultaneously remain living at home with their parent(s)—a practice referred to as a ‘Care Order at home’. The purpose of this study was to look for evidence of increasing numbers of ‘Care Orders at home’ within northwest England, and to explore with frontline social workers what they considered to be contributing to this phenomenon. The study adopted an iterative mixed method design comprising of focus groups, online questionnaire, and individual interviews, supplemented by 57 ‘Freedom of Information’ requests. Findings highlighted a substantial increase in ‘Care Orders at home’ in northwest England since 2011 and identified the longstanding national government policy of ‘austerity’ and a ‘malfunctioning’ placement market as key factors contributing to this. Implications are of the importance of reinvestment in preventative services so as to reduce the demand on England's child protection system, and reappraisal, and reform of the children's social care placement market, so that the placement of children can be consistently based on the needs of the individual child.