Despite the efforts to shorten the time youth spend in foster care, every year about 37, 362 youths emancipate from the foster care system without reaching permanency. Permanency for foster youth has not received adequate attention from the child welfare community due to the belief that youths are unadoptable. Using a qualitative approach, this study will explore the social workers’ perceptions related to permanency planning for youth with behavior problems and/or juvenile involvement in foster care and analyze the influence of the social workers’ perception on permanency planning for these youths. This research study found that social workers considered the mental health of youths as most important in considering placement and permanency options. They believe that reunifying the youths with their families of origin was the optimal permanency outcome. However, when this option was not available, they felt that placing the youths with extended family members or family friends under legal guardianship was a good permanency outcome. This study also found that most of the participants limited the youths’ permanency options to only those known family members or friends already named by the parents; they did not consider reinstating reunification services to the parents, reaching out to incarcerated parents, searching for maternal and paternal extended family, or searching for lost siblings. Implications for social work research and practice are discussed.

The purpose of this study is to gather information related to some factors which are considered to be characteristic of science teaching; to attempt to identify some elements of permanency in science teaching; and to analyze some relationships between the results of the above two criteria with the view of establishing some factors which may be useful as predictors of permanency, or indicative of patterns of permanency, in science teaching.

The psychological concept of attachment began to take hold in the 1950s and 1960s. This time period also began a significant period of social and legislative change impacting on the field of child protection. These social science and legal developments have been mutually reinforcing and this thesis examines those developments over the course of the 60 years since Attachment Theory first emerged from the work of John Bowlby. This examination will include a review of the fundamentals of Attachment Theory with a particular focus on the implications of those developmental lessons on the circumstances of children removed from the care of their families due to risk or maltreatment. Following a review of the fundamentals of Attachment Theory, this examination will review the influence of those principles on the laws of child protection in Ontario – through changes in the legislation and through decisions of the Supreme Court of Canada and the Courts of Ontario. Finally, this thesis will examine some of the ways in which the attachment needs of Ontario’s children are being served or failed with regard to both the need for early establishment of permanency for children as well as the continuity of the care arrangements for children up to and including the point at which permanent plans are established. This examination of the legislation and the case law will demonstrate that Ontario has seen a progressive shift away from family reunification as a fixed priority and toward the examination of each child’s individual developmental needs. This includes an acceptance of the application of Attachment Theory and its principles as one significant means of describing those needs and assessing the best interests of children. / Thesis (Master, Law) -- Queen's University, 2013-04-29 01:15:06.929

<p>Despite remarkable strides being made in legislation in South Africa, the country still faces immense challenges which directly impact on the care and protection of its children. Many children are removed from their families and placed into alternative care because of high risk factors in the family and community. However, because of the socioeconomic<br /> situations of families, many of these children will not be able to return to their family. It is, therefore, essential that in the residential care programme, efforts are directed towards permanency planning for each child in order to ensure long term placement in a family. The host parent programme which has been introduced at Child and Youth Care Centres (CYCCs) acts as a precursor to foster-care placements. Following on this, host parents provide the child in need of care with opportunities to interact and form positive relationships with adult caregivers. This study has explored and described, by means of qualitative research, the experiences of host parents who accommodated children in need of care. Nine host parents were purposively selected from three participating CYCCs in Athlone, Cape Town. Data was collected by means of semi-structured individual interviews. The data was analysed according to the steps by Tesch in Creswell (2009). The findings suggest that host parents are instrumental to those children who cannot return to their natural families. The host parents&rsquo / interaction with the CYCC was both positive and negative at times. Recommendations and guidelines in order to develop and improve existing hosting programmes at CYCC&rsquo / s are provided.</p>

