published_or_final_version / Social Work / Master / Master of Social Work

Privatization of the public child welfare system has become increasingly popular since its introduction in the early 1990s. State governments that initiate the privatization of foster care services rationalize the changes with claims of effectiveness and/or increased efficiency of services for children and families. There has been no real focus on identifying what efficiency of the system means for children and their families, nor what aspects of effectiveness focuses on children in foster care. As a result, the unintended consequences of this total restructuring of foster care bureaucracy, through the privatization of the state foster care system – and its impact on the organization service delivery and the child – are as yet unknown. The primary aim of this study is investigate whether or not there are differences between state foster care systems and their levels of privatization, as well as the differences in states’ rates of efficiency and effectiveness with regard to a child’s trajectory of experience within the foster care system. Through the analysis of existing data on state-based child welfare service performance this project intends to increase the knowledge regarding the privatization of public child welfare systems and its effect on efficiency and effectiveness of service delivery.

M.A. / South Africa is facing a high rate of children in need of care due to high escalation of the HIV/AIDS related illness. The children are being left without biological parents, and they are eventually placed in the foster care custody of their extended families. Sometimes there are challenges that are experienced by the foster parents and the adolescents’ foster children, as a result the adolescents’ foster children end up leaving school. Foster care learners who stay away from school or who have been entered on the register then absent themselves for substantial parts of the day, are more likely to grow up unhappy and unfulfilled, leaving school much less qualified than they might otherwise be and worst of all sometimes get drawn into a life of crime(Collins, 1998). The overall aim of this study is to explore the factors that contribute to adolescent foster children not completing their high school education and developing strategies to retain adolescents’ foster children in school. Placing the adolescents’ foster children into institutions like industrial schools and children’s homes hoping that the children’s behavior will change should be considered as the last resort that the professionals should do. The objectives of the study are: § To survey literature on foster care education, § To analyse the scope of the concept” foster care” in terms of current practice, § To investigate problems that are encountered by the foster parents and how do they deal with the teenagers’ problems, § To investigate the problems encountered by the teenagers or adolescents foster children , and also identify their unmet needs, § To investigate the problems encountered by the foster children while still at school, § To identify challenges of educators towards foster care learners. iii Qualitative research methodology was applied with the researcher selecting participatory action research to engage adolescents’ foster children, foster parents and educators in the study. The study was exploratory and qualitative in nature. Focus groups were utilized as the method of information gathering. The focus group was conducted with adolescent foster children, foster parents and educators. The focus group sessions with the children comprised of ten adolescent foster children that did not complete their high school education. The focus group session with the foster parents comprised of ten parents caring for adolescent foster children who left school. The focus group with the educators comprised of six educators who taught foster children, three educators were from each of the two high schools in Naledi, Soweto. The foster children and foster parents were recruited from the researcher’s case load in Soweto.

Children and the youth account for over 50% of the South African population of approximately 44 million. The majority of these children are raised in poverty and are therefore subjected to various forms of violence and abuse. As a result, many of these children are placed in foster care. Foster care, which is defined by Herbst and Muller (2001:1) as being “any kind of long term or short term substitute care of children outside their homes by persons other than their own parents”, has its own problems, of which the breakdown of placements is but one. To determine which factors possibly contribute to the breakdown of placements, a qualitative study with a descriptive research design was undertaken. Separate self-developed questionnaires were used as instruments for data collection; the one was used for the foster parents and the other for the foster children. Ten children and ten foster parents were interviewed. The study was conducted in Daveyton, with the assistance of the Benoni Child and Family Welfare Society. It is evident from the study that in foster care, children of all ages are vulnerable to placement instability that often results in the breakdown of the placements. The study also indicates that problems such as poor communication, lack of social work supervision and unresolved problems between foster children and foster parents play a major role in the breakdown of the placements. It also appears that foster children experience more problems with foster families than with foster parents. Based on the findings of the study, recommendations for social work practice and future research that will contribute towards maintaining stability of foster placements are made. / Dr. E. Oliphant

Most social assistance programmes have exit strategies in place which require beneficiaries to end their participation in the programme either on an involuntary or voluntary basis. This can occur when the socioeconomic circumstances of the recipients have improved so they accomplish programme objectives and no longer need programme benefits (World Bank, 2000). Despite this ideal of being able to exit the grant system it seems that the withdrawal of the foster care grant can erode quality of life, particularly in circumstances where the foster parents do not have exit plans put in place. The aim of the study was to explore the exit plans of the recipients of the foster care grant in Soweto and the challenges they face in coming up with these plans. The study adopted a qualitative approach and it was exploratory in nature. Ten foster parents and four key informants from the Department of Social Development were selected using purposive sampling. Data were collected using two separate semi-structured interview schedules for participants and key informants. The data gathered was then analysed using thematic content analysis. The results of the study revealed that there was little knowledge and understanding about the foster care grant and what it seeks to do. The study also revealed that there were no exit plans put in place by foster parents. These results of the study found that the participants had very little knowledge of what an exit strategy was and they did not have set exit plans to exit the grant. Other findings indicated that there was no support for participants from their social workers in terms of the sharing of information and the development of exit plans. This study will thus contribute to the discourse on social assistance in general and foster care grants in particular. Furthermore, it will help to sensitise social workers on the need for exit plans for the recipients of foster grants.

