Abstract
Adoption & Fostering abstracts are selected by
Adoption and fostering
BROWN Claire and ROGERS Michaela
Removing gender barriers: promoting inclusion for trans and non-binary carers in fostering and adoption
Child & Family Social Work 25(3): 594–601. First published online, 14 January 2020, UK. doi.org/10.1111/cfs.12731
This article offers a conceptually informed analysis of fostering and adoption social work and argues for more consistent inclusion of trans and non‐binary people. The conceptual framework through which the authors explore current policy and practice is set out to provide clarity about the ways in which we employ the concepts of trans, gender diversity, and cisgenderism (a prejudicial ideology). The notion of ‘cisgenderism’ is employed as a critical lens through which to overview fostering and adoption social work within the context of trans inclusion. Focus is turned to the existing literature relevant to trans parenting, trans‐headed families, and the field of fostering and adopting. Significant knowledge gaps are highlighted in this regard. It is argued that if fostering and adoption social work is to embody inclusive practice with trans people, a new culture must be embedded to promote collaborative working, enhance knowledge and improve service provision. The authors conclude by asserting that such an approach must be underpinned by an understanding, acceptance, and appreciation of people who identify as trans and/or as non‐binary.
HELDER Emily J, GUNNOE Marjorie L and TIMMERMANS Hannah
Religious motivation to adopt as a predictor of adoptive family structure, parental discipline and outcomes
Adoption Quarterly. Published online, 21 July 2020, USA. doi.org/10.1080/10926755.2020.1790451
The purpose of this study was to examine religious motivation to adopt and how this relates to decisions families made while adopting, firm discipline, attachment, parent stress and affect, and child externalising and internalising. Within the United States, 44 internationally adopted children and their parents participated in this six-year longitudinal study. Families endorsing greater religious motivation adopted older children and had larger family sizes. Controlling for these factors, greater religious motivation also predicted firmer discipline practices. Religious motivation did not predict parenting stress or parent negative affect. Additionally, positive longitudinal child outcomes were best predicted by larger family size, fewer baseline attachment disturbances, and less baseline externalising and internalising – rather than religious motivation, firm discipline, or the interaction between the two.
MYERS Kit, BADEN Amanda L and FERGUSON Alfonso
Going back ‘home’: adoptees share their experiences of Hong Kong adoptee gathering
Adoption Quarterly. Published online, 27 July 2020, USA/Hong Kong. doi.org/10.1080/10926755.2020.1790452
This mixed-methods study examines 20 adult Hong Kong Adoptees (HKADs) with an average age of 53.7 years who attended a gathering of HKADs in Hong Kong. It has three elements (pre- and post-gathering surveys and an interview). All participants engaged in two of the three parts of the study, while 14 of those 20 participated in all three. Survey data for the HKADs revealed significantly increased comfort with their Hong Kong identities following the visit to Hong Kong. Interviews with 20 attendees yielded themes surrounding reasons for attending, experiences and emotions, and the challenges and benefits of the gathering and returning to Hong Kong.
SCHOEMAKER Nikita, VERMEER Harriet J, JUFFER Femmie, et al.
Indiscriminate friendliness in foster children: associations with attachment security, foster parents’ sensitivity and child inhibitory control
Developmental Child Welfare. Published online, 6 July 2020, The Netherlands. doi.org/10.1177/2516103220940325
Indiscriminate friendliness (IF) is atypical behaviour often seen in post-institutionalised and foster children. The current exploratory study examined the associations of children’s attachment security, parental sensitivity, and child inhibitory control with reported and observed IF in 60 family-reared, never-institutionalised foster children. IF was measured with a parent-report questionnaire (Indiscriminate Friendliness Questionnaire) and an observational measure (adapted version of the Stranger at the Door procedure; Bucharest Early Intervention Project). Attachment security and inhibitory control were related to reported IF (i.e. a secure attachment and poor inhibitory control were associated with higher levels of IF), but parental sensitivity was not. No associations were found between observed IF and attachment security, parental sensitivity, or inhibitory control. Thus, foster children with a secure attachment relationship may be more prone to socially interact with others, including strangers, whereas better inhibitory control may serve as a buffer against IF but these results were found for reported IF only. More research is needed to gain more knowledge about different measures, other possible correlates and underlying mechanisms of IF.
Other
BAGINSKY Mary, IXER Graham and MANTHORPE Jill
Practice frameworks in children’s services in England: An attempt to steer social work back on course?
Practice: Social Work in Action. Published online, 13 January 2020, England. doi.org/10.1080/09503153.2019.1709634
This article examines the concept and adoption of practice frameworks and how these are becoming a key feature of many English local authorities in social work practice with children and families. A practice framework or model either drives practice or groups together various approaches. The authors draw on data drawn from an evaluation of Signs of Safety, supplemented by a later survey and a roundtable discussion with practitioners, researchers and social work educationalists held in 2018 on the nature and function of practice frameworks. They draw together data from these sources to provide an overview of what is in place in local authorities, as well as what is being defined as a practice framework. These are discussed in relation to implementation and consistency.
BENATON Tonimarie, BOWERS-BROWN Tamsin, DODSLEY Thomas, et al.
Reconciling care and justice in contesting social harm through performance and arts practice with looked after children and care leavers
Children & Society 34(5): 337–353, 2020, England. doi.org/10.1111/chso.12370
The proportion of young people taken into the care of the state has increased recently and there is evidence that this social group suffer negative long‐term outcomes that might be conceptualised by the emergent criminological category of ‘social harm’. Debates in social work around an ethics of care and justice offer different ways of thinking about responding to social harm. This article reports findings from an innovative arts‐based intervention with looked after children and young people and concludes that holding these competing value sets in creative tension is central to the success of the programme in helping young people to cope with and contest social harm.
