Foster Homes Research Articles

Supervising a family or a service? Social worker approaches to foster care supervision in six Swedish authorities

ABSTRACT In many countries, local supervision is the main activity to control foster care. In Sweden, the legislation stipulates that foster parents have a supervising social worker (SSW) and the foster child an assigned social worker (CSW). This article describes and analyses how child welfare authorities organize and social workers handle the supervision of foster care. The study is based on data (policy documents and 18 individual/group interviews with 43 managers/social workers) collected from six Swedish child welfare authorities. Analytically, the study assumes that the position of foster care between the private and the public spheres paves the way for different ideas regarding how to conduct supervision that can be broadly based on trust or control vis-à-vis foster homes. The findings show that supervision is differentiated and varies more between foster parents and children than between authorities. Supervision approaches are identified that can be analysed as being more or less trust-based (discreet and affirming) or control-based (compensating and interfering) towards foster parents and children, but overall trust-based approaches dominate. The approaches imply different levels of involvement in care and vary regarding emphasis on the private and the public aspects of fostering. The discussion focuses in particular on the potential impact of different supervision approaches on the foster care service.

Stay just a little bit longer: A scoping review of foster parent engagement in the U.S

Despite the growing need for quality foster homes, retaining foster parents continues to be a challenge. A significant burden is placed on child welfare agencies to recruit, train, and retain quality foster parents to ensure available homes for children in need. To synthesize what is known about foster parent engagement, this article describes the modifiable factors impacting foster parent satisfaction, commitment, and retention. This scoping review engaged in a comprehensive exploration of the literature by mapping out the extent, range, and nature of foster parent engagement, screening studies based on inclusion and exclusion criteria, and summarizing findings. Twenty-three articles met inclusion criteria. Three themes emerged as factors impacting foster parent engagement: (1) training, (2) resources, and (3) relationships. Eight studies evaluated unspecified training and three studies examined evidenced-informed training interventions. Resources were explored in ten studies and included concrete resources such as respite, financial assistance, and transportation. Relationships, categorized as professional social support (n = 15) and personal social support (n = 16), were also studied. A notable finding of this scoping review is the importance of relationship building across foster care stakeholders. Specifically, strengthened relationships between foster parents and caseworkers improved outcomes across all components of foster care engagement (satisfaction, commitment, and retention). Further studies are needed to understand the ways in which specialized training and social support improve foster parent engagement over time.

Nya villkor för ett gammalt problem

New conditions for an old problem: foster care recruitment in an era of privatisation and professionalisation
 Foster care is the most common intervention for children who are placed in out-of-home care. At the same time, there are recurrent discussions about difficulties in recruiting foster homes. The preconditions for recruitment have changed and today, there is an increased competition for foster homes between municipalities and private businesses, stricter requirements placed on foster parents and changes in the needs of children placed in care. The aim of the article is to analyse the recruitment of foster homes in light of these changed preconditions. Empirically, the article is based on a survey targeting Swedish municipalities. The findings show, that although a majority of the municipalities have employees particularly responsible for recruitment, small municipalities often lack such resources. Further on, almost three quarters of the municipalities state that it is difficult or very difficult to recruit foster homes. For example, answers to the survey’s open questions demonstrate that competition from other municipalities and private companies affects recruitment. Further on, the municipality’s reputation is considered an important factor for attracting new foster homes. Finally, it appears to be difficult for municipalities to recruit a varied supply of foster homes and, in particular, homes that can care for children with special needs. The findings are discussed in relation to previous international and Swedish research. Finally, suggestions regarding how recruitment may be improved are presented.

