<p>The main aim of this study was to explore lived experiences of unaccompanied foreign minors in South Africa from a social work perspective. An important goal was to also explore the lack of guidelines on how to assist these young people. This study was conducted in a Children&rsquo / s Shelter, which is situated in the North-Eastern outskirts of Polokwane, where a group of unaccompanied refugee children from Zimbabwe were living. This study was qualitative and explorative in nature. Non-probability sampling was used to select participants for the study. Ten children were selected, ranging from age 14 to 18 years. Semi-structured interviews with the children and a focus group discussion with five care workers were held. Thematic analysis was used. The findings of this study revealed that services by government social workers are limited compared to those from social workers employed with nongovernmental organisations. It is hoped that this study will assist government and other role players in planning, advocacy and policy development related to the issues affecting unaccompanied refugee children.</p>

The purpose of this study is to better understand, from a foster parent perspective, how the integration process of the foster child is carried out in the foster family. The purpose is to identify the challenges and success factors in the process. The study is based on a qualitative method. The data consist of interviews with six foster families. The study’s theoretical framework is mostly based on system theory and also on the theory of ambivalence. The results show that most of our families considered five factors to be important in order to facilitate the integration process. The foster family needs to bond with the foster child, let the foster child in into the family system, open up and be who they really are, respect each other and reserve time to be able to satisfy the needs of foster child. The results emphasize that the foster parents should treat the foster child in the same way as the biological child.  We have also been able to identify factors that may have an impact on integration, like the age of the foster child. Our results suggest that foster parents experience different varieties of ambivalence to both the foster child and the foster child's biological parents. Those children who have a poor relationship with their biological parents and are of relatively young age tend to be over-integrated in the foster family.

The purpose of this qualitative sociological law study is to examine the relationship between the social services and civil court to apprehend if knowledge about the child's best interest is transfered from social workers to the legal system. This have been done by investigating civil court cases concerning custody transition from biological parents to foster parents according to 6 chapter 8 paragraph in the law of parenting, built upon the legal principle of the best interests of the child. Eight cases has been examined by using a method of qualitative text analysis and categorised into five primary categories and three concepts linked to sections of the law. The material has been analysed through a sociological law perspective, social constructionist theory and attachment theory. The study shows that a variety of factors interacts when it comes to determining what’s in the best interest of the child . Moreover, the civil court refers in all eight cases to social services assessments of the child's situation. This suggests that social services have an informal power position when it comes to decisions on custody transition in accordance with the child's best interests.

Parental participation in parent training programs is necessary for success in behavioral parent training. Prior literature has demonstrated probabilistic reinforcement as an effective intervention for improving a wide variety of behaviors. In the present study, a probabilistic reinforcement program (i.e., lottery) was implemented in order to evaluate its efficacy as part of a behavioral parent training program. The behaviors targeted for increase included attendance, participation, homework completion, and performing role-plays or completing in-class assignments for two 10 week Tools for Positive Behavior Change courses. Participants earned lottery tickets for each of the dependent measures, and drawings took place at the end of each class. An alternating treatments design was employed to determine any differences in performance on the dependent measures between baseline and lottery sessions. Results showed that participants attended and participated more with parent training under the conditions of a lottery compared to baseline class sessions although the effect was minimal; furthermore, this effect was observed more clearly for one of the two classes. Further research is needed to explore the effect of a lottery intervention on parent participation in parent training programs.

Abstract This study evaluated the effectiveness of a classroom based training in teaching social skills to four adolescent females between the ages of 13–17 years old and residing in foster care. The training took place over a three week period, one night a week, for three hours at a time and utilized a Behavioral Skills Training format. The assessments were conducted via role play scenarios; pre- and posttraining. The results show each participant demonstrated an overall increase in skills from pretraining to posttraining indicating that youth in foster care were capable of learning the skills taught.

Texas Child Protective Services has been struggling with keeping its workers. The turnover rate, which measures the frequency of workers quitting and entering the agency, has been extremely high since the 1980s. In 2012, CPS reported that about one-fourth of its skilled workers are leaving the agency. This puts extra burden on the remaining workers, eventually leading them to resign as well. To fix the turnover issue, the state of Texas initiated a major reform in CPS in 2006. Although the reform succeeded in improving the quality of work environment and other areas, it failed to bring down the turnover rate. To identify why the statewide reform had failed, former caseworkers share their experiences with the agency to reveal what causes the high turnover, the detrimental effects it has on children, and what should be done to reduce the rates. / text

The purpose of this study was to explore the potential benefits of a therapeutic horsemanship program for children adopted from foster care and their adoptive mothers. Standardized measures, open-ended interviews and surveys were administered to determine effects on external child behavior, child self-esteem and parenting stress. The Child Behavior Checklist was administered to measure behavioral challenges in the children in this sample. There were no statistically significant changes on any of the CBCL scales. Qualitative data from the mothers, Instructors and researcher observations show some affect on behavior. The Culture Free Self-Esteem Inventory-3 was administered to measure self-esteem of the nine children in the sample. The decrease on the Global Self-Esteem Quotient of the CFSEI-3 was statistically significant using. Of the nine children, only three of them scored in the clinical range at pre-test. Of these three, two moved into the normal range and the third improved her score to be very close to the normal range. Qualitative data from the mothers, Instructors and researcher observations support this finding. The Total Stress score of the Parenting Stress Index -- Short Form for the mothers in the sample did not show a statistically significant decrease. Six of the nine mothers' pre-test and post-test scores were in the clinical range and only three had decreased post-test scores. The Qualitative data obtained through interviews, surveys and observations did not support a direct impact of the program on stress levels but rather an impact on level of support. Many mothers reported that they liked spending time with the other mothers to share resources and discuss their children. The data collected in this study does not provide sufficient evidence to make any causal statements about therapeutic horsemanship programs and children adopted from foster care. It does, however, provide support for the need for future research. The findings from this study have implications for meeting the needs of a variety of children adopted from foster and their adoptive parents. / text

