A study of the characteristics of AFDC cases active in Linn County , Oregon in June 1966 and of the difference in characteristics between those cases closed by September 1, 1967, and those cases remaining active on that date. The source of data was the case records of the Linn County Department of Public Welfare. There were 212 cases in the study with 200 suitable for full analysis. The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that there is a difference in selected characteristics between cases remaining active and cases that close. Case records were read and then characteristics tallied. The cases that were in closed status at the end of 15 months were compared with the characteristics of the cases remaining active. Findings confirmed the hypothesis with respect to two characteristics in which there were statistically significant differences. These were family composition and work experience. A large family limited the possibility of termination, but experience in a trade increased the probability of termination. Education level and age of mother were not found to be significant. The unmarried mother tended to remain active, but this finding was influenced by size of family. Question was raised about the reliability of information in case records concerning sexual behavior and use of alcohol. The woman with chronic medical problems was found to have a better than average frequency of termination. The impact of vocational training and group therapy was not significant for remaining active or terminating.

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Thesis (Ph. D.)--Florida State University, 2003. / Advisor: Dr. Wendy P. Crook, Florida State University, School of Social Work. Title and description from dissertation home page (viewed Oct. 6, 2003). Includes bibliographical references.

This study examined the relationship between child welfare workers' coping skills and their levels of empathy. The author developed instruments for measuring empathy and for measuring coping skills. Measures of the coping skills and empathy of child welfare workers in San Bernardino County and San Diego County were compared and found to be similar; the author hoped that this would demonstrate that the results can be generalized. The hypothesis that excellent coping skills diminish compassion fatigue and lead to increased empathy was supported.

These two mixed method studies are among the first to focus on resilience among Canadian Aboriginal (i.e., First Nations, Métis, and Inuit) youth living in out-of-home care. The first study was quantitative and consisted of cross-sectional and longitudinal components. For the cross-sectional investigation, the participants consisted of 510 First Nations (237 females, 273 males aged 10-16 years), 39 Métis (15 females, 24 males aged 10-16 years), and 10 Inuit young people (2 females, 8 males aged 10-16 years) who were drawn from an ongoing study of young people in out-of-home care in Ontario collected during 2007-2008. The second Canadian adaptation of the Assessment and Action Record (AAR-C2-2006; Flynn, Ghazal, & Legault, 2006) from the ongoing Ontario Looking After Children (OnLAC) project was used to collect data. The criterion variables were the young person’s self-esteem, score on a suicidality index, educational performance, pro-social behaviour, and positive emotional and behavioural development. The predictor variables included the young person’s gender, ethnicity, age, behavioural difficulties, cognitive impairments, attainment of LAC goals, and number of developmental assets. The longitudinal investigation used the same design as study one, but examined the OnLAC data for year eight (2008-2009) in following 260 young people from the sample in study one. The second study was qualitative and involved interviewing 21 First Nations children and adolescents residing in out-of-home care in northern Ontario to obtain their views about resilience and the factors related to the presence or absence of resilient outcomes. The results provided some support for the hypothesis, in that a greater number of developmental assets were related to more positive outcomes on four of the five criterion variables. The results of the focus groups and in-depth interviews suggested that family members, members of the community (coaches), teachers, and child welfare workers, all play important roles in fostering the youths’ success.

Objective: To assess the impact of North American transition programs for youth emerging to adulthood on education, housing, relationship, identity formation, youth engagement, life skills, mental health, and financial outcomes. Methods: Electronic databases, grey literature sites, and research articles were searched to identify randomized control trials and quasi-experimental designed studies examining the effectiveness of transition programs for foster youth. Cochrane Collaboration criteria were used to conduct, identify and assess potential studies. Whenever possible data was extracted and synthesized with random effect, inverse variance meta-analyses. Results: A total of eight studies including 1560 participants were included in this review. Data suggests that interventions focusing on teaching independent living skills are no more effective at improving outcomes for youth when compared with services “as usual.” Youth who participated in school-based self-determination programs showed improved outcomes in transition planning, quality of life, and self-determination. Conclusion: These results are preliminary and should be interpreted with caution. The studies examined here had small sample sizes, and may not have had enough power to detect a real difference. More research is needed. / Graduate

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the Master of Science Degree in Occupational Therapy. Johannesburg, 2014 / The number of children needing care outside of the home environment is increasing. Little is known on quality of residential child carechild care environments in South Africa. To address this knowledge gap, a quantitative descriptive research protocol with a cross-sectional study design was employed to survey residential child care facilities in Johannesburg. The Infant-Toddler Environmental Rating Scale – revised edition was used to describe the social and physical environments provided to children (0-30 months) residing in 18 facilities. Furthermore, caregiver (n=45) and facility demographic information were gathered to determine whether an association existed between three aspects of the environments (caregiver education, training, and child to caregiver ratios) and overall quality scores. Results showed that the environments provided were inadequate and no statistical significant correlations were found between structural aspects and quality scores. The results indicated that the environment restricted children in the fulfilment of meaningful occupation, highlighting the importance of intervention by occupational therapists.

Thesis advisor: Ruth G. McRoy / Thesis advisor: Thomas M. Crea / Youth involved with both the child welfare and juvenile justice systems are referred to as dually involved youth. Children involved in the child welfare system are highly vulnerable for maladaptive outcomes, and in particular, engagement in delinquent behaviors. Those youth who criminally offend are likely to shift back and forth between the two systems, potentially increasing their vulnerability for poor outcomes. The theoretical bases for this study are derived from ecological systems and attachment theories, specifically the influence of trauma on attachment. The Massachusetts Department of Children and Families (DCF) and the Department of Youth Services (DYS) provided the data for this secondary analysis of the characteristics of dually involved youth and the factors related to offense severity for youth committed to DYS. The study explored: 1) the relationship of gender, race, and age of delinquency commitment to offense severity; 2) the influence of child welfare involvement (measured by total unique count of social workers, home removal, and out-of-home placement) to offense severity; 3) the influence of prior maltreatment to offense severity; and 4) the association of gender and race to the likelihood of dual involvement. Results indicated that while maltreatment was found to be significantly associated with more severe offenses, greater child welfare involvement was associated with less severe offenses. Additionally, the results indicated that female juvenile delinquents were significantly more likely to be dually involved. The issues of racial disproportionality within the juvenile justice and child welfare systems were examined. While results did not indicate statistical significance in determining the likelihood of dual involvement based on race, disproportionality in the juvenile justice system exists. Implications for policy changes included the following: 1) the need for gender specific programming, 2) an increased commitment to reducing disproportionality in the child welfare and juvenile justice systems, 3) increased focus on multisystem services to meet the needs of youth. Strategies for using kinship placements as an avenue to maintain familial connections are discussed. Additional research is needed to explore the influence of the interaction between gender and race, mental health and environment factors (e.g., poverty, neighborhood characteristics) on likelihood of dual involvement. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2014. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Social Work. / Discipline: Social Work.