Implementation and effectiveness of the Indian Child Welfare Act: A systematic review

This paper is a systematic review of studies that examined the implementation and/or effectiveness of the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA). ICWA was enacted in 1978 in response to the disproportionate number of American Indian children in non-American Indian out-of-home placements and to enhance the stability of American Indian families and tribes. Searches of 7 bibliographic databases and 3 advocacy organization websites yielded 408 studies completed since November 1978. Following duplicate removal and double-independent screening based on a priori inclusion criteria, 16 studies were included for review. Studies on the effectiveness of ICWA were mixed, though numerous positive results were found. Several studies found that children were placed with relatives or tribal affiliates in accordance with ICWA. One study also found active efforts to prevent the break-up of the family. Studies on the implementation of ICWA found limited capacity for many ICWA programs, improvements from cultural training, underfunding for many programs, lack of tracking systems, use of qualified experts, communication with tribes, and identification practices for American Indian children. Noteworthy facilitators of ICWA implementation included use of Child and Family Service plans and case worker training on ICWA. Barriers to ICWA included cultural differences between tribes and the child welfare system, lack of a specific unit dedicated to American Indian child welfare, and a lack of American Indian foster homes and tribal resources to respond to notices. Implications for practice, policy, and future research are discussed.

‘Train them in Habits of Morality’: Did Boarding out Deter Poor Law Children from Getting Married?

How prevalent was marriage for children who were removed from their birth community by the poor law authorities? This article investigates whether children who experienced intervention from the Islington poor law authorities during the late nineteenth century were deterred from marrying and having children as adults. To answer these questions two samples of children were assembled and traced through various records. The first sample consisted of children who were sent to foster homes in rural communities and the second consisted of siblings of the first group who were not boarded out. Although the sample sizes were relatively small due to the extensive archival research needed to answer these questions, the analysis suggests there is a possibility that relocation had an impact on marital formation and childbearing but did not necessarily sever a child’s connection to their birth community. Children who were boarded out were less likely to marry, or have children, compared to those who stayed in Islington. However, they often retained strong connections to their birth community and/or biological family members. This article also explores instances of irregular family arrangements including illegitimate births, possible cohabitation, marital separation and one instance of a potentially bigamous marriage.

The Greater Good

Are there people who should be erased from existence? Are we all inherently self, rather than collectively, focused on our motivations? In this work of philosophical short story fiction, Mr. Shaw’s mother, along with others, was brutally murdered when he was a child. The rapist/killer was caught, tried, and put to death. This caused Mr. Shaw to have a difficult childhood in foster homes. Now, as a married adult, he has gone back to the government and requested a review of the killer’s life for potential erasure from existence. Under this process, it will be as if the killer was never born. It also means anyone he talked to, or any actions he took (both positive and negative) will have never existed. This means, in potentially, Mr. Shaw will have never met his wife, but he wants to move forward anyway. His request for erasure is denied by the government because, it turns out, one of the women the killer raped gives birth to the child who cures cancer. Mr. Shaw doesn’t care but changes his mind when he finds out his daughter would have become sick, were it not for this medical marvel.

The Racial Origins of Foster Home Care

AbstractBlack family values and behavior have long been at the center of policy solutions to intergenerational poverty. But in the early twentieth century, the Black family took on paradoxical significance as a solution to child poverty and neglect through the foster family. This was part of a broad realignment in child protection that upheld the “Home” as the best place for children—yet the concept came to mean something different for White and Black youth. Using New York City as a case by which to study broad transformations in child protection ideology and local child welfare response, I find that in the 1930s substitute care underwent a dramatic transformation with many White children cared for in their own homes or in therapeutic institutions, while previously excluded Black youth gained disproportionate access through race-matched foster families. Though a seemingly progressive approach, I argue that the prioritization of the foster home over the biological home illuminates how the family was envisioned as a solution to poverty in the context of racial inequality. Child welfare workers imagined that patterns of placement in race-matched foster families could be manipulated to overcome segregation and exclusion from the emerging welfare state. But as more non-White children entered substitute care, the conditions of poverty and distress in segregated communities necessitated a return to congregate care for “hard-to-place” minority youth as Black families seemingly failed to take care of their own. This case is important because it highlights the way in which official foster care systems emerged not as an extension of Black kinship care strategies, but as an experimental solution to dependency and neglect that mobilized the Black family to resolve the many consequences of state abandonment.

