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• A child and youth participatory model was developed, drawing on current best practice and evidence, to support the co-design of child and youth led service initiatives. • The model was trialled with young people who experienced marginalisation to understand their experiences of service engagement, support the development and testing of their ideas, and to support them as advocates for youth led initiatives. • The model also requires addressing issues of knowledge, capacity and culture within service organisations to increase responsiveness to child and youth engagement in service design and decision making. • The strengths and challenges of model implementation are discussed. The ReSPECT Project (Reconceptualising Services from the Perspectives of Children and Teens) was conducted in a disadvantaged urban community in Australia, with young people who experience marginalisation and who were involved with multiple service agencies across a range of service sectors. Its purpose was to work closely with young people to understand their experiences of service engagement, their perspectives on the service priorities for young people in their area, and to support them in the development, trial and implementation of a youth led service initiative. This paper describes the methodology employed with the young people, its theoretical underpinnings, and the challenges that needed to be overcome in the conduct of this research. Critical to the ReSPECT approach is relationship building and capacity development with local service providers. This aspect of our work is also briefly described in this paper. The ReSPECT approach makes a significant contribution to the participatory methodological literature. It is distinctive from existing approaches because (1) it gives equal attention to the sustained engagement and scaffolding of young people in the development of ideas, and to the capacity building of service providers addressing organisational culture and constraints; (2) it follows the process of service change from the conceptualisation of youth-led ideas, through to development, partnership, implementation and evaluation; and (3) it is designed for engagement with marginalised young people with diverse service experiences, whose voices are so often absent from participatory projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Many mental health disorders first emerge during early childhood or adolescence. • Wait times for children's mental health services have been an international and widespread problem. • Long wait times prolong the emotional distress of children and/or adolescents and their caregivers which can exacerbate mental health difficulties. • The majority of research in this area has been conducted in the United Kingdom and Canada and focus on one waitlist strategy. • Common strategies include alternative service delivery models, increasing system capacity, and improving intake and assessment processes. Background: Although many mental health disorders first emerge during early childhood or adolescence, there is a significant gap between demand and availability of mental health resources, leading to long waitlists for services. Objective: The objective of this scoping review was to identify and characterize the research literature related to the range of waitlist management strategies that have been implemented in outpatient child and adolescent mental health care. Methods: Electronic databases reviewed included: Medline (Ovid), Embase (Ovid), PubMed, PsychINFO, SCOPUS, CINAHL, and ISI Web of Science. Grey literature databases included: OpenGrey, Conference Papers Index, and Proquest Digital Dissertations. Articles were screened by two reviewers in two steps: first by title and abstract, then full text level. Data were extracted using an a-priori developed data extraction framework, which was piloted and modified iteratively. Results: A total of 119 papers related to waitlist interventions in child and adolescent mental health were reviewed. Of these 119 papers, 11% were reviews, summary, or theoretical papers; 8% used a randomized control trial design and 2.5% were trial protocols. Most studies used less rigorous designs, such as uncontrolled before-and- after designs. The large majority focused on just one waitlist strategy each. The most commonly used approaches included: prioritization/triage and initial assessment; brief consultation and advice or brief therapy approaches; group-based models; interim services; increasing capacity; and strategies to decrease non-attendance. Most studies were conducted in the United Kingdom or Canada. Discussion: While mental health systems are complex, most studies examining waitlist initiatives explored the implementation of single initiatives. It is unlikely that a single waitlist strategy can be effective in managing wait times for children's mental health. Rather, consistent and systemic approaches to address wait times that consider the impact of the reduction approach on the patient, the program, and the community are needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The national child welfare agency in Ireland identified the integration of trauma-informed practices as a service need, in the current significantly challenging practice climate. A promising program that meets the need of child welfare professionals to support need has been developed and is reported on in this paper. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of a newly developed post-graduate level trauma-informed care program for professionals in the national child welfare agency in Ireland. Study participants were 41 child welfare professionals that included front-line practitioners, supervisors, and senior managers. A pretest–posttest study design was used, data was collected over three-time points to measure the effects of the program on pre-defined outcomes of Trauma-informed Knowledge, Professional Self-efficacy, Professional Quality of Life, and Intention to Leave. Statistically significant positives effects were found in trauma-informed knowledge, professional confidence, burn-out and compassion fatigue/secondary traumatic stress, with effect sizes ranging from medium-large to large ( η 2 =. 133 t o η 2 =. 721) across the intervention time period. The positive impacts arising from the program were sustained for 3 months post-intervention. The results of this initial evaluation are promising in supporting child welfare professionals' capacity to integrate trauma-informed practices and addressing the need for trauma informed practitioners. The need for further research is highlighted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Analysis of a subset data of 533 young people in the Czech Republic (mean age 13.6 years). • Youth identified and described their natural mentors in qualitative descriptive questionnaires. • Results describe the characteristics, risks and perceived benefits of natural mentors in youth' perspectives. • Young people identified peers, family members, and formal and informal education teachers and leaders. • Natural mentors were described as 'a good person' with a caring, attentive, kind, and friendly nature. Natural mentoring is a type of youth-adult relationship distinguished with the supportive and caring qualities. The complex conceptual definition as well as the youth-centred knowledge on this type of relationship in youths' daily experiences are missing in the literature. This empirical article reports the analysis of data subset exploring the experiences of youths in natural mentoring relationships in the Czech context. Overall, 533 young people (aged 11–16, mean age 13.4) in eight secondary schools in the Czech Republic participated in the qualitative open-ended questionnaire, identifying, and describing natural mentors from their social networks. The paper reports results of thematic analysis of selected questionnaire items on young people's experiences and perceptions of their identified natural mentors. Young people identified natural mentors most often (n = 105) among their peers or older friends. Besides, youths mentioned and described grandparents, older siblings, family acquaintances, schoolteachers, youth-group and sport leaders, and one-to-one music teachers as natural mentors. Identified mentors were most often perceived as 'a good person' with a caring, attentive, empathetic, nice, kind, and friendly nature who, as a result, is perceived as helpful and supportive. Results are discussed with recommendations for further exploration of natural