Vi har gjort en kvalitativ intervjustudie med socialsekreterare från tre olika kommuner. Alla intervjupersonerna var socialsekreterare som arbetar med familjehemsplaceringar och vårdnadsöverflyttningar enligt Föräldrabalken 6 kap. 8 §. År 2003 infördes en bestämmelse i både Socialtjänstlagen (SoL) och lagen om särskilda bestämmelser för vård av barn och unga (LVU) som innebar en skyldighet för socialnämnden att överväga om det finns skäl att överflytta vårdnaden till familjehemsföräldrarna. Vår problemformulering och syfte handlar om hur socialsekreterarna hanterar lagens återföreningssyfte respektive vårdnadsöverflyttning och vilka faktorer socialsekreterarna anser har betydelse eller är avgörande för att en vårdnadsöverflyttning ska vara aktuell. Resultatet visar att kommunerna vi valt ut har olika tillvägagångssätt i arbetet med vårdnadsöverflyttningar och möjligheter att stödja och följa upp en vårdnadsöverflyttning. Resultatet visar att en vårdnadsöverflyttning inte genomförs om det strider mot barnets bästa. Vi har funnit gemensamma faktorer som påverkar bedömningen vid ett övervägande eller överflytning. Vi analyserar resultatet med hjälp av anknytningsteorin och tidigare forskning. Socialsekreterarna vi intervjuat upplever många svårigheter med både familjehemsplaceringar och vårdnadsöverflyttningar. Vi har inte kommit fram till om vi anser att det borde genomföras fler eller färre vårdnadsöverflyttningar. Allt beror på det enskilda barnet och omständigheterna i familjehemmet.

<p>Vi har gjort en kvalitativ intervjustudie med socialsekreterare från tre olika kommuner. Alla intervjupersonerna var socialsekreterare som arbetar med familjehemsplaceringar och vårdnadsöverflyttningar enligt Föräldrabalken 6 kap. 8 §. År 2003 infördes en bestämmelse i både Socialtjänstlagen (SoL) och lagen om särskilda bestämmelser för vård av barn och unga (LVU) som innebar en skyldighet för socialnämnden att överväga om det finns skäl att överflytta vårdnaden till familjehemsföräldrarna. Vår problemformulering och syfte handlar om hur socialsekreterarna hanterar lagens återföreningssyfte respektive vårdnadsöverflyttning och vilka faktorer socialsekreterarna anser har betydelse eller är avgörande för att en vårdnadsöverflyttning ska vara aktuell. Resultatet visar att kommunerna vi valt ut har olika tillvägagångssätt i arbetet med vårdnadsöverflyttningar och möjligheter att stödja och följa upp en vårdnadsöverflyttning. Resultatet visar att en vårdnadsöverflyttning inte genomförs om det strider mot barnets bästa. Vi har funnit gemensamma faktorer som påverkar bedömningen vid ett övervägande eller överflytning. Vi analyserar resultatet med hjälp av anknytningsteorin och tidigare forskning. Socialsekreterarna vi intervjuat upplever många svårigheter med både familjehemsplaceringar och vårdnadsöverflyttningar. Vi har inte kommit fram till om vi anser att det borde genomföras fler eller färre vårdnadsöverflyttningar. Allt beror på det enskilda barnet och omständigheterna i familjehemmet.</p>

During the past two decades, court and child welfare agency officials have begun to view the use of mediation in child protection cases as a logical and cost-effective approach to finding safe and mutually agreeable solutions to cases in a timely manner so that permanency can be established more quickly for children. While those who support the use of child protection mediation generally believe that the mediation process has a positive influence on permanency outcomes; few studies have attempted to examine the accuracy of these claims. Utilizing participant survey data from an evaluation of a pilot child protection mediation program implemented in 43 Texas counties, as well as case-level administrative data from Child Protective Services (CPS), the present study sought to address gaps in the existing literature by more closely examining the association between child protection mediation and permanency outcomes for children in foster care. In addition, this study examined the impact of parental engagement with the mediation process on permanency outcomes. Propensity Score Matching (PSM) was used to match 315 mediated cases with 315 non-mediated cases that were resolved through the traditional adversarial process (N=630). Descriptive bivariate analysis indicated that mediated cases varied significantly from non-mediated cases on several of the observed characteristics. Furthermore, the findings of this study indicate that neither participation in mediation nor parental engagement in the mediation process had a discernable effect on whether permanency was achieved or on children’s final placement outcomes. Interestingly, the use of mediation, as well as higher levels of parental engagement were both found to be associated with increased time to permanency. While the findings were somewhat counterintuitive, the results of this study suggest that the phenomena of permanency may be better explained not by one or two specific factors, but rather a combination of child, family, agency, court, and community factors that work together, and in some instances against each other, to influence the final permanency outcome. The findings of this study underscore the difficulty in measuring the impact of a single intervention on outcomes likely affected by a multitude of competing factors. / text