Abandonment and rehoming of rabbits and rodents in Madrid (Spain): A retrospective study (2008-2021)

ABSTRACT Exotic animals have become popular pets, but there is little information about abandonment. Records of a network of foster homes for abandoned rabbits and rodents in Madrid (Spain) between 2008 and 2021 were analyzed. Data of 1024 animals were included, 46.4% were rabbits, 19.7% hamsters, 15.3% guinea pigs, 5.8% rats, 5.4% gerbils, 4.8% mice, and 2.6% chinchillas. Half of the animals (51.2%) were admitted with health issues, 41.3% had been abandoned, mostly in urban areas, 46.8% came from a local shelter, and 8.1% were relinquished by the owner. Only 12 animals were neutered and 8 were microchipped. The network of foster homes took care of 1009 animals (98.5%), 686 of them were adopted in an average time of 9.2 months, regardless of their health status, 15 animals died before fostering, and 323 died before adoption. Numerous rabbits and rodents are abandoned in urban areas in Madrid (Spain), very few of them are microchipped or neutered. Associations based on networks of foster homes for the adoption of abandoned rabbits and rodents can be effective, preserving animal welfare as effectively as shelters.

Healthcare utilization and psychiatric morbidity in violent offenders: findings from a prospective cohort study

PurposeAlthough persistent offenders with histories of imprisonment and violence have disproportionate high rates of psychiatric disorders, little is known of their psychiatric healthcare utilization (HCU) and HCU-associated factors. This study aimed to explore psychiatric HCU, psychiatric morbidity, and psychotropic prescription drugs in violent offenders with a history of incarceration.MethodsMale offenders aged 18–25 (n = 266) imprisoned for violent and/or physical sexual offenses were clinically assessed in 2010–2012 and prospectively followed in Swedish national registries through 2017. Register-based information regarding HCU, psychiatric morbidity, and psychotropic drugs was tracked and compared with a general population group (n = 10,000) and across offending trajectory groups. Baseline risk factors were used to explain prospective psychiatric HCU in violent offenders.ResultsViolent offenders used less general healthcare and psychiatric outpatient care, but more psychiatric inpatient care and were more often given psychiatric diagnoses and psychotropic drugs than the general population. Participants previously assigned to persisting offending trajectory groups had higher rates of psychiatric HCU than those assigned to a desisting trajectory. In multivariable regression models, psychiatric HCU was associated with anxiety disorders, prior psychiatric contact, placement in a foster home, psychopathic traits, low intellectual functioning, and persistent offending.ConclusionsViolent offenders are burdened by extensive and serious psychiatric morbidity and typically interact with psychiatric healthcare as inpatients rather than outpatients. Knowledge about their backgrounds, criminal behaviors, and psychiatric statuses can aid the planning of psychiatric services for this troublesome group.

THE ROLE OF CAREGIVERS DURING DISASTERS

Abstract The COVID-19 pandemic laid bare the critical role caregivers play in supporting the older adult population, and how easily care structures can fall apart under the stress of a disaster event. As our population rapidly ages, it is imperative to better understand how to support caregivers to ensure relationships between caregivers and older adults remain robust and guarantee everyone’s safety. Therefore, this symposium focuses on the roles of formal and informal caregivers during disasters, primarily the COVID-19 pandemic. Dr. Richard Chunga will present findings from a survey of homecare aides, exploring drivers of high turnover rates and describing how employers can improve job satisfaction. Dr. Lindsay Peterson will describe barriers and facilitators to disaster preparedness among caregivers, using interviews with caregivers from diverse backgrounds in Florida. Ms. Jessica McLaughlin (PhDc) will share experiences of informal female caregivers, derived from interviews across the United States (US). Chelsea Manheim (LCSW) will describe adaptations to care provision for rural Medical Foster Home (MFH) Veterans from interviews conducted with MFH care providers from across the US. Dr. Carrie Wendel-Hummell will share data around the strengths and challenges of the self-directed care model for home-based long-term care, drawing on interviews with consumers, caregivers, workers, and providers in Kansas. As a whole, these presenters will provide insights into experiences of caregivers as they navigated challenges associated with the COVID-19 pandemic and generate forward thinking on how to inform future disaster response. Sponsoring SIGs: Paid Caregiving, Family Caregiving, Assisted Living, Disaster and Older Adults