The child welfare system has a responsibility to provide healthy environments for children who are removed from the care of their biological families. An important indicator of success in this endeavor is variations in child functioning following admission into foster care. Maltreated children are already at risk for difficulty adjusting to new environments and creating new relationships. This dissertation sought to explore the effect of change during foster care on child functioning. The effects of various types of change on children who were provided with treatment foster care services were evaluated using the Child and Adolescent Functional Assessment Scale (CAFAS®) as a measure of child functioning. Results indicated that placement change and foster sibling presence negatively impacted child functioning, but that caseworker contact, foster sibling removal, and caseworker change positively impacted child functioning. Policy and practice implications emphasize the positive impact of single-child foster care placements, reduced volatility within foster child environments and relationships, and increased caseworker contacts. Future research should examine factors that mediate the relationship between systemic volatility within the foster care system and child functioning. / text

Tyrimai rodo, kad į valstybės globą patenka psichikos sveikatos sunkumų turintys vaikai, kuriems būtina įvairių psichikos sveikatos priežiūros specialistų pagalba. Vis tik pastebima, kad psichologinė pagalba globojamiems vaikams ne tik Lietuvoje, bet ir užsienyje dažniausia teikiama nesistemingai, taikant metodus, kurių efektyvumas patvirtintas kitose amžiaus, socialinio statuso ar problemų grupėse, tad specifinių psichologinės pagalbos metodų, efektyviai veikiančių būtent globojamų vaikų grupėje, klausimas išlieka itin aktualus. Pagrindinis šio tyrimo tikslas – nustatyti Į sprendimus sutelkto trumpalaikio konsultavimo (SSTK) galimybes, skatinant geresnį globojamų paauglių psichologinį-socialinį funkcionavimą ir problemų sprendimą, bei veiksnius, susijusius su geresniais konsultavimo rezultatais. Tyrime dalyvavo 228 paaugliai (12-18 m.), gyvenantys vaikų globos namuose. 47 iš jų buvo konsultuoti, taikant SSTK modelį, 47 – sudarė kontrolinę grupę. Tyrime taikyti metodai: 1) trys psichologinio-socialinio funkcionavimo vertinimo metodai, 2) penki poveikio efektyvumo vertinimo metodai. Tyrimo planą sudarė trys etapai: 1) vaikų globos namuose gyvenančių paauglių psichologinio-socialinio funkcionavimo tyrimas; 2) poveikio vykdymas; 3) vaikų globos namuose gyvenančių paauglių psichologinio-socialinio funkcionavimo pokyčių, praėjus šešioms savaitėms po pirmojo įvertinimo, tyrimas. Tyrimo rezultatai parodė, kad SSTK yra efektyvus vaikų globos namuose gyvenančių paauglių problemoms... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / Most of studies have revealed that children entering foster care have various mental health problems and need help of mental health care professionals. Unfortunately, many authors notice that psychological help rendered for foster children lack organization, for mental health care professionals giving services for foster children are forced to use methods, which empirically are tested among adults or among children having specific mental health disorders or to use methods without empirical proof. Thus issue concerning effective psychotherapeutic methods for foster children remains especially relevant. The aim of the study is to assess the potential of Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT) improving psychosocial functioning of adolescents in foster care and factors related to better outcome of the SFBT. Research group consisted of 228 adolescents living in foster care homes (12-18 years old). 47 adolescents participated in SFBT group, 47 adolescents from the rest of the group were selected for control group. Research methods: 1) three methods for evaluation of psychosocial functioning; 2) five methods for evaluation of intervention outcomes. Research consisted of three stages: 1) evaluation of the psychosocial functioning of adolescents living in foster care; 2) intervention for treatment group; 3) evaluation of the changes in psychosocial functioning after the period of 6 weeks since first evaluation. Research results demonstrated that SFBT is an effective method for... [to full text]

The purpose of this essay was to examine and compare what attitudes Swedish and Belgian social workers may have towards residential care and foster care for children and young people. To answer the purpose eight qualitative interviews with four Swedish and four Belgian social workers were made. The results were analyzed by theory of organization and professional acting space. The results of the study show that the social workers in both countries preferred foster care, especially for small children, and that the Swedish social workers had a more negative attitude towards residential care than the Belgian social workers. Even though the Belgian social workers preferred foster care, they found themselves forced to choose residential care due to lack of available foster care facilities, something that did not seem to affect the Swedish social workers. Factors that affected the Swedish and the Belgian social workers professional acting space were the consent from parents, discussing with colleagues and specialization of interventions.