Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 1996. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves [237]-246).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2004. / Supervisors: Edmund Emmer and Guy Manaster. Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ed. D.)--Illinois State University, 1996. / Title from title page screen, viewed May 23, 2006. Dissertation Committee: Lanny E. Morreau, Ming-Gon J. Lian (co-chairs), Keith E. Stearns, Kenneth H. Strand, Jeanne A. Howard. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 140-165) and abstract. Also available in print.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, San Diego and San Diego State University, 2007. / Title from first page of PDF file (viewed May 29, 2007). Available via ProQuest Digital Dissertations. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 88-95).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2007. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (MA(Social Work))-Universiteit van Pretoria, 2006. / Abstract in English and Afrikaans. Includes bibliographical references. Available on the Internet via the World Wide Web.

Children are placed in a children’s home when a Presiding Officer finds them to be in need of care and when there is no viable community placement alternative. The body of literature on children’s homes focuses primarily on the negative effects and outcomes of such statutory placement. The assertion that children who grew up in children’s homes will continue to use the services of welfare organisations in adulthood, is supported by the researcher’s observation as a practicing social worker. This, and the study of available literature, resulted in this qualitative, exploratory-descriptive and contextual research study with the following goal: to enhance the understanding of how intervention programmes at children’s homes can contribute to adult adjustment and independent functioning of those children in their care. A purposive sampling method was used to identify ten participants who had spent at least 2 years in a children’s home and who had been discharged from the children’s home at least 5 years ago (to the date of data collection). The sample was drawn from clients at non governmental social welfare agencies who fitted the sampling criteria. The data was collected via semi-structured interviews using an interview guide, which were recorded, transcribed and then analysed using a thematic content analysis approach. The results of the study may be used to develop and implement meaningful intervention strategies for individuals placed in children’s homes.

Children living in foster care are a particularly vulnerable group of children that are at high-risk for experiencing a multitude of difficulties, including poor academic performance and achievement. Although the academic underachievement of foster children has been well-documented for decades, very few attempts have been made to address the problem. This thesis is the second study to come out of the RESPs for Kids in Care research project, which represents one of three known randomized controlled trials aimed at providing an academic intervention to foster children with a view of improving their basic skills, increasing their chances of graduating from high school and enrolling in post-secondary education. Sixty-four foster children (aged 6 to 13 years), recruited from nine Children’s Aid Societies in Ontario, Canada, participated in the project and received an individualized direct-instruction tutoring intervention that was delivered by their foster parent(s). The unique contribution of the current study was its investigation of differential gender effects of the tutoring amongst the foster boys and girls, and whether there were any mental health and social-relational spillover effects. A mixed-method approach was used to explore these differential effects and the main hypothesis of the project, that the foster children in the experimental group would demonstrate greater gains in reading and math than the children in the control group, between pre-test and post-test, regardless of gender. The results were promising: the foster children in the experimental group demonstrated significant gains in their basic reading and math skills after receiving the foster-parent delivered one-on-one tutoring; there were differential gender effects across the academic and mental health results; and there was partial support for the notion that an academic tutoring intervention does elicit spill-over effects into the mental health and social-developmental domains of foster children’s lives. Results and implications were discussed.

The purpose of this study was to examine whether or not having social support serves as a tool of encouragement for youth to become skilled in areas preparing them for adulthood.

When Child Protective Services (CPS) enters the picture assisting hard shipped families, the child may get placed in a foster home thus starting the cycle of mobility-the child is often moved from one home to another, one school to another resulting in a lack of residential and academic continuity for the child, which in turn results in negative effects in behavior, emotions and academia.