CARING FOR HOMEBOUND VETERANS DURING COVID-19 IN THE US DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS MEDICAL FOSTER HOME PROGRAM

Abstract The COVID-19 pandemic made older, homebound adults with multiple chronic conditions increasingly vulnerable to contracting the virus. The United States (US) Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Medical Foster Home (MFH) program cares for such Veterans residing in private homes of non-VA caregivers. In this qualitative study, we assessed adaptations to delivering safe and effective healthcare during the early stages of the pandemic for Veterans living in rural MFHs, interviewing (n=37) VA MFH care providers at 19 MFH programs across the US. We identified themes reflecting adaptations to care provision, including care providers increasing communication and education to caregivers who prioritized Veteran safety. Caregivers coordinated increasing telehealth visits, applied creative strategies to mitigate social isolation of Veterans and themselves, and Veterans were prioritized for in-home COVID-19 vaccinations. Study findings illustrate the importance of clear, regular communication and intentional care coordination to ensure high quality care for vulnerable, homebound populations during crises.

Building a specialized model of care for youth involved in sex trafficking in child welfare: A systematic review and interviews with experts-by-experience

BackgroundSex trafficking of youth involved in the child welfare system is a critical global issue; however, there are limited counter-trafficking programs designed to specifically meet the needs of this population. ObjectiveThe present study aimed to identify components essential to building a model of care for youth involved in sex trafficking in child welfare. The specific goals of this investigation were to: 1) systematically review the literature for programs implemented with child-welfare involved youth at risk of or involved in sex trafficking, and 2) examine convergent and divergent evidence through interviews with experts-by-experience (i.e., survivors and child welfare personnel). Participants and setting13 child welfare workers and 6 survivors of sex trafficking. MethodsSystematic review identified articles that included programs and interventions for youth involved in sex trafficking in child welfare. Interviews with experts-by-experience were analysed through reflexive thematic analysis. Content analysis was used to examine convergent and divergent evidence between the two noted methods of inquiry (systematic review and interviews with experts). ResultsFindings from the systematic review support a model of care comprised of two overarching components: 1) wraparound supports, and 2) trained caregivers and supported foster homes. Thematic analyses also revealed that experts thought that an appropriate model of care would require child welfare agencies to take a preventative stance, such as conducting early coordinated risk assessments on all youth in care. Convergent with the literature, experts noted the need for enhanced wraparound supports and specific training for caregivers and service providers. ConclusionsComponents essential to building a model of care for youth at risk of or involved in sex trafficking in child welfare were extracted and discussed based on the evidence gathered.

PD55 Evidence-Based Practices To Support Well-Being And School Success Of Children And Youth In Out-Of-Home Care

IntroductionChildren and youth in out-of-home care face many challenges regarding their development and general well-being. It is necessary to put in place best practices to support them where they are most vulnerable. Providing recommendations to health and social services for best practices regarding social and academic success interventions, this study puts forward a synthesis method that combines empirical data and the expertise of key practitioners in the context of Quebec social services.MethodsA systematic review was first undertaken to identify the most effective interventions. Included studies (n = 31) were analyzed according to their methodological quality, collaboration processes, and type of care (foster home vs. residential care). To ensure the applicability of the recommendations made in the context of Quebec social services, contextual data, and clinical expertise were collected. Contextual data was gathered through local research reports, administrative data, and government documents. The expertise of multiple stakeholders was obtained in follow-up committees and semi-structured interviews (n = 4). In addition, to ensure their relevance and scope, recommended guidelines were debated in a deliberation committee.ResultsThe analysis between expert, contextual and empirical data led to several recommended evidence-based practices. In accordance with expert opinions, experimental and quasi-experimental studies show that various types of collaboration are beneficial for children and youth in out-of-home care. Notably, intersectoral collaborations were warranted in more complex situations (i.e., youth in residential centers), while partnership agreement was sufficient in less complex situations (i.e., children in foster homes). However, even if effective, some interventions are difficult to apply in real life and certain considerations must be taken into account (e.g. confidentiality issues, availability of resources).ConclusionsUtilizing three sets of data, guidelines have been proposed to help health and social services to identify best practices and promote the academic development of out-of-home care children and youth.

