No / The Public Law Outline (PLO) introduced in England and Wales in April 2008 appeared to hold out the promise of a fairer process for parents within pre-proceedings decision-making processes that determine whether or not the local authority will make an application to court. Whilst the rhetoric of the PLO to provide consensual solutions within administrative rather than judicial decision-making processes may be laudable, there are tensions and dilemmas in ensuring the rights of parents and children are protected when important decisions are being made without the oversight of the court. Despite the rhetoric of keeping children and families at the heart, there appears no relief from the procedural and managerial processes set within a context of public sector cuts affecting all professionals tasked with protecting children. Achieving justice for children and families to ensure their rights are protected within a protocol that necessitates increased resources will be a challenge.

According to recent estimates, approximately 423,773 children in the United States are in foster care (US Department of Health and Human Services, 2011). While research has documented that childhood obesity is high in foster children, the relationship between nutrition, physical activity, weight status of foster children and the foster home environment is unclear. Furthermore, there is a gap in the literature on the capacity of the child welfare system to address obesity among this population nor practical intervention strategies. This dissertation consists of three studies, with the following purposes: 1) assess the current foster care landscape related to the promotion of healthy eating and physical activity through questionnaire based and objective data; 2) examine legislature and training programs that focus on nutrition and physical activity as it relates to foster families; and 3) utilize the Delphi method to begin the development of a potential healthy eating and physical activity intervention for foster care through the recommendation of intervention strategies that could be integrated into the foster care system. These purposes are achieved utilizing a systems-based approach. More specifically, research was conducted through collaboration with several local agencies throughout Virginia. The findings from Study 1 suggest that obesity is prevalent among foster children and foster parents in Virginia and that there are some indications that the foster home environment is related to lifestyle behaviors and weight status, though the relationships were small. Study 2 identified face-to-face trainings targeting foster parents and children (depending on the child's age) as an important and practical method to intervene through regular trainings. Study 3 indicated that there are few federal or local policies that explicitly address physical activity, nutrition, and weight status. A number of recommendations are made for the structure, content, and process of integrating obesity prevention and treatment strategies within the foster care system. / Ph. D.

Master of Science

Public child welfare agencies experience front line worker turnover rates as high as 25% a year. Worker turnover has significant financial costs to agencies, and has been linked to negative outcomes for children in care. Prior research has linked organizational factors, such as organizational climate, culture, and supervisor satisfaction, to turnover intent in child welfare populations. This research uses an empowerment framework to turn to workers directly to answer the question, "What are the organizational factors that lead frontline child welfare workers to stay or leave the agency, and what, then, are the implications for agency administrators?" This study relies upon secondary data of a workforce study conducted by the Child Welfare Partnership at Portland State University's School of Social Work. The data was collected via a pilot internet survey of approximately 400 State-employed Oregon child welfare case workers across all geographic regions in the state, and focuses on workers who plan to leave for preventable reasons. This study explored links between organizational factors and turnover in a sample of Oregon public child welfare workers. This research finds that climate, culture, supervision, and knowledge of the job prior to hire are all significantly correlated with intent to leave. Climate is most significantly correlated to Intent to Leave, and explains 25% of the variance in intent to leave in a regression model. These research findings suggest that agency administrators who are interested in improving worker retention can monitor and address local culture and climate as one tool for increasing workforce stability. Retention may be improved by maintaining an organizational culture and climate that is empowering to workers and that encourages workers to be a part of the change process. Additional implications for the child welfare workforce, social work research, and social work education are discussed.

published_or_final_version / Social Work and Social Administration / Master / Master of Social Sciences

This thesis argues that despite political promises and rhetoric to the contrary the federal and provincial governments maintain through their policies, legislation, and regulations the continued assimilation of First Nations; under the guise of supporting First Nations attempts to resume governance over child and family services. It is my assertion that governments both federal, provincial and First Nations need to begin a process and transition towards self-governance in child and family services based on our traditional laws and practices, in order to ensure the continued survival of our nations. I have set out a number of preliminary options for assisting in the process of decolonization in the area of child welfare. This thesis is written from my perspective as a First Nations woman engaged in the practice of law in the area of First Nations child and family services. A perspective which is inspired by the political work of my relations in the advancement of Aboriginal rights and title in British Columbia. In chapter one I discuss the impact of colonization on First Nations children, families, communities and governments and conclude that the state (federal and provincial governments), far from promoting First Nations child welfare, have served to create enormous despair, poverty, dependency, and an erosion of First Nations cultures, languages, and governance. This chapter ends with a discussion of First Nations values, practices and traditions in relation to child rearing and "child protection. Chapter two examines the recent changes to child and family service delivery in British Columbia , changes which effectively continue the process of assimilation. Chapter three examines the current delegated model of First Nations child and family services in British Columbia. I argue that the delegated model is premised on assimilation, in that First Nations are bound to comply with the very legislative and administrative models that were illustrated in chapters one and two to have had such a devastating impact on First Nations children, families, communities and governments. Finally, the fourth chapter provides an overview of the federal and provincial constitutional framework and political "support" for self-government juxtaposed against First Nations' perspectives of their inherent right to self-government. In conclusion I propose a number of interim measures that would support First Nations resumption of self-government of child and family services . It is extremely important, in my opinion, that a process and transition towards true self-governance begin as soon as possible building upon First Nations community values and cultural practices.