mentoring as a type of youth–adult relationship, naturally occurring in institutions, organisations, and various youth-work settings where youth-adult interactions are part of the service/institution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• This scoping review explores the international literature between 2000 and 2022, to investigate the barriers and enablers to care-leavers engagement with multi-agency support services. • Thematic analysis informed the identification and analysis of documented enablers, barriers, and outcomes to engagement with care leavers. The results were used to populate a logic model to summarise the inputs, outputs and outcomes following care leaver engagement with multi-agency support. • Key themes identified around the barriers and enablers to engagement with care-leavers included Barriers: Identity, Trust in Services, Inadequate Support; Enablers: Turning points, Continuity of Support, A Good Worker, and Person-centred Approaches; and Outcomes: Improved Confidence, Awareness of Rights and Engagement. • We suggest that further qualitative research is needed with a variety of stakeholders including care-leavers to elicit the factors that contribute to their engagement with services, and to understand what engagement looks like. Many care-leavers experience poor individual and social outcomes. Care-leavers involvement with decision making and consistent supportive relationships with professionals can facilitate a more successful transition to independent living, including better well-being and social outcomes. Not all care-leavers engage with or participate in after-care services. There has been little systematic or structured modelling of what effective enablement through multi-agency support looks like, and the enablers and barriers to care-leaver engagement have not been identified. A scoping review of the international literature was conducted. Eighteen papers were identified, and a thematic synthesis used to derive themes associated with barriers and enablers to care-leavers engagement with services, and subsequent outcomes. The findings were used to populate a logic model illustrating the relationship between the mechanisms contributing to better outcomes for care-leavers: including inputs, activities, and outputs. Barriers to engagement included: identity, independence, trust in services and inadequate support. Enablers included persistent and consistent support, time and turning points, and having an authentic trusted professional within the service. The key findings focused on the need for flexible and accessible services, a gradual introduction to the after-care concept and a proactive approach by professionals, especially immediately after leaving care. This research co-produced with care-leavers contributes to a better understanding of the nature of enablers and barriers to engagement with multi- agency support services. The initial logic model derived from the literature will inform the development and measurement of a practice model and toolkit for professionals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The lack of early education services for the children of asylum-seekers is a significant problem worldwide. • The study focused on community daycares in Israel, known as the 'Babysitters'. • It examined an intercultural early education consultation program for undocumented caregivers working in Babysitters. • The program was designed to enhance caregivers' knowledge, sense of belonging and caring skills. • Alliances between counselors and caregivers were important and enhanced caregivers' sense of meaning and belonging. The lack of early childhood education services for the children of asylum-seekers is a significant problem in many countries. The urgent need for childcare and the lack of national solutions often lead to temporary and unregulated childcare services. This paper examines the case of community daycares, known as the 'Babysitters,' for undocumented children of African asylum-seeking families in Israel. These centers are generally staffed by undocumented community members. The study examined the C-SMART program, an intercultural consultation program provided by counselors to enhance community caregivers' developmental knowledge and caring skills for infants and young children. The qualitative study, guided by a grounded theory methodology, examined the caregivers' experiences and perceptions of learning within the C-SMART program. Fifteen undocumented African migrant and asylum-seeking caregivers shared their experiences in semi-structured interviews. Caregivers indicated that the consultation process included cultural tensions alongside moments of connection when shared cultural meanings were created. When the counselors demonstrated a humble, curious, and enabling attitude, the caregivers had significant learning moments and felt a sense of meaning and belonging that enhanced their caring skills. These results have substantial implications for the development of intercultural services for the caregivers of children from refugee or asylum-seeking families. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Findings highlight the importance of peer support and the possibility of participatory research approaches in catalyzing peer connectivity and agency among foster scholars in higher education. • Actions and advocacy associated with Participatory Action Research have benefits for students with foster care experience and can contribute to critical consciousness raising among those within and outside of child welfare and university systems. • Integrating youth voice and perspective to our existing body of knowledge about youth with foster care experience in higher education adds a critical, often missing perspective. • Universities, child welfare system professionals, policymakers, child welfare scholars desiring to create policy and practice more affirming of young people with foster care experience should center the voices and recommendations of youth with foster care experience in their decision making. This paper presents findings from a focus group conducted as part of a larger Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) study with a cohort of university students with experience in foster care. Six foster scholars (ages 18–21) participated in a research collective offered as a collaboration between the School of Social Welfare and the Educational Opportunities Program (EOP) at a large Northeastern public research university. Over the course of several semesters, students received an overview of research methods, evaluated existing research regarding the educational outcomes of youth with foster care experience, then designed an interview guide for a focus group that they later participated in. Focus group data was transcribed and then analyzed in two ways, first through thematic content analysis using ATLAS TI qualitative software, and simultaneously through participatory narrative analysis using an adapted version of Carol Gilligan's Listening Guide. The cluster of findings presented in this paper highlights co-researchers' experiences of a YPAR approach to research. Three themes emerged: validation of experience and peer support , connection to available resources, and YPAR as a tool of collective action and empowerment. An overview of the significant actions and change efforts associated with the YPAR process is also provided. Findings highlight the importance of peer support and the possibility of participatory research approaches in catalyzing peer connectivity and agency among foster scholars in higher education. Integrating youth voice and perspective to the existing body of knowledge about youth with foster care experience in higher education adds an important perspective needed to more holistically understand what resources and supports are most critical in ensuring their success. Recommendations are made for both universities and child welfare scholars desiring to center the voices and experiences of youth with foster care experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Participation in decisions is positively related to subjective well-being at school. • Material deprivation has a considerable impact on subjective well-being. • Bullying and school safety both affect children's subjective-wellbeing at school. • Results suggest relationships important for subjective well-being at school. This paper considers the relationship between children's subjective well-being at school and the fulfilment of their participation rights. Our research focuses on the association between children's involvement in decision-making in school and their subjective well-being (SWB) using international evidence from the Children's Worlds survey. The analysis uses data from the third wave of the Children's Worlds survey collected from 12-year-olds within 13 EU and former EU countries. We focus on the school in response for calls for more domain-specific analysis of children's SWB, and in light of the considerable amount of time children spend in school and the compulsory nature of schooling. We identify an association between subjective well-being and participation in decision-making at school, across all countries included in this study, except Malta. The paper also finds that relationships with teachers and other peers (as measured by bullying) also impact upon children's school-based SWB. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A critical review of adolescent resilience scales found the Child and Youth Resilience Measure (83%) to be most adequate. • Two other scales; the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (83%) and The Resiliency Scales for Children and Adolescents (78%) were also found to be adequate. • This review provides a guide for researchers to help with scale selection based on psychometrics and the underlying theoretical basis of each scale. Valid quantitative measures of adolescent resilience are important for the development of knowledge and have implications for practice with adolescents. This scoping review followed Arksey and O'Malley's (2005) five step process and aimed to (1) identify the most used self-report scales that measure resilience of adolescents in studies published between 2000 and 2021, (2) describe the scales' psychometric properties, (3) describe the scales' conceptual and theoretical formulations, and (4) assess the scales' relative strengths, weaknesses, and adequacy. A review of 118 papers revealed six commonly used scales. A construct validation approach adapted from Skinner (1981) and expanding on Pangallo et al., (2015), with evidence assessed in four stages (theoretical formulation, reliability, validity, and application) was utilised to critically evaluate the six scales. The results showed that the most adequate scale for measuring resilience in adolescent populations was the Child and Youth Resilience Measure, scoring 83% of points. The Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (also scoring 83%) and The Resiliency Scales for Children and Adolescents (78%) were also found to be adequate. This review provides clinicians and researchers with a critical overview of common scales measuring resilience in adolescents, including their underlying theoretical basis. This is vital to ensure the measure chosen is valid and matches the theoretical aims of the research/ application. Our review also suggests that too often, researchers fail to look beyond the original validation study when selecting resilience scales, and often fail to analyse and report current psychometric data from the chosen scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• This study reviewed the prevalence of mental health disorders among Looked After Children in the UK. • Prevalence rates varied across studies. • The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) was the most frequently used tool to assess mental health. • There is still uncertainty about the scale and nature of mental health difficulties in this group. Care-experienced children and young people are more likely to experience poorer mental health relative to the general population. Some of the most highly cited literature in this area is becoming increasingly outdated, however, and as the gap between mental health service availability and provision is steadily growing, it is imperative that we understand the scale and nature of the mental health needs of this group. A systematic review of all literature published from the UK was conducted in March 2022 using APA PsycINFO, ASSIA, Cochrane Library, Medline, PubMed, Scopus, Social Policy and Practice, Social Services Abstracts, and Web of Science. Papers were included if they 1) sampled young people (aged 0 to 18 years) with care experience and, 2) used either a standard or non-standardised measurement tool, or health records to assess mental health prevalence rates (reported as a percentage). Risk of bias assessed used the QuADS tool (Harrison et al., 2021) and data was extracted. Thirty-nine studies were included and summarised. The estimated prevalence of mental health disorders of young people in care ranged from 1 to 82 %. The most frequently used tool to assess mental health was the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (Goodman, 1997) and, while over half of studies utilised prevalence information from a comparator group, this was most commonly young people in the general population. The results of the systematic review demonstrate that estimates of mental health disorders among care-experienced young people in the UK vary considerably. Further consideration should be given toward what measures are used to assess mental health in this population and how we can optimally assess and characterise their support needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A large proportion of children (16.7 %) dropped out during school closure. • Disadvantaged children were less inclined to engage in learning activities during school closure. • Drop-out children during school closure were less likely to return to school upon re-opening. • Disadvantaged children faced limited access to online or digital learning during school closure. School closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic shifted education from traditional face-to-face classrooms to online learning settings. This abrupt change interrupted learning, worsening the existing inequality in education. This paper aims to provide empirical evidence on educational inequality in a low- and middle-income country by using nationally representative data of 4,920 children in Vietnam. In particular, we examine whether there were educational inequalities between disadvantaged and advantaged children (i.e., rural and urban, poor and non-poor, or having many and few young dependents in a family) during the pandemic. Our results reveal that during school closure, disadvantaged children were less likely to engage in learning activities, indicating their higher likelihood of dropping out relative to advantaged children. These disadvantaged children also had fewer learning days and fewer chances to access online learning. Additionally, drop-out children during school closure were less likely to return to school upon re-opening. Accordingly, we discuss some implications to tackle or mitigate educational inequality during and after the pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Child protection system building in the Middle-East and North Africa is under-researched. • Lebanon's child protection system has undergone significant reform since 2015, moving towards a more integrated, procedural, and standardised model. • Unifying state, non-governmental, and religious stakeholders under one framework however remains challenging. • This paper recommends greater inclusion of community-based protection mechanisms and reengagement with religious family courts. Lebanon's fledgling child protection (CP) system has been criticised for being fragmented and overly crisis-driven to the detriment of the children served. This article conceptualises Lebanon's 'pluralistic' model and is the first to examine the contentious government reforms which have taken place since 2014. Drawing on 54 semi-structured stakeholder interviews, we examine how the state has wrested power from religious authorities, introduced national CP practice standards, and increased supervision of non-governmental services. This paper argues that these reforms have moved Lebanon further towards an integrated, legalistic and procedural CP approach. However, unresolved challenges remain to reconcile the competing roles, interests and capabilities of the state, the non-governmental sector, and religious authorities under one cohesive framework. This paper recommends strengthening support for the non-governmental sector, improving inclusion of community-based protection mechanisms, and reengagement with religious family courts to better meet the needs of children. The study not only has important implications for the development of Lebanon's protection system but also for the theories and practice debates surrounding system building in low and middle-income countries and the