BRENNAN Emma and MCELVANEY Rosaleen
What helps children tell? A qualitative meta-analysis of child sexual abuse disclosure
Child Abuse Review 29(2): 97–113, 2020, UK. doi.org/10.1002/car.2617
The increasing use of qualitative methodologies to explore experiences of child sexual abuse (CSA) disclosure has led to the need to synthesise these findings. Recent reviews have tended to focus on the barriers to disclosure more than the facilitators or to conflate findings from studies of adults and studies of children and adolescents. This article focuses on a qualitative meta‐analysis of studies conducted in the past 20 years (1998–2018) that addresses the question of what helps children disclose experiences of CSA. An analysis of 20 studies that met the inclusion criteria suggests that six key themes are important facilitators of disclosure: access to someone you can trust; realising it’s not normal; inability to cope with emotional distress; wanting something to be done about it; expecting to be believed; and being asked. These can be conceptualised as representing two key dynamics that help children tell: needing to tell (pressure cooker effect) and opportunity to tell. Professionals and carers can facilitate the process of disclosure through building trusting relationships with children, recognising their distress and initiating conversations with them about their well-being.
FEGERT Jörg M, VITIELLO Benedetto, PLENER Paul L and CLEMENS Vera
Challenges and burden of the Coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic for child and adolescent mental health: a narrative review to highlight clinical and research needs in the acute phase and the long return to normality
Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health. Published online, 12 May 2020, UK. doi.org/10.1186/s13034-020-00329-3
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is profoundly affecting life around the globe. Isolation, contact restrictions and economic shutdown impose a complete change to the psychosocial environment in affected countries. These measures have the potential to threaten the mental health of children and adolescents significantly. Even though the current crisis can bring with it opportunities for personal growth and family cohesion, disadvantages may outweigh these benefits. Anxiety, lack of peer contact and reduced opportunities for stress regulation are main concerns. Another significant threat is an increased risk for parental mental illness, domestic violence and child maltreatment. Especially for children and adolescents with special needs or disadvantages, such as disabilities, trauma experiences, already existing mental health problems, migrant background and low socio-economic status, this may be a particularly challenging time. To maintain regular and emergency child and adolescent psychiatric treatment during the pandemic is a major challenge but is necessary for limiting long-term consequences for the mental health of children and adolescents. Urgent research questions comprise understanding the mental health effects of social distancing and economic pressure, identifying risk and resilience factors, and preventing long-term consequences, including – but not restricted to – child maltreatment. The efficacy of telepsychiatry is another highly relevant issue with the need to evaluate the efficacy of telehealth and perfect its applications to child and adolescent psychiatry. COVID-19-associated mental health risks will disproportionately hit children and adolescents who are already disadvantaged and marginalised. Research is needed to assess the implications of policies enacted to contain the pandemic on mental health of children and adolescents, and to estimate the risk/benefit ratio of measures such as home schooling, in order to be better prepared for future developments.
HINGLEY-JONES Helen, ALLAIN Lucille, GLEESON Helen and BISMARK Twumasi
Roll back the years: a study of grandparent special guardians’ experiences and implications for social work policy and practice in England
Child & Family Social Work 25(3): 526–535, 2020, England. doi.org/10.1111/cfs.12718
Growing numbers of grandparent special guardians (GSGs) are assuming responsibility for rising numbers of children in the care system in England. Special guardianship arrangements are increasingly used as a permanency option as they allow children to remain in their kinship networks rather than in local authority care or be adopted; yet there is a scarcity of research on GSG carers’ experiences. This article reports a small qualitative research study where 10 sets of grandparents were interviewed to explore their journey to becoming GSGs and to theorise their subsequent experiences. Two themes emerge. First, experiences of the assessment process are elaborated, decisions often being made at a time of family crisis, impacting on GSGs: financial, employment, and relational. Second, GSGs’ experiences of managing often challenging relationships and contact arrangements between the grandchildren and the parents reveal three main relationship management approaches emerging: containing‐flexible, containing‐controlled, and uncontained/defeated. Anthropological concepts of affinity help theorise the grandparents’ ambivalent responses to becoming carers in later life, enabling reconfigured kinship relationships in new family forms. Family policy and social work practice is critiqued as GSGs appear often left alone to ‘roll back the years’, to heal previous harms done to the grandchildren who end up in their care.
SAAR-HEIMAN Yuval and GUPTA Anna
The Povetry-Aware Paradigm for Child Protection: a critical framework for policy and practice
The British Journal of Social Work 50(4): 1167–1184, June 2020, Israel/England. doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bcz093
This article aims to present a Poverty-Aware Paradigm for Child Protection (PAPCP). The increasing scholarly recognition of the damaging impact of poverty, inequality and the neoliberal politics of ‘risk’ on child protection policy and practice has highlighted the need for a justice-based and poverty-aware analytical framework for child protection social work. In order to create such a framework, the authors build upon Krumer-Nevo’s Poverty-Aware Paradigm (PAP), first presented in a previous issue of the British Journal of Social Work, and adapt its paradigmatic premises to the context of child protection social work. By addressing ontological, epistemological and axiological questions underpinning the construction of risk and the practices utilised to deal with it, the article provides a clear, practical and applicable link between critical theories and everyday child protection practice. The PAPCP is presented against the background of the risk-focused paradigm currently dominating the child protection systems in both the authors’ countries – Israel and England.