This study applied Ethnographic Decision Tree Modeling (Gladwin, 1989) to the field of child abuse reporting to investigate the factors that influence decisions to report possible child abuse. Participants were licensed psychologists in the lower mainland of British Columbia. Using ethnographic interviews, participants were asked to discuss a recent case in which they reported possible child abuse and the factors that were influential in their decision making. Based on the data from 34 cases, six factors were identified: (1) Were there any signs of or risk factors for child abuse or neglect? (2) Did the signs or risk factors meet your threshold to report as you understand the law? (3) Was there some other value to report other than a legal one? (4) Were you concerned that reporting would cause harm? (5) Were you able to minimize the harm that would result from reporting? and (6) Did the reasons to report outweigh the reasons to not report? These six factors were presented in a decision tree to illustrate the relationship between factors and decision outcome. This preliminary group model was then tested using the case experiences of a separate yet similar group of registered psychologists in British Columbia. Results found that the preliminary model accurately predicted the reporting outcome of 93% (33 of 36) of the cases in the new sample. Errors in the model were identified, and suggestions were made to improve its predictive ability. The results are evaluated in light of the decision tree produced. Implications for theory building, naturalistic inquiry, clinical practice, policy, and future research are discussed.

The study "Can recipients of the Child Social Grants in Banana City Informal Settlement generate an adequate standard of living from the Grant?" examines whether the child support grants is accessible and sufficient to generate the livelihoods of beneficiaries. The study evaluates the impact of the grant on low income households particularly beneficiaries in Banana City Informal Settlement. The challenges facing the recipients in accessing the grant are identified and recommendations advanced. The lack of proper Identity Documents was identified as the key challenge facing qualifying and intended beneficiaries of the Child Support Grant. The findings of the study reveal that there is a need for continuous synergy between various governmental departments in ensuring that the Millennium Goal of halving poverty by 2015 is achieved. The research draws from international practices of social welfare measures in countries such as Brazil, India and China. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2009.

Child protection work largely relies on mothers in fulfilling its aim to protect children and support families. Mothers are expected to shield children from abuse and neglect regardless of circumstance. Fathers evade such expectations, and are rather treated as unimportant or as aggressors. In either case, they are distanced from the child protection process. These divergent expectations of mothers and fathers often go unnoticed in child protection practice, as social workers are consumed with the urgent need of assessing risk to children. Workers' reliance on mothers becomes a habit that is not easily countered because there is neither the time nor the tools to engage in such a battle. The present study seeks to illuminate gender constructions and their reproduction in front-line child protection work through the voices of social workers. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight former and current front-line workers for this study.

This thesis argues that despite political promises and rhetoric to the contrary the federal and provincial governments maintain through their policies, legislation, and regulations the continued assimilation of First Nations; under the guise of supporting First Nations attempts to resume governance over child and family services. It is my assertion that governments both federal, provincial and First Nations need to begin a process and transition towards self-governance in child and family services based on our traditional laws and practices, in order to ensure the continued survival of our nations. I have set out a number of preliminary options for assisting in the process of decolonization in the area of child welfare. This thesis is written from my perspective as a First Nations woman engaged in the practice of law in the area of First Nations child and family services. A perspective which is inspired by the political work of my relations in the advancement of Aboriginal rights and title in British Columbia. In chapter one I discuss the impact of colonization on First Nations children, families, communities and governments and conclude that the state (federal and provincial governments), far from promoting First Nations child welfare, have served to create enormous despair, poverty, dependency, and an erosion of First Nations cultures, languages, and governance. This chapter ends with a discussion of First Nations values, practices and traditions in relation to child rearing and "child protection. Chapter two examines the recent changes to child and family service delivery in British Columbia , changes which effectively continue the process of assimilation. Chapter three examines the current delegated model of First Nations child and family services in British Columbia. I argue that the delegated model is premised on assimilation, in that First Nations are bound to comply with the very legislative and administrative models that were illustrated in chapters one and two to have had such a devastating impact on First Nations children, families, communities and governments. Finally, the fourth chapter provides an overview of the federal and provincial constitutional framework and political "support" for self-government juxtaposed against First Nations' perspectives of their inherent right to self-government. In conclusion I propose a number of interim measures that would support First Nations resumption of self-government of child and family services . It is extremely important, in my opinion, that a process and transition towards true self-governance begin as soon as possible building upon First Nations community values and cultural practices. / Law, Peter A. Allard School of / Graduate