According to recent estimates, approximately 423,773 children in the United States are in foster care (US Department of Health and Human Services, 2011). While research has documented that childhood obesity is high in foster children, the relationship between nutrition, physical activity, weight status of foster children and the foster home environment is unclear. Furthermore, there is a gap in the literature on the capacity of the child welfare system to address obesity among this population nor practical intervention strategies. This dissertation consists of three studies, with the following purposes: 1) assess the current foster care landscape related to the promotion of healthy eating and physical activity through questionnaire based and objective data; 2) examine legislature and training programs that focus on nutrition and physical activity as it relates to foster families; and 3) utilize the Delphi method to begin the development of a potential healthy eating and physical activity intervention for foster care through the recommendation of intervention strategies that could be integrated into the foster care system. These purposes are achieved utilizing a systems-based approach. More specifically, research was conducted through collaboration with several local agencies throughout Virginia. The findings from Study 1 suggest that obesity is prevalent among foster children and foster parents in Virginia and that there are some indications that the foster home environment is related to lifestyle behaviors and weight status, though the relationships were small. Study 2 identified face-to-face trainings targeting foster parents and children (depending on the child's age) as an important and practical method to intervene through regular trainings. Study 3 indicated that there are few federal or local policies that explicitly address physical activity, nutrition, and weight status. A number of recommendations are made for the structure, content, and process of integrating obesity prevention and treatment strategies within the foster care system. / Ph. D.

American Indian individuals, families, and communities have experienced historical waves of separation from relocation to boarding schools to systematic child removal. Fostered and adopted American Indian individuals experience numerous losses that can lead to poor mental and physical health outcomes. Studies addressing American Indian experiences of grief, loss, and identity development are scarce and are limited to small samples utilizing qualitative methods. Grounded in identity theory and ambiguous loss theory, this mixed method study addressed a gap in the literature by exploring experiences of grief, loss, and identity formation following foster care and adoption of American Indian individuals. Secondary data from the Experiences of Adopted and Fostered Individuals Project were used to compare the experiences of grief and the impact of adoption on identity for American Indian (n = 129) and White individuals (n = 166). A chi-square test revealed the relationship between race and grief was statistically significant, X^2(1, n = 295) = 6.23, p < .01, with American Indian participants more likely to report experiencing grief. The extent to which participants who were adopted perceived adoption affected their identity was also significantly higher for American Indian participants (M = 4.31, SD = .99) than their White peers (M = 3.82, SD = 1.23), t(268) = -3.48, p ≤ 001.Thematic analysis was used to examine open-ended survey data, which revealed four themes: (1) loss, which describes the types of losses American Indian fostered and adopted individuals reported experiencing, (2) identity, which describes challenges and meaning making associated with identity formation (3) risk factors, which describes factors that may create challenges to processing grief, loss, and identity formation, and (4) protective factors, which describes factors that may be helpful in managing challenges associated with grief, loss, and identity formation. The findings suggest an explicit connection between loss, grief, and identity formation for adopted and fostered American Indian individuals, as well as specific outcomes and resiliency factors. / Master of Science / American Indian communities have experienced family separation as a result of government policies for centuries. The loss that American Indian individuals experience as a result of adoption and foster care can lead to poor mental and physical health. Few studies address American Indian experiences of grief, loss and identity. Grounded in identity theory and ambiguous loss theory, this mixed method study addressed a gap in the literature by exploring experiences of grief, loss and identity formation following foster care and adoption for American Indian individuals. Data from the Experiences of Adopted and Fostered Individuals Project were used to compare the experiences of grief and the impact of adoption on identity for American Indian and White individuals. American Indian participants were more likely to report experiencing grief. Adoption and foster care also impacted identity development for American Indian individuals more than it did for White individuals. American Indian participants' experiences were organized into themes of (1) loss, which describes the types of losses American Indian fostered and adopted individuals reported experiencing, (2) identity, which describes challenges and meaning making associated with identity formation (3) risk factors, which describes factors that may create challenges to processing grief, loss, and identity formation, and (4) protective factors, which describes factors that may be helpful in managing challenges associated with grief, loss, and identity formation.

Transracial foster care is a reality due to the ongoing social problems in South Africa, that leads to a high number of children found in need of care and protection and in need of foster homes. The Children’s Act (38 of 2005) encourages children to be placed in the care of a person with a similar background to their own, but simultaneously makes provision for children to be placed in the care of a person that does not have the same background as their own. The number of children found in need of a foster care placement, significantly surpasses the number of willing and able, same race, foster care parents. Transracial foster care has been a topic for research internationally for a couple of years, highlighting the influence of the transracial placement on the foster child. However, there continues to be limited research in South Africa on this growing phenomenon. Most research in South Africa focus on transracial adoptions and not specifically foster care placements. The aim of this qualitative research study was to broaden the knowledge base of transracial foster care in South Africa, in order to contribute to services provided to transracial foster care families. The research study was based in the northern and southern suburbs of Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa. Participants included foster parents of transracial foster care families and the social workers who supervise the foster care families participating in this study. Nine foster parents and three social workers participated in the study. Individual semi-structured interviews were conducted with each participant in order to explore their experiences of being involved in transracial foster care placements. The article in Section B of this document aims to highlight the important aspects of transracial foster care in order to create a better understanding of this phenomenon. / MSW (Child Protection), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