Middle-East and North African region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Young people leaving care are often described as 'vulnerable', but this is often poorly understood. • They are subjected to, and experience, a range of forms of vulnerability, which form 'institutionalised vulnerability'. • Understanding vulnerability is important to prevent the production of stigmatising discourses, policies and practices. Care leavers are often considered to constitute some of the most disadvantaged young people in society, and there exists a significant body of research that seeks to understand why some young people 'succeed', whereas others struggle due to accumulated 'vulnerabilities'. Despite this extensive research base, policy and practice aiming to support young people leaving care remain diverse, indicating a lack of consensus on why some experience 'poor outcomes' and what might be done better to support them. This article focusses on the experiences of young people leaving care in the Russian Federation and makes two contributions; firstly, it provides theoretical insights through a critical discussion of the notion of vulnerability. We argue for attention to institutional vulnerabilities, which heavily structure the potential outcome of transitions available to young people leaving care in Russia. We note discourses and practices of dependency-related victim-blaming, which indicate the operation of 'attribution errors' in the Russian care and post-care systems, erroneously positioning individuals as responsible for their vulnerability rather than the dysfunction of systems of care. To fully understand the reasons for many young people's 'poorer outcomes', we suggest refocussing attention towards the combined operation of discourses, systems and structures through the conceptual approach of 'institutionalised vulnerability'. Secondly, the paper provides an empirical contribution in shedding light on the experiences of young people transitioning out of the care system as well as practitioners working in both the state and third sector in Russia, as the country experiences an ongoing process of deinstitutionalisation. This is important for other contexts given global efforts to deinstitutionalise residential child care settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Multi-component interventions showed the greatest promise in housing stabilization. • Flexibility is an important factor within housing support intervention design. • Housing stability was linked with housing first, transitional and outreach programs. • Further evidence on these interventions and underrepresented groups is needed. This scoping review synthesized the academic literature within North America that focuses on housing stabilization interventions for young people experiencing homelessness. A scoping review method was used to identify literature relevant to the question: What is the existing evidence in the peer-reviewed literature regarding housing stabilization interventions for youth who have experienced homelessness? The databases of PubMed, Scopus, PsychInfo and Google Scholar were searched, identifying 31 papers that were selected for the review. Three housing stabilization themes were identified, which included: 1) Multidisciplinary and outreach interventions, 2) Housing first models and 3) Transitional, Supportive and Independent Living programs. Results indicated improvements in housing stability among youth across types of housing stabilization interventions as well as promising impacts in areas of mental health, addictions, employment, education, and independent living skills. The evidence base, however, is limited, highlighting a need for future research to include more pragmatic design and examine what works best for who and when. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Adaptation and validation the scale of Positive Parental Practices for children 0- to 3 years. • Exploratory and Confirmatory Factor Analysis were performed with 950 participants. • This study provides the standardization of the Spanish scale scores in parental competences. • The final version for the Spanish population is composed of 27 items and 7 subscales. • This scale is considered useful for assessing parental competences in parents of young children. This study aims to adapt and validate the scale of Positive Parental Practices of the Caregiver (SP + C), in the version for children from 0 to 3 years. First, the process of cross-cultural adaptation was performed. Subsequently, for the validation of the scale, we analyzed a sample of 950 participants, with children aged between 0 and 3 years. The participants' native language was Spanish or it was the language spoken at home. Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) was performed with Sample 1 (n = 483 participants), yielding 7 factors: Daily Involvement, Mentalization, Sensitivity, Promoting Learning, Attention and Organization of Daily Life, Monitoring of Parental Activity, and Parental Self-Care. Confirmatory Factory Analysis (CFA) was performed with Sample 2 (n = 467), which confirmed the factor structure of the scale. Reliability analysis showed that the scale had an adequate internal consistency. To determine criterion validity, bivariate correlations were calculated with other variables that evaluate parental competence, expecting to find significant positive relationships between them. This paper provides the standardization of the Spanish scale scores. In conclusion, the final validated scale is composed of 27 items and 7 subscales, with adequate psychometric properties. It is considered useful for the evaluation of parental competences in parents of young children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Socialization in East Germany is a protective factor against corporal punishment in the family. • Younger mothers and older fathers are more likely to use corporal punishment in child-rearing. • Legal regulations regarding the violence-free education have a measurable influence on educational methods of parents. Due to the division of Germany into the German Democratic Republic and the Federal Republic of Germany following the Second World War, large parts of the population of today's Germany were socialized under different socio-economic, political, and legal conditions, which could possibly lead to different experiences with corporal punishment as a method of education. In this paper, we investigate whether being socialized in East or West Germany, respectively, had an influence on childhood experience of corporal punishment. The evaluation is based on a representative German survey (n = 2331) carried out in 2020. In order to investigate the dimensionality of the experience with corporal punishment, we used the method of multiple correspondence analysis. The structures which were discovered using multiple correspondence analysis were subsequently verified using confirmatory factor analyses. We then examined the influence of explanatory variables on different parental punishment styles in a structural equation model. Three main parental punishment styles were identified: non-corporal punishment, mild punishment, and severe punishment. Respondents who were socialized in East Germany had a lower probability of having experienced severe punishment and non-corporal punishment compared to those socialized in West Germany. Our analysis also showed that corporal punishment tended to be more frequently practiced by younger mothers and older fathers. The results of this study indicate that legal regulations regarding non-violent child-raising are not just symbolic, but do indeed have a measurable influence on the educational methods of parents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Left-behind children (LBC) who do not exhibit depressive symptoms are considered resilient, but what contributes to their resilience remains unknown. • This paper utilizes the risk and resilience framework and is the first to conceptualize that LBC's resilience is improved when protective factors mitigate the negative impact of risk factors. • Hope was found to mitigate the negative impact of stressful life events on depressive symptoms in left-behind boys. With increased hope, stressful life events have a decreased impact on depressive symptoms in left-behind boys. Left-behind children (LBC) in China, of which there are 40 million, are a significant concern due to reported mental health issues including depression. Recent research has shown the negative correlation between resilience and the poor mental health outcomes of