National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being, No. 15: Kinship Caregivers in the Child Welfare System

Children entering custody within the child welfare system have been found to have high levels of trauma and significant behavioral health needs. In this paper, authors demonstrate how a structured functional well-being assessment can be used with the custody population to promote an understanding of behavioral health needs, inform case planning, and measure functional improvement over time. Specifically, this paper will: (a) briefly describe how two states implemented a common standardized assessment of functioning to inform case planning and measure well-being progress of children in the custody of a public child welfare system (b) examine what this common assessment tool reveals about the strengths and needs of children entering custody across two sites and (c) describe the magnitude of change in functional improvement measured across 6 months. This paper will contribute to the existing knowledge by sharing possible themes in functioning related to children entering custody while examining changes in functioning over time. Implications for practice, policy, and future research will be discussed.

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Risk of Future Maltreatment: Examining Whether Worker Characteristics Predict Their Perception

Child Maltreatment ◽

10.1177/10775595211031460 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 107755952110314

Author(s):

Kristen Lwin ◽

Joanne Filippelli ◽

Barbara Fallon ◽

Jason King ◽

Nico Trocmé

Keyword(s):

Logistic Regression ◽

Child Welfare ◽

Secondary Data ◽

Well Being ◽

Child Welfare System ◽

Welfare System ◽

Child Welfare Workers ◽

Perception Of Risk ◽

Worker Characteristics ◽

Welfare Workers

Child welfare workers aim to promote the well-being and safety of children and are the link between the child welfare system and families. Families served by the child welfare system should expect similar service based on clinical factors, not based on their caseworker’s characteristics. Using secondary data analyses of the most recent Canadian Incidence Study of Reported Child Abuse and Neglect (CIS-2008) and multilevel modeling, this study examines whether child welfare worker characteristics, such as education level and field, age, and experience predict their perception of the risk of future maltreatment. A total of 1729 case-level investigations and 419 child welfare workers were included in this study. Several one-level logistic regression and two-level logistic regression analyses were run. The best-fit model suggests that caseworkers with a Master’s degree, more than 2 years of experience, and more than 18 cases were significantly more likely to perceive risk of future maltreatment. Further, the interaction between degree level and age also significantly predicted the perception of risk of future maltreatment. Results suggest that the perception of risk of future maltreatment may be influenced by caseworker factors, thus service to families may differ based on caseworker characteristics.

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Abolition, settler colonialism, and the persistent threat of Indian child welfare

10.31235/osf.io/mqgtc ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Frank Edwards ◽

Theresa Rocha Beardall

Keyword(s):

Child Welfare ◽

Settler Colonialism ◽

Well Being ◽

Child Welfare System ◽

Welfare System ◽

Indian Child ◽

Family Separation ◽

Indian Child Welfare Act ◽

Tribal Communities ◽

Tribal Nations

Family separation is a defining feature of the relationship between the U.S. government and American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) families and tribal nations. The historical record catalogues this relationship in several ways including the mass displacement of Native children into boarding schools throughout the 19th century and the widespread adoption of Native children into non-Indian homes in the 20th century. Child removal was commonplace, and explicitly directed at the elimination of Native cultures and nations through aggressive assimilation. This violent legacy eventually prompted the passage of the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) of 1978. The ICWA introduced federal protections for Native children, families, and tribes against unnecessary removal and affirmed the role of the tribe as an important partner in child welfare proceedings. To what extent has this landmark legislation changed the prevalence and frequency of Native family separation since 1978? What can be done to reduce the threat of the child welfare system on the well-being of Native families today? In this Article, we use administrative and historical data to statistically evaluate the magnitude of change in AIAN family separation since the passage of the Indian Child Welfare Act and locate the institutional pathways by which AIAN families are funneled into the child welfare system. Our findings reveal that despite long-standing treaty responsibilities to support the health and well-being of tribal nations, high rates of separation among AIAN children persist. In particular, we find that the frequency of AIAN children's placement into foster care has remained relatively stable since the passage of the ICWA, that AIAN children remain at incredibly high risk of family separation through the child welfare system, and that the post-investigation removal decision by child welfare agencies is a key mechanism of inequality in family separation. We situate these findings within theories about settler colonialism and Indigenous dispossession to illustrate that the continuous removal of Native children from their families and tribal communities is not an anomaly. Instead, we argue that the very intent of a White supremacist settler-state is to dismantle Native families and tribal nations. Based upon these findings, we shift our focus away from the particularities of Indian child welfare and argue that the child welfare system more broadly must be abolished in order to stop the routine separation of Native children from their families by the state. Left intact, child protection systems prioritize surveillance and separation over welfare and support, affecting non-White children and families in immeasurable ways. We suggest that the ICWA has provided, and will continue to provide, a necessary intervention to protect Native families so long as this intrusive system remains. We conclude by exploring how an abolitionist approach to child welfare might positively impact Native families by immediately redirecting social and financial resources into the hands of Native families and working cooperatively with tribal communities to promote Indigenous communities of care.

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Promoting Protective Factors in Environments of Risk for Young Children: An Organizing Framework for Practice, Policy, and Research

Gender and the Genome ◽

10.1177/2470289718820843 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 2 (4) ◽

pp. 96-110 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Barbara Fallon ◽

Joanne Filippelli ◽

Nicolette Joh-Carnella ◽

Elizabeth Milne ◽

Jessica Carradine

Keyword(s):

Child Welfare ◽

Young Children ◽

Well Being ◽

Child Welfare System ◽

Welfare System ◽

Developmental Trajectory ◽

Physical And Mental Health ◽

Vulnerable Children ◽

Abuse And Neglect ◽

Key Indicators

Early childhood is an important developmental period, which lays the foundation for future learning, behaviour, physical and mental health and gene expression. The most vulnerable children in society are often referred to and receive services from the child welfare system because of a concern of abuse and neglect and/or a poor developmental trajectory. This paper presents an organizing framework for how the child welfare system, in concert with allied partners, can support interventions for young children and families by acknowledging its crucial role in improving their development and well-being. The framework is informed by research amassed from numerous disciplines, including child welfare, development, neuroscience, neurobiology and epigenetics. Although the notions of protection and well-being are central considerations in child welfare legislation in Ontario, Canada, the operationalization of wellbeing has proven challenging in child welfare practice, policy and research. The framework proposes ten key indicators and priorities for identifying and promoting optimal child development. Findings from the 2013 cycle of the Ontario Incidence Study of Reported Child Abuse and Neglect (OIS-2013), the only provincial source of aggregated child welfare investigation data, are presented to articulate the divide between the environmental context of a population of at-risk children and the conditions that both protect children and increase the likelihood that they will thrive in adulthood. This paper argues there are different points of entry and intervention across sectors and provides a foundation for further discussion on how to promote well-being for society's most vulnerable children.

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