Transracial foster care is a reality due to the ongoing social problems in South Africa, that leads to a high number of children found in need of care and protection and in need of foster homes. The Children’s Act (38 of 2005) encourages children to be placed in the care of a person with a similar background to their own, but simultaneously makes provision for children to be placed in the care of a person that does not have the same background as their own. The number of children found in need of a foster care placement, significantly surpasses the number of willing and able, same race, foster care parents. Transracial foster care has been a topic for research internationally for a couple of years, highlighting the influence of the transracial placement on the foster child. However, there continues to be limited research in South Africa on this growing phenomenon. Most research in South Africa focus on transracial adoptions and not specifically foster care placements. The aim of this qualitative research study was to broaden the knowledge base of transracial foster care in South Africa, in order to contribute to services provided to transracial foster care families. The research study was based in the northern and southern suburbs of Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa. Participants included foster parents of transracial foster care families and the social workers who supervise the foster care families participating in this study. Nine foster parents and three social workers participated in the study. Individual semi-structured interviews were conducted with each participant in order to explore their experiences of being involved in transracial foster care placements. The article in Section B of this document aims to highlight the important aspects of transracial foster care in order to create a better understanding of this phenomenon. / MSW (Child Protection), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

In the United States, 397,000 children received foster care services in 2012. Some states successfully achieved permanent homes for children with diagnosed disabilities who exited care while others were less successful. Using change theory and social ecological theory as the foundations, the purpose of this study was to determine the impact that diagnosed disabilities had on permanent home placements among Pennsylvania's foster care children who were discharged and were between ages of 0 to 6 years in 2012. Hernandez's and Hodges's theory of change was used to evaluate the 1982 standards that license foster care agencies, while Stokol's ecological theory provided the framework to assess whether there were measurable increases in child welfare outcomes for permanent placements among children with diagnosed disabilities. Following a retrospective, nonexperimental, quantitative design, data were acquired from a purposive sample of 344 archived foster care files across the state. These data were analyzed using bivariate correlation procedures to evaluate the strength of the relationship between medically diagnosed conditions and permanent placement. The findings indicated a statistically significant association between medically diagnosed conditions and permanent placements (p=0.01). Additionally, length of stay in care was also found to be statistically associated with permanent placement (p=0.019). The theoretical constructs evaluation with a theory of change found the 1982 standards were outdated to authorize the licensing of foster care agencies; the social ecological theory identified evidence for change to achieve the intended goal. Findings of this study may provide guidance to policymakers in term of improving standards related to oversight and licensing foster care agencies in order to better support permanent placement of children with disabilities.

Substitute family care is a form of care for abandoned or orphaned children when a child is brought up by foster parents in an environment which is similar to a natural family environment. In the Czech Republic, there are various forms of substitute family care, mainly adoption and foster care. Arranging foster care means seeking children who are suitable for placement in foster care and finding correspondent foster parents for those children. There are few different groups of children acceptable for foster care. One of those groups includes children with handicap. Handicap means an obstacle, difficulty, disadvantage or unfavourable situation which ensues from a limited ability or even inability of an individual to assert as well as other people. The aim of this dissertation is to asses foster care situation abroad and to compare foster care for children with handicap in South Bohemia and Pilsner Regions. Based on the aim, two hypothesis were determined. The first one: Variability of different foster care forms in the Czech Republic is not optimal compared to abroad. The second one: Comparison results of data from both surveyed regions will not be fundamentally different. Secondary data analysis method was used for the survey. The data was acquied from available professional literature and foster family files from Foster Care Centre of South Bohemia County Council in České Budějovice and Pilsner County Council in Plzeň. Required data were gathered from foster parents' records and fostered children documentation from 2001 to 2005. The established aim was accomplished. The first hypothesis was confirmed. The second hypothesis was not confirmed. The survey established that some European countries have already introduced further forms or foster care, especially professional foster care. This form of foster care is not available in our country yet but as the interest to become foster parents decreases in the Czech Republic, professional foster care may be the solution of this situation. Furthermore, the survey established that there is hardly any difference among foster parents and fostered children in individual character in both counties. However, there is a distinctive difference in the amount of foster parents who accepted a child to foster care. The same situation arises in the amount of children placed in foster care. Contribution of this dissertation for the health and social section consists in a creation of statistics during the years 2001-2005 and in an estimate of characteristics of foster parents which can assist in searching for new foster parents.