LBC, but the underlying mechanisms of this resilience have remained unclear. This study utilized the Risk and Resilience framework and conceptualized that resilience is an outcome of the absence of depressive symptoms when protective factors mitigate the negative impact of risk factors. This study examined whether protective factors were correlated with a reduction in the association between risk factors and LBC's depressive symptoms, thereby contributing to LBC's resilience. Participants were recruited from first and second-year middle school students in Henan province, aged 11–15 years (N = 841). Researchers delivered the questionnaires to the classrooms. Logistic regression analyses were conducted to examine the association between hope and depressive symptoms as well as to examine the moderating role of hope on the correlations between risk factors and depressive symptoms. The same analyses were stratified by gender. Hope was negatively correlated with LBC's depressive symptoms. For males, there was a significant interaction between hope and stressful life events, but the interaction was not significant for females. The results suggest that LBC boys' resilience can improve if hope mitigates the negative impact of stressful life events on LBC's depressive symptoms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Young people in and leaving state care are more likely than the general population to become parents at a young age. Relatively little is known about the experiences and progress of care leaver parents and their children, but emerging evidence suggests an increased risk of intergenerational state intervention. Drawing on data from the Wales Adoption Study, this paper examines the prevalence and profiles of care leavers amongst birth parents whose children were placed for adoption. Findings showed that more than a quarter (27%) of birth mothers and a fifth (19%) of birth fathers with children placed for adoption were themselves care leavers. There were no significant differences between care leaver and non-care leaver birth parents in terms of involvement in crime or substance misuse, but carer leaver birth parents were distinguishable from other birth parents by their own experiences of abuse and neglect. Care leaver birth mothers were also more likely than their non-care leaver counterparts to have diagnosed mental health problems and were less likely to appeal the adoption plan. The profiles of children placed for adoption between care leaver and non-care leaver birth parents were similar. The findings presented in this paper strengthen the moral imperative to address the over-representation of care leavers amongst birth parents whose children are placed for adoption. There is an urgent need to revise how children and young people in state care are prepared for parenthood and supported as parents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Describes the development of a new intervention for transition-age foster youth. • Model focuses on improving coping self-efficacy and help-seeking orientation. • Model is designed for implementation within Independent Living (IL) programs. • Iterative approach includes pre-testing of initial program aims and strategies. • Next steps will evaluate impact on key mechanisms prior to effectiveness testing. This study articulates the iterative development of an intervention called Strengthening Youth Networks and Coping (SYNC), which is designed to target coping self-efficacy and help-seeking intentions and behaviors among youth in foster care. The overarching goal is to design an intervention that will be a feasible and acceptable enhancement to existing child welfare services, and that will address modifiable determinants among adolescents involved in child welfare system that are related to elevated risk for mental health challenges, limited support network capacity, and service disengagement after exiting foster care. In this paper, we describe our initial needs assessment, explain how we selected proximal intervention mechanisms (i.e., intermediate outcomes) to target, and outline the preliminary intervention development process, including ongoing insights we received from a research advisory group including members with lived experience. Next, we report and discuss the initial acceptability pre-testing data collected from youth (N = 30) as well as feasibility data collected from providers (N = 82), results from which were used to refine the SYNC intervention framework prior to robust efficacy testing. Findings highlight the need and importance of targeting youth coping and help-seeking, integrating programming within existing transition services, delivering this content in a group-based format that includes near-peer mentors and facilitators with lived experience, and developing options that work for the heterogeneous population of young people in foster care. The results also highlight the key objective of capturing youth's interests prior to enrolling in the program (e.g., language used in recruitment materials), holding their interest throughout the program (e.g., creating opportunities for youth to engage with other youth with similar experiences), and suggestions to encourage youth's engagement and participation. This paper articulates the value of this intervention development approach, and the sequential phases of this intervention development process as well as the results, which may be useful to applied researchers and practitioners working with youth in foster care and other priority populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective This paper builds upon the analyses presented in three companion papers using data from the 2003 and 2008 cycles of the Canadian Incidence Study of Reported Child Abuse and Neglect (CIS-2003 and CIS-2008) and the Ontario Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (OCANDS) to examine disproportionality and disparity of child welfare involvement for Asian-Canadian children involved in the child welfare system. Methods This study used CIS-2008 data adjusted by Census child population data to examine rates per 1000 and three disparity indexes (population-based disparity index [PDI], decision-based disparity index [DDI], and maltreatment-based disparity index [MDI]) to determine the representation of child maltreatment investigations for Asian-Canadian versus White-Canadian children involved in the child welfare system. Logistic regression analyses were conducted to determine the odds of case closure for substantiated child maltreatment investigations, and whether Asian ethnicity remained significant while controlling for child demographics and household composition, case characteristics, and clinical concerns. Results This study found that Asian-Canadian children were underrepresented in the child welfare system compared to White-Canadian children (13.9 per 1000 Asian children in the Canadian population vs. 36.1 per 1000 White children in the Canadian population). Child welfare involvement for Asian-Canadian children are almost 2 times more likely to close after an investigation than White-Canadian children. The three disparity indexes (PDI, DDI, MDI) showed substantially different results with respect to the representation of child maltreatment investigations involving Asian-Canadian versus White-Canadian children for physical abuse, sexual abuse, neglect, emotional maltreatment, and exposure to domestic violence. Conclusions Disproportionality and disparity are complex phenomena. The variation in results derived from different methods of calculating representation suggests the need for greater clarity and consistency in the definitions and methodology in examining racial disparity in child welfare research. Some methodological considerations for future child welfare research with Asian-Canadian populations were discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• This study reviews the school attachment theory as a motivational feature for greater school engagement among students. • The descriptive survey approach involved 1506 Albanian high school students. • Key factors determining the students' attachment to the school were established. • The results were measured with exploratory factor analysis and structural equation modelling. • Results indicated that positive attitudes towards teachers as mediators had the greatest impact on students' attachment and engagement with their school. Recent educational reforms in Albanian public schools have attempted varied qualitative benchmarks such as teacher efficiency and standards, school infrastructure support