Decades of data document that permanent placements of children in the welfare system has been a concern in Mississippi. As foster care rates increase, more children are awaiting placement. Researchers have linked child welfare workers' educational background to placement outcomes for foster care children; however, researchers have not addressed the relationship between child welfare workers' educational backgrounds and foster care placement outcomes in Mississippi. This quantitative study examined the educational backgrounds of social work and nonsocial work child welfare caseworkers and other factors such as children's gender and race as predictors in placement outcomes for children in welfare custody. Attachment theory was used to explain parent-child relationships and the importance of permanent, safe, and nurturing homes for children in the child welfare system. Secondary data were used from the 2017 archival records for 176 child welfare caseworkers' caseloads in the Mississippi Department of Child Protective Services (MDCPS). A simple linear and multiple regression analysis was used to examine child welfare caseworkers' educational background and children's gender and race as predictors for the length of stay in placement outcomes. The results revealed that caseworkers' educational backgrounds were not a significant predictor of placement outcomes but gender and race combined were significant in predicting the length of stay in placement outcomes for children in custody. Results from this study could promote positive social change within MDCPS by providing data to inform agency policy and procedures for child welfare practice, which could then result in more timely placements of reunification or adoption for children in the welfare system who are currently spending 36 months or more in traditional foster care.

La lourdeur de la procédure française d'adoption, ainsi que la baisse du nombre d'enfants adoptables ne permettent pas de répondre à la demande d'enfant des candidats à l'adoption. Ces derniers se rendent alors à l'étranger chercher ce qu'ils ne trouvent pas en France. Or, le recours aux filiations électives étrangères (adoption internationale ou maternité pour autrui) conduit les candidats à l'adoption ou les couples intentionnels français à conclure de nombreux contrats. On assiste alors à une véritable contractualisation des filiations électives, qui se développe en France, contre toute attente, le droit tentant de maintenir l'état et la capacité des personnes en dehors de la sphère contractuelle. L' étude de l'autonomie de la volonté dans les filiations électives met ainsi en parallèle, et parfois en opposition, plusieurs intérêts: celui des parents électifs ou biologiques, celui de l'enfant, mais aussi celui de l 'Etat qui entend préserver certains principes comme l'indisponibilité du corps humain ou l'état des personnes. La conciliation de ces différents intérêts doit donc passer par la mise en place d'un cadre juridique. Toutefois, dans un contexte de mondialisation (forum et law shopping, etc.), le problème de la réglementation de l'expression de la volonté dans les filiations électives entraine d'autres difficultés telles que la qualification juridique des accords conclus dans le cadre de l'adoption ou dans le cadre d'un recours aux mères porteuses, le refus de reconnaissance de la filiation établie à l'étranger ainsi que le statut de l'enfant. / A cumbersome process combined with fewer adoptable children impedes French demands for adoption which results in the potential parents seeking solutions abroad. Resorting to optional filiation through international adoption or surrogacy leads prospective French parents or actual candidates, to enter multiple contracts. This contractualization of optional filiations has surprisingly swept across France, clashing against principles of French law calling for a protection of the personal status and capacity by keeping them out of contracts. This study on freedom of will within the process of optional filiation highlights the tension between the prospective and also the biological parents', and the child's interests. This study also puts in perspective those interests with that of the State which intends to guard principles such as inalienability of the human body. In order to make sure every interest is taken into account, such a process needs to be regulated, and a legal framework needs to be implemented. However, in a world where globalization is the trend (forum shopping, law shopping) finding common ground to set rules and regulations regarding the optional filiation process is easier said than done and raises many difficulties concerning the adopted childÕs status and the refusal to recognize filiation through foreign adoption. Such a process also raises questions: What legal qualification should apply to agreements within the adoption process or in case of surrogacy contracts?