<p>Despite remarkable strides being made in legislation in South Africa, the country still faces immense challenges which directly impact on the care and protection of its children. Many children are removed from their families and placed into alternative care because of high risk factors in the family and community. However, because of the socioeconomic<br /> situations of families, many of these children will not be able to return to their family. It is, therefore, essential that in the residential care programme, efforts are directed towards permanency planning for each child in order to ensure long term placement in a family. The host parent programme which has been introduced at Child and Youth Care Centres (CYCCs) acts as a precursor to foster-care placements. Following on this, host parents provide the child in need of care with opportunities to interact and form positive relationships with adult caregivers. This study has explored and described, by means of qualitative research, the experiences of host parents who accommodated children in need of care. Nine host parents were purposively selected from three participating CYCCs in Athlone, Cape Town. Data was collected by means of semi-structured individual interviews. The data was analysed according to the steps by Tesch in Creswell (2009). The findings suggest that host parents are instrumental to those children who cannot return to their natural families. The host parents&rsquo / interaction with the CYCC was both positive and negative at times. Recommendations and guidelines in order to develop and improve existing hosting programmes at CYCC&rsquo / s are provided.</p>

This dissertation describes a study that investigated the perceptions of foster/whānau caregivers of support and training provisions in Canterbury, New Zealand. The study used both qualitative and quantitative methods. The qualitative component consisted of six questions presented to caregivers at individual or couple interviews. Major themes identified in the response to these questions indicated that participants are generally feeling under-supported and disrespected by social services staff, overwhelmed by the range, severity and difficulty of their children's behaviours, isolated in their role, unable to access relief care and a lack of provision and support for training in local areas. Participants also indicated a desire for training on the etiology and management of difficult child behaviours, managing birth family contact and legal issues relating to allegations and permanency. Areas of current support that caregivers indicated are useful included the support provided by Caregiver Liaison Social Workers, school and early childhood education staff, general practitioners, and other caregivers The quantitative component consisted of a survey covering basic demographic information. A modified child behavioural checklist, containing selected items from the 'Child Behaviour Checklist' and the 'Assessment Checklist for Children' was constructed to assess the range of problematic child behaviours caregivers are experiencing and how prepared they felt in dealing with them. Findings indicated that the participants are experiencing a range of severe behaviours well outside the normal experience of parents but are consistent with those reported in the international literature for children in care. The PSI was used to assess caregiver's stress levels relating to their parenting role. Participants reported high levels of stress particularly in the child domain of the PSI with sub-scales in the high to clinical range across this domain. Implications of theses results are discussed including implications for the caregivers, social welfare practices and the development of future training packages for caregivers.

Magister Artium (Social Work) - MA(SW) / Despite remarkable strides being made in legislation in South Africa, the country still faces immense challenges which directly impact on the care and protection of its children. Many children are removed from their families and placed into alternative care because of high risk factors in the family and community. However, because of the socioeconomic situations of families, many of these children will not be able to return to their family. It is, therefore, essential that in the residential care programme, efforts are directed towards permanency planning for each child in order to ensure long term placement in a family. The host parent programme which has been introduced at Child and Youth Care Centres (CYCCs) acts as a precursor to foster-care placements. Following on this, host parents provide the child in need of care with opportunities to interact and form positive relationships with adult caregivers. This study has explored and described, by means of qualitative research, the experiences of host parents who accommodated children in need of care. Nine host parents were purposively selected from three participating CYCCs in Athlone, Cape Town. Data was collected by means of semi-structured individual interviews. The data was analysed according to the steps by Tesch in Creswell (2009). The findings suggest that host parents are instrumental to those children who cannot return to their natural families. The host parents’ interaction with the CYCC was both positive and negative at times. Recommendations and guidelines in order to develop and improve existing hosting programmes at CYCC’s are provided. / South Africa