and improved learning outcomes, however, many socio-economic constraints still remain, contributing to dropout of students. This paper reviews the attachment theory as a 'pull' factor motivating students towards better school engagement. A descriptive and self-report survey design was adopted to measure the students' perception of SA and determine the crucial factors determining the students' attachment to the school. The survey involved high school adolescent students in Albania from grades 10, 11 and 12. The results, measured with exploratory factor analysis and structural equation modelling, indicated that although interest in learning and positive feelings about the school had a vital impact on students' engagement with their school, positive attitudes towards teachers was the greatest determinant to student school attachment to the school. This indicates the necessity to improve and strengthen the role and efficacy of teacher-student interactions to build and foster greater SA for students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Survey respondents had their first suicidal thoughts, on average, at 13.6 years. • Forms of suicidal thoughts were passive, active and chronic suicidal ideation. • During and after leaving care, suicidal thoughts can re-occur and intensify. • English and German samples show similar occurrences of suicidal thoughts. • English participants judge their care experience to affect their attitude towards life. This paper investigates the range of suicidal ideation among people with care experience. People who grew up in care have an elevated risk of suicidal ideation, behavior and dying by suicide compared to people without care experience. However, a comprehensive and in-depth understanding of when suicidal ideation occurs and how care-experienced people experience suicidal thoughts, especially when leaving care in England and Germany, is currently not available but would help to inform suicide prevention tailored to care-experienced people across different ages. Aiming to address this gap, the current study applied a mixed-methods approach, combining an online survey and semi-structured interviews with young adults with care experience from England and Germany. The survey included 45 adults with care experience, age 18–40, and interviews were conducted with 13 care-experienced young adults from both countries. Descriptive statistical and significance tests were conducted to analyze the survey data with SPSS. Framework analysis was used to analyze the interviews. The findings show that many participants experienced suicidal thoughts from a young age and at different times up to adulthood. A range of suicidal thoughts and trajectories are identified with an increased risk of suicide for young people with care experience, especially during transitions such as when leaving care in early adulthood. The study underlines the need for a stronger recognition of suicide prevention in social work and the (leaving) care system across different countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• New attention has been focused on strengthening family connections and.expanding the community-based service array focused on preventing maltreatment and out-of-home placement. • Describe preliminary outcomes from a pilot evaluation of a new curriculum teaching parents trauma-informed strategies to address and resolve their own trauma while supporting healthy attachment with their children. • Demonstrates feasibility of conducting a large-scale study of the Breakthrough Parenting Curriculum (BPC). Unresolved trauma can negatively impact parenting and increase chances of child maltreatment. With the passing of the Family First Prevention Services Act (FFPSA) in 2018, new attention has been focused on strengthening family connections and expanding the community-based service array focused on preventing maltreatment and out of home placement. The purpose of this paper is twofold: (1) to describe preliminary outcomes from a pilot evaluation of a new curriculum teaching parents trauma-informed strategies to address and resolve their own trauma while supporting healthy attachment; and (2) assess the feasibility of conducting a large scale study. Forty parents involved in the state child welfare system were recruited to participate. Statistical analyses included T-tests, propensity score analysis, and repeated measures MANOVA. Assessments, which occurred at Pre and Post for the intervention group and comparable times for the quasi-waitlist group, indicated the following: A high retention rate (72%) for the intervention group, an increase in parent knowledge of trauma, skills to address trauma behavior, and parent well-being for the intervention, relative to the waitlist comparison group; and a decrease in child problem behavior in the intervention, relative to the waitlist group. Fidelity data was strong, with trainers completing 100% of activities for each module. Parental satisfaction in the intervention group was also high and costs to implement the training were reasonable. The findings of this pilot study provide strong support for evaluating the BPC in a large-scale outcome investigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Preparing teachers for child protection and safeguarding must begin in initial teacher education. • We included 31 studies in a systematic scoping review. • In future, course developers should draw from models of rigorously evaluated courses. • Underpinning courses with trauma-informed approaches is strongly indicated. To improve educational outcomes for maltreated children, there is an urgent need to strengthen the capacity of the education workforce to respond appropriately to their needs. We conducted a systematic scoping review to synthesize current evidence about child protection and safeguarding in initial (pre-registration) teacher education with the aim of developing a knowledge base, and understanding what we — as researchers, teacher educators, and professional accreditation bodies — can and should be doing better. Thirty-one studies (reported in 38 papers) met the inclusion criteria. Studies were coded inductively against standardised criteria and critically appraised. Coding of study aims yielded three themes forming a descriptive map of research in the field: (i) studies investigating student teachers' perceptions of their preparedness to deal with child protection and safeguarding (n = 15); (ii) studies investigating preparation for child protection and safeguarding in initial teacher education courses (n = 14); and (iii) studies investigating student teachers' preferences for future training (n = 2). We identified key contents or topics covered, teaching methods and delivery modes, time allocations, and personnel involved in course delivery. Findings show that child protection and safeguarding are seldom investigated in initial teacher education, averaging only one published study per year over a 32-year search period with most studies having been conducted in Australia and the UK. Time allocated to child protection and safeguarding in initial teacher education courses varied from 1 to 16 h. Content covered was limited to several core topics with primacy given to child maltreatment subtypes, indicators, and reporting duties. Delivery methods were dominated by lectures, workshops, and discussions. Few studies had investigated the efficacy of innovative and interactive teaching strategies or online learning. We conclude that child protection and safeguarding in initial teacher education may be improved by leveraging off existing well-designed, rigorously evaluated programs, which have been found to be feasibly delivered and acceptable to future professionals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Parent training programs promote positive parenting and benefit low-income children, but are rarely used. Internet-based delivery may help expand the reach of parent training programs, although feasibility among low-income populations is still unclear. We examined the feasibility of Internet-based parent training, in terms of Internet access/use and engagement, through two studies. In Study 1, 160 parents recruited from Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) centers completed a brief paper survey regarding Internet access and use (all parents received government aid). We found high levels of access, openness, and comfort with the Internet and Internet-enabled devices. In Study 2, a pilot study, we assessed use of an online parenting program in a project with a sample of 89 predominately low-income