Veterans Health Administration Models of Community-Based Long-Term Care: State of the Science.

The complex care needs of older adults arising at the intersection of age-related illnesses, military service, and social barriers have presented challenges to the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) for decades. In response, the VA has invested in centers that integrate research, education, and clinical innovation, using approaches aligned with a learning health care system, to create, evaluate, and implement new care models. This article presents an integrative review of 6 community care models developed within the VA to manage multimorbidity, complex social needs, and avoid institutional care, examining how these models address complex care needs among older adults. The models reviewed include Home Based Primary Care, Medical Foster Home, the VA Caregiver Support Program, the Resources Enhancing Alzheimer's Caregiver Health (REACH)-VA program, the Caregivers of Older Adults Cared for at Home (COACH) program, and Veteran Directed Care. Core components and evaluation outcomes for each model are summarized, along with implications for more widespread implementation and research. Each model promotes coordinated care, integrates behavioral health, and leverages interprofessional expertise. All models are cost-neutral or incur only modest cost increases to improve outcomes. Broader implementation will require interprofessional workforce development, payment model realignment, and infrastructure to evaluate outcomes in new settings. The VA provides a blueprint for infrastructure that could be adapted to other domestic and international settings. Care models successfully implemented within the VA's single-payer system hold promise to address persistent dilemmas in long-term care, such as management of multimorbidity and social drivers of health, integration and support of family caregivers, and mental health integration. These models also demonstrate the value of incorporating care approaches that have been developed or tested outside the United States and argue for greater cross-fertilization of ideas from different health systems.

Examining the effects of antidiscrimination laws on children in the foster care and adoption systems

AbstractHow are children affected when states prohibit child welfare agencies from discriminating against same‐sex couples who wish to foster or adopt? This question stands at the heart of a debate between governments that seek to impose such antidiscrimination requirements and child welfare agencies that challenge them on religious freedom grounds. Yet until now there has been no reliable evidence on whether and how antidiscrimination rules for these agencies impact children. We have conducted the first nationwide study of how child outcomes vary when states adopt such antidiscrimination rules for child welfare agencies. Analyzing 20 years of child welfare data (2000–2019), we estimate that state antidiscrimination rules both (1) modestly increase children's success at finding foster and permanent homes, and (2) greatly reduce the average time to place children in such homes. These effects vary among subgroups, such that children who are most likely to find a home are generally not affected by state antidiscrimination requirements, whereas children who are least likely to find a home (primarily older children and children with various disabilities) benefit substantially from antidiscrimination measures. We estimate that the effect of antidiscrimination rules is equivalent to 15,525 additional children finding permanent homes and 360,000 additional children finding foster homes, nationwide, over a period of 20 years. Overall, the project offers two key contributions: First, it provides empirical grounding for some of the most heated constitutional and political battles of the culture wars. Second, it advances empirical legal studies by bringing machine learning causal inference to law.

Youth Resilience review based on Religiosity and Social Support

This research is motivated by the presence of symptoms that appear in adolescents at the Bening Nurani Padang Foster Home who do not yet have the ability to make sense of the events and life events they experience and make adolescents sink and dissolve in misery, without the flexibility to rise.. Religiosity and social support are factors that are thought to influence adolescent resilience. Religiosity and social support are factors that are thought to influence adolescent resilience. This study aims to analyze: 1) religiosity, social support, and adolescent resilience, 2) the relationship between religiosity and adolescent resilience, 3) the relationship between social support and adolescent resilience, and 4) the relationship between religiosity and social support together with youth resilience. This research uses a quantitative descriptive correlational method. Respondents in this study were adolescents at the Bening Nurani Padang Foster Home. The research sample was taken as a whole from the existing population with a total of 97 people. The research instrument used a questionnaire with a Likert scale model. Data were analyzed with descriptive statistics, simple regression and multiple regression. The research findings show that: (1) on average, adolescent religiosity is in the high category, (2) social support is in the high category, (3) adolescent resilience is in the high category, (4)there is a positive and significant relationship between religiosity and adolescent resilience, (5) there is a positive and significant relationship between social support and adolescent resilience, and (6) there is a positive and significant relationship between religiosity and social support and adolescent resilience.