This master's thesis deals with the present legal regulation of foster care as one of the forms of a substitute care. Foster care is a traditional private law institute with public law elements. Its purpose is to ensure substitute care to children whoes parents, or even custodian are not able to care for them because of various reasons. So foster care is a subsidiary to biological parent's care. On the other hand, based on law, foster care has priority over institutional care. Due to the reformation of the substitute care system, foster care went through lots of changes lately. Primarily it was approached to the extensive amendment of Act no. 359/1999 Coll., on the social and legal protection of children and with the effectiveness since the 1st of January the family law regulation has been incorporated to the Act No. 89/2012 Coll., civil code. The aim of this thesis is to provide a complete picture of the present legal regulation of foster care in the Czech Republic due to conducted legislative changes. The introductory part of the thesis focuses on essential characteristics of substitute care for endangered children. To obtain a comprehensive view on the issue of the foster care separate charter is dedicated to the historical development of foster care in the historical periods. Basic legal...

South Africa shifted from the residual approach to adopt a developmental approach to social service delivery through adopting the White Paper for Social Welfare (RSA, Ministry for Social Welfare and Population Development, 1997). This mandated the shift from social welfare services to developmental welfare services. Included in these services is the foster care service; this is a child protection service which addresses section 28 (1b) of the South African constitutional endorsement, which states that “children have the right to family, parental or alternative care” (Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996). In April 2010, the Children’s Act 38 of 2005 was initiated and implemented as legislative policy on the matter, with guidelines concerning the delivery of foster care services within the developmental approach. The goal of the study was to identify and describe barriers in the implementation of the foster care services within a developmental approach in Nkangala District, Mpumalanga. The research followed a qualitative approach whereby data was collected through focus group discussions. The participants were 13 social workers from seven child protection organisations in Nkangala District, Mpumalanga. From the key findings it was gathered that the majority of foster care social workers have no conceptual or contextual understanding of the delivery of foster care services within the developmental approach. The researcher recommends the formation of training manuals for Nkangala District foster care social workers, which clearly define developmental foster care services and the role of social workers. The researcher also recommends that social workers in Nkangala District take up the responsibility of being up to date with new developments that arise in social service delivery. The researcher further recommends that the Department of Social Development should consider reviewing the amount of money allocated to Non-profit Organisations for developmental statutory services, so as to ensure effective service delivery. / Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2014. / lk2014 / Social Work and Criminology / MA / Unrestricted

Peu de recherches se sont intéressées à la scolarité des enfants confiés à une famille d’accueil. A de rares exceptions près, quand la scolarité est abordée dans les études, elle est analysée sous le versant des difficultés scolaires et de l’échec scolaire mais rarement en termes de réussite. Or, certains enfants confiés à une famille d’accueil s’accrochent à l’école et persévèrent dans leur scolarité jusqu’à l’obtention d’un niveau scolaire équivalent au moins au baccalauréat. Afin de comprendre les raisons de cet accrochage scolaire, nous interrogeons la question de la suppléance familiale en famille d’accueil et comment ce nouvel environnement « offert » à l’enfant redistribue les cartes du déterminisme social. Grâce aux témoignages de quarante personnes (jeunes et familles d’accueil), nous analysons les facteurs de protection qui permettent à ces jeunes de poursuivre leur scolarité malgré la présence de facteurs de risque dans leur parcours de vie. Nous étudions les rapports entre l’enfant confié, sa famille d’accueil et ses éducateurs notamment concernant la façon de gérer la question scolaire. L’accueil familial permet dans certains cas, à certains jeunes, de développer des liens forts avec une figure affective aux yeux de laquelle la scolarité est importante ce qui semble influencer la trajectoire scolaire des jeunes confiés. / Few research works have focussed on the academic achievement of children in foster care families. When the issue is investigated, it is mainly through the analysis of school difficulties and academic underachievement but rarely through academic success although some foster care children manage to do well at school and to carry on studying until they reach the equivalent of at least A-levels. To understand the underlying reasons behind this success, we will explore the question of corporate parenting in foster families, and how this new environment that is “offered” to the child can redistribute the cards of social determinism. Based on the analysis of forty face-to-face interviews with children who were in foster care, we identify some protective factors that will enable them to persevere in school despite adverse life conditions. We study the relationships between foster care children, their foster families, and their social workers, particularly with regards to the way they approach education. The foster care system in some instances allows children to develop strong bonds with an emotional figure, in the eyes of whom education is important, which seems to influence the academic trajectory of children in foster care.

This diploma thesis deals with the foster care for a temporary period. It examines how the legislation of this problamatics has changed since the reform in 2013 and how it is delivered into practice. The qualitative approach has been chosen for this research, using the primary and secondary data likewise. The primary data has been collected via semistructured interviews with three groups of respondents: the employees of OSPOD (the child's social and legal protection institutions in the foster care system), workers of nonprofit organization dealing with the foster care for a temporary period and parents for a temporary period. The respondents have been enquired with the questions based on the reviewed literature and articles. The whole system of the foster care for a temporary period, including its incorporation in legislation, is described in the text. The mentioned 2013 reform, important for the legislation too, is described as well. The theory of street-level bureaucracy and the theory of child development creates the academic basis for this thesis. The author first explains the implementation of the policy of the foster care for a temporary period, meaning the current setting and its real functioning. The biggest barriers for the accomplishment of the reform ambitions are mentioned together...