parents (75% received government aid). Parents learned about a new, online parenting program (the “5-a-Day Parenting Program”) and provided ratings of level of interest and program use 2-weeks and 4-weeks later. Local website traffic was also monitored. At baseline, parents were very interested in using the web-based program, and the majority of parents (69.6%) reported visiting the website at least once. However, in-depth use was rare (only 9% of parents reported frequent use of the online program). Results support the feasibility of Internet-based parent training for low-income parents, as most parent were able to use the program and were interested in doing so. However, results also suggest the need to develop strategies to promote in-depth program use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Becoming parents implies redefining the complex relationships with birth families. • This process opens up to care-experienced parents new relational adjustments, but also several challenges. • Care-experienced parents are able to cope in part by using skills learned within the Child Protection System. • The key role of positioning/protecting vis-à-vis the birth family. • The need to assuage concerns about the lack of an extended family for their children. This paper studies how care-experienced parents, i.e. parents with a looked-after background, represent their relationship with the birth family. This relationship appears to be crucial in the intergenerational transmission of maltreatment and may enable an understanding of the dynamics that mediate its reproduction. Constructivist Grounded Theory approach was used in this qualitative study. I conducted online in-depth semi-structured interviews with 17 care-experienced parents in Italy from May to November 2021. The interviews were analysed using open, focused and theoretical coding with the support of NVivo12 and the analysis itself was discussed with a board of care-experienced parents. The relationship with the birth family is an aspect that frequently emerges in the interviewees' narratives. Birth family is represented through the more physical dimension of its presence in everyday life, as well as in the more symbolic one linked to one's inner experience. This means that birth family is crucial even when contacts are sporadic or no longer possible. Interviewees see parenting as an opportunity to create new relational adjustments, particularly in reference to their relationship with birth families. In fact, an internal daily dialogue and renegotiation with their own complex family history appears to take place. New parents compare their own childhoods with their children's, with this placing further pressure on the actual relationship with the birth family. In this process parents show interesting resources, possibly acquired within the child protection system. This study highlights relevant aspects of the relationship between the birth family and care-experienced parents. It represents a promising approach to a better understanding of the links affecting the intergenerational transmission of maltreatment, also vis-à-vis the role of the child protection system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• InPlace® Learning is a feasible and acceptable approach to suicide prevention education for youth services workers in a large and varied workforce. • InPlace® Learning participants demonstrated knowledge and increased self-efficacy in suicide prevention skills. • Perception of training relevance and potential for transfer to practice was strong across human services roles and settings. • Leveraging implementation science frameworks and strategies strengthened the workforce education suicide prevention initiative. Suicide is the second leading cause of death for youth in the U.S. and equipping clinical and non-clinical staff in youth services to address suicide concerns is a challenge. This paper evaluates InPlace Learning, an innovative and sustainable blended learning approach to suicide prevention workforce education in youth services. InPlace Learning combines group video-guided workshops, follow-up Q&A via web-based 'office hours', and continual learning through job aids and brief refreshers. Hillside identified 25 programs to adopt InPlace Learning for suicide prevention training, and 1,162 staff to participate in the training. The purpose of the first phase of this program evaluation was to evaluate the feasibility of this approach, including examining adoption and reach of InPlace Learning, as well as education outcomes for staff, including knowledge, self-efficacy, and transfer of learning. The program evaluation sample consisted of 556 staff who completed post-training evaluations. Ten staff shared their experience and feedback through post-training interviews. Results show that 100 % (N = 25) of programs adopted InPlace Learning and 64 % of staff participated in the training, showing evidence of reach. Post-training evaluations indicated participants learned skills in suicide prevention. Self-efficacy in connecting around and assessing and responding to suicide concerns rose significantly for both clinical and non-clinical staff. Non-clinical staff who had lower ratings for self-efficacy before training showed the greatest gains post-training. The perception of transfer of learning to practice was high. Staff interview data aligned with quantitative findings. Taken together, these findings indicate that InPlace Learning is a feasible and acceptable approach to suicide prevention workforce education in youth services with a positive impact on educational outcomes for staff. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Psychological well-being (PWB) has been defined as a way of living well and realizing ones human potentials more than an outcome or a psychological state (Deci & Ryan, 2008). There have been a number of attempts to measure PWB of adults and at a country level such as the multidimensional model of psychological well-being, which proposed six psychological dimensions (Ryff & Keyes, 1995). This paper attempts to analyse some PWB data from children across 15 countries, using the Children's Worlds Survey of 12-year-olds. The instrument used to measure PWB (The Children's Society, 2013) contains 6 items, one for each of Ryff's dimensions. First, the overall view is presented using descriptive information from the pooled sample and then from each specific country. Then, the overlaps between PWB and material deprivation and the overlaps between PWB and type of home are analysed for each country. Being deprived and not living with the family seems to be associated with PWB across all countries. In the countries studied, more than 25% of the deprived children also reported low PWB, reaching the huge percentage of 69% in S Korea. The same happens with the type of home: in all countries more than 21% of the children who are not living with their families also reported low PWB, reaching 100% in S Korea. Some initial implications and recommendations based on this research are presented, but we need further investigation and more data from children to cover the lack of information about PWB from their point of view. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Substance use among Latino adolescents continues to be a growing concern for researchers and clinicians. This paper reviews relevant literature regarding the impact of inter-parental conflict (IPC), deviant peer associations (DPA) and parenting behaviors, namely as parental support, psychological control, and parental monitoring knowledge on substance use among Latino adolescents. Although mediating models of IPC and similar parenting behaviors on adolescent externalizing behaviors have been represented in empirical studies, none have included the influence of peer associations or have analyzed these factors with substance use among Latino adolescents in the U.S. This study investigated direct relationships of IPC and DPA with adolescent substance use, and tested parental support, psychological control and parental monitoring knowledge as mediators between those relationships in Latino adolescents. Structural equation modeling was used to analyze direct and indirect relationships of the variables mentioned among 744 Latino adolescents. Results indicated that DPA was positively associated with substance use, parental monitoring knowledge was negatively associated with substance use and that parental monitoring knowledge partially mediated the relationship between DPA and substance use. Implications of the findings are discussed