Securing permanence for children in care: A cross‐country analysis of citizen's view on adoption versus foster care

AbstractIf children in child protection cannot be cared for by their natural parents, should they be adopted or live in foster home? Results from a study of representative samples of populations (n = 12 330), in eight European countries—Austria, England, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Norway and Spain—and California, USA, reveal that people would recommend adoption over foster care, if a child in public care cannot grow up with their natural parent(s). There are cross‐country differences between populations, and examining if institutional context such as type of child protection system explains differences, we find that child maltreatment‐oriented systems are more supportive of adoption than other types of systems. Citizens having little confidence in the child protection system were only weakly correlated with preference for adoption. In conclusion, people prefer adoption as placement options for children in care are more than foster homes, and possible this finding reflects a sort of refamalialization of children into the private sphere.

Met de kindertrein naar België

By children’s train to Belgium. Socially engaged lantern lectures by Floris Prims on the Belgian-Hungarian Children’s Campaign (1924-1927) From 1923 onwards, children’s trains travelled from Hungary to Belgium (and back). Upon arrival, the children were placed in Catholic foster homes. There, they could recuperate from the hardships they had endured during the First World War and the subsequent revolutions in their home country. The attitude of Belgian Catholics toward foreign countries can be broadly framed within an ‘internationalist turn’ of contemporary Catholicism. As a result, there was extensive propaganda in Belgium for this Children’s Action. One of the pivotal figures was priest and historian Floris Prims. In August 1924, he travelled on a children’s train to Budapest, after which he gave dozens of lantern lectures throughout Flanders about the situation in Hungary and the importance of this Belgian-Hungarian Children’s Work. In this article, we frame Prims’ lectures within the Catholic struggle against the rising of socialism and communism. Thus, the central question of this article is on how the lantern was used for the social mobilisation of the Catholic population.

A latent class analysis of nonrelative foster caregivers' trait mindfulness and individual and relationship outcomes.

Despite the joys related to fostering, foster caregivers also report challenges that consequently may influence placement stability. A healthy couple relationship is a characteristic of a high-quality, two-parent foster home. Further, foster caregivers who experience less parenting stress and possess greater well-being (e.g., lower depressive symptoms, higher levels of self-care) are better equipped to manage the challenges of fostering. Trait mindfulness has been associated with a greater capacity to manage parenting stress and cultivate greater well-being. The present descriptive study employs latent class analysis to examine the trait mindfulness of heterosexual foster caregiver couples (N = 235), potential covariates of trait mindfulness, and couple and individual outcomes. Four groups of foster caregiver couples emerged where both partners reported either high or low levels of trait mindfulness and where one partner reported high mindfulness and the other reported low mindfulness. Foster caregiver couples where both partners were younger, non-White, and those where the woman was employed outside of the home reported lower levels of mindfulness for one or both partners. Further, individuals in couples where both partners were highly mindful reported better couple relationship outcomes and self-care and fewer depressive symptoms. Implications for future research and practice are shared. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Home Treatment "Bremen ambulant vor Ort (BravO)"

The existing legal framework to foster home treatment for severe mental illness imposes challenges for implementation. 'Bremen ambulant vor Ort (BravO)' provides home treatment on basis of the "Bundespflegesatzverordnung". The concept and framework of BravO will be outlined, routine data on the BravO treatment from October 1st, 2019 to September 30th, 2021 were analysed. Financial and staff resources of 20 in-patient treatment places were equivalently transferred into BravO. 298 patients generating 392 cases received treatment. Median treatment span was 36 days, with 21 days (median) of service delivery. 74.7 % were diagnosed either in ICD-10 groups F2 or F3. BravO was successfully implemented into routine care. BravO allows flexible home treatment for people with severe mental illness apart from existing treatment framework.