"At present, the actual placing of a child in the home is the only real test of whether this home has use for the agency. This seems to social workers to be a risky method. Through analysis of factors involved in success and failure, we may be able to further eliminate some of the element of chance which we now face. There has been comparatively little work done in this area. Through this study it is hoped that caseworkers will become more familiar with some of the factors which seem to operate in success and failures. It is also hoped that by pointing out some of the dynamics behind failure, caseworkers will be aided in the home study process. The tentative conclusions reached in this paper may provide basis for further study"--Introduction. / Typescript. / "May, 1950." / "Submitted to the Graduate Council of Florida State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts under Plan II." / Advisor: Margaret B. Bailey, Professor Directing Paper. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 54).

by Kwong Sau Hung, Sandy. / Thesis (M.S.W.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1994. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 114-122). / Acknowledgements --- p.i / Abstract --- p.ii / Chapter Chapter 1 --- Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter Chapter 2 --- Literature Review --- p.4 / The Concept of Foster Care Service --- p.4 / Foster Care Service in Hong Kong --- p.7 / Local Studies on Foster Care Service --- p.15 / The Importance of Stable Foster Care Placement --- p.17 / Studies on Stable Foster Care Placement --- p.20 / Role Problems in Foster Care --- p.23 / Chapter Chapter 3 --- Conceptual Framework --- p.33 / Role Theory --- p.33 / Theoretical Framework --- p.36 / Chapter Chapter 4 --- Research Methodology --- p.40 / Research Questions --- p.41 / Definition and Measurement of Variables --- p.41 / Structure of Questionnaire --- p.46 / Study Design --- p.47 / Subject --- p.48 / Data Analysis --- p.48 / Chapter Chapter 5 --- Results --- p.49 / Demographic Characteristics --- p.49 / Motivations and Fostering Experience --- p.56 / Psychometric Properties of Measurement --- p.61 / Measures of Major Variables --- p.62 / Relationship between Variables --- p.75 / Chapter Chapter 6 --- Discussion --- p.82 / Demographic Characteristics --- p.82 / Motivations and Fostering Experience --- p.84 / Major Variables --- p.87 / Relationship between Variables --- p.97 / Limitations of the Study --- p.101 / Chapter Chapter 7 --- Conclusion --- p.103 / Chapter Chapter 8 --- Recommendations --- p.106 / Implication for Social Work Practice --- p.106 / Implication for Research --- p.112 / Bibliography --- p.114 / Appendix A Items Measuring Major Variables --- p.123 / Appendix B Questionnaire (Chinese Version) --- p.128 / Appendix C Questionnaire (English Version) --- p.137 / Appendix D Results of Open Ended Questions --- p.146

As Counties continue to grow and the need for foster parent’s increases, resources become scarce. In San Bernardino County, Juvenile drug court is no longer offered, which has led to fewer resources for foster parents in need of substance abuse treatment services. Without access to juvenile drug court, foster youth are often in need of substance abuse treatment services after they have been placed, as part of rehabilitation and success. Substance abuse issues are often found at the initial interaction of children and family services, and foster youth agencies; however, for ongoing treatment, there are few resources. The purpose of this study focused on foster parent’s perceptions of barriers to accessing substance abuse treatment for foster youth. In order to create solutions and break these barriers, it was important to find out where the problem may have started. Data consisted of questionnaires given to San Bernardino County licensed foster parents who have had placement within the last two years. Given the information that was found, it was concluded that there are limited resources for foster parent caregivers, and having found this information has allowed for San Bernardino County Children and Family Services to ensure the barriers that limited access can be broken.

This study examined former foster youth’s perceptions of the skills and services they received while they were in the foster care system. More specifically the efficacy of these services, and what services and skills they believed would have been helpful to assist them in their transition into independent living. A qualitative design was used, and semi-structured face-to-face and telephone interviews were conducted with ten former foster youth who aged out of foster care at age eighteen through twenty-one. Two males and eight females from diverse backgrounds participated in this study. Participants were recruited through availability and snowball sampling at community agencies, college campuses, and the community. This study found that participants experienced a difficult time transitioning from foster care to independent living, felt unprepared after leaving foster care, needing additional services, and expressed wanting to have received more in depth financial management skills. This study recommends providing additional independent living skills, social support, and participation in the Independent Living Program as part of foster youth’s case plan when preparing to transition out of foster care into independent living.

Adults who were reared in foster care are at greater risk for attachment disturbances than those not raised in foster care, due in part to the negative impact of parental separation. It is important to study the attachment behaviors of foster-reared mothers because large numbers of their children enter foster care. This study was conducted to understand the childhood attachment experiences of foster-reared adults. The research questions addressed the ways in which mothers raised in a foster-care environment perceived and described their experiences of forming relationships as children with their foster mothers, as well as of forming relationships with their own children. This study used a qualitative methodological approach guided by phenomenological inquiry. In-depth, semistructured interviews were conducted with 12 participants. Phenomenological analysis was used to code, analyze, and interpret the interview data. Results were organized into 2 major themes: mother-like attributes and intense fear of loss. Additionally, 4 subthemes emerged: unconditional love of the foster mother for her foster child, continued contact with the foster mother, fear of losing the ability to protect a firstborn child, and fear of the permanent loss of custody of a firstborn child. Further, the research findings revealed 3 important lived experiences that were less related to the research questions: affectionless psychopathy, maternal deprivation, and preoccupied or dismissive parenting styles. The social implications of the study include increased awareness of intergenerational patterns related to foster care and of the need for positive change to assist at-risk foster reared parents.