in terms of areas of focus for interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose Over 14 million female children worldwide are married before attaining age 18, with nearly half of these marriages occurring in South Asia. Evidence suggests that marriage of girls as children adversely affects their growth, health, and perpetuates gender inequity in social and economic wellbeing. Most countries around the world have passed laws specifying the legal age of marriage to 18 years or over; yet child marriage persists. In this paper, the following questions will be answered using data from one country, Nepal: How prevalent is girl child marriage? What social and demographic factors predict the risk for child marriage? Method I analyzed data from 9783 married women using the 2011 Nepal Demographic and Health Survey , a nationally representative comprehensive survey of women between 15 and 49 years of age. Descriptive and logistic regression analyses were employed to assess the predictors of childhood marriage of women. Results About one-third of the women were married before they attained 16 years of age and 78% were married before they attained 20 years of age, which is the legal age for marriage in Nepal. The odds of marrying before attaining age 16 was significantly higher for Madeshi and Low Caste Hindu women compared to the High Caste Hindu women. With increase in both girls' and boys' education, the risk of marrying before age 16 declined significantly controlling for other factors. Implications Social workers in Nepal should target and reach out to Madeshi and Low Caste Hindu families and share the benefits of delaying their daughters' marriage until they attain the legal age. They should also inform the families, communities and local priests about the law pertaining the legal age for marriage. Additionally, they should focus on evidence based strategies to enroll and retain girls and boys in school. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Published evidence about mental health interventions for Indigenous children and youth is limited. • There are few evaluations of interventions that show what works. • There was little explanation of leadership by Indigenous people and paradigms. • Strategies targeted intersectoral systems, workforce skills, program quality and client care. • Outcomes included improved appropriateness, quality and effectiveness. • More Indigenous-led investigations of wellbeing interventions are needed. Key policy directives from Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Norway and the United States (CANNZUS countries) highlight the importance of addressing the unique and complex wellbeing and mental health needs of Indigenous school-aged children and youth. This systematic scoping review of the peer reviewed and grey literature identifies the extant evidence about the conditions, strategies and impacts of wellbeing and mental health screening, management and referral pathways for Indigenous children and youth in CANNZUS countries. A search for peer reviewed and grey literature was conducted of 17 electronic databases and 13 clearinghouses and websites in each of the included countries. Search results were imported into Endnote X9 with titles and abstracts screened against inclusion criteria. The full texts of selected publications were screened by at least two blinded reviewers. Data extracted from the full texts included: authorship, year and publication type; country, target group, sample size and intervention setting, intervention type and study design, outcome measures and reported outcomes. The searches produced 3223 peer reviewed and 278 grey literature publications (after duplicates were removed) giving a total of 3501 references. Screening resulted in 15 papers arising from 14 intervention studies in primary health care services, education, juvenile justice and community settings. Only 9 of the 15 publications evaluated an intervention; 6 were program descriptions. The review identified four key approaches to improve wellbeing and mental health care for Indigenous children and youth – cross-service collaboration, professional education, intervention quality and appropriateness, and enhancing direct service provision pathways. Intervention outcomes included acceptability, appropriateness and effectiveness. The small number of studies found suggests that this research niche area is still in development, with few evaluations of interventions. Identification of interventions within the four broad strategy areas is useful, and the review has some value in guiding the tailored development of interventions in other sites. Further Indigenous-led investigations of wellbeing are needed to identify what works to improve wellbeing and mental healthcare for Indigenous children and youth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Examining adolescent perceptions of their parents influence on their access and use of mental health services. • Use qualitative face to face interviews. • Parents were highlighted by adolescents as prominent influences in adolescent mental health journeys, however this influence could be positive and negative for the adolescent. • Highlights the complexity of the involvement of parents in their child's mental health service use. To explore adolescent experiences of accessing and utilising mental health service in Perth, Western Australia. This paper focusses on the adolescent identified influence of parents in accessing and using mental health services. Qualitative semi-structured face-to-face interviews with 22 adolescents aged 14–18 years old in Perth, Western Australia. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and analysed thematically. The influence of parents on adolescents' experiences within the mental health system were grouped under three themes: parental involvement in accessing and continued use of mental health services for their children; parental understanding and awareness of child's mental health problems; parent–child relationship. It was common for adolescents to report that the influence and involvement of their parents could create facilitators and barriers to mental health care. This research highlighted the complexities in how parents can be both supportive and hindering influences in their child's mental health care. Adolescent experiences highlight the need for parents to be a key area of focus for mental health services and future reforms to support and improve adolescent mental health service use. Additional research is needed to explore how to effectively increase parental mental health literacy in the community and what factors are needed to create trusted parent-adolescent relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2013, San Francisco was one of eight sites funded by Partnership for a Healthier America to implement Play Streets, a smaller-scale Open Streets-type initiative, aimed at increasing physical activity (PA) among children and youth by closing neighborhood streets for recreational activities. This paper evaluates the pilot Play Streets events held in summer of 2013 in San Francisco with a focus on examining the characteristics of users of such events, the impact on youth and children's physical activities, use of open space and level of community engagement. The study uses survey data, observational data, existing secondary data as well as GIS mapping to measure the space created by Play Streets. Demographic characteristics, levels/types of PA and level of community engagement for a sample of 1364 participants were examined. Engagement in vigorous PA increased three-fold (11.5% to 35%) during PS and 93.3% of participants agreed that “PS strengthens our community.” Open space for PA and recreation added through Play Streets ranged from 47%–100% of available space depending on the site. Play Streets offers a significant opportunity for neighborhoods and small communities to implement a health-benefiting recreational event for its youth and families. However, specific programming is an important key to the success of Play Streets implementation and for attracting the targeted participants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is well known, based on previous research, that adolescents' thoughts and feelings about their future are related to the risk of delinquency, alcohol use as well as health. However, other well-known facts are that adolescents' actions are substantially shaped in interaction with peers and that, during adolescence, individuals spend a considerable amount of the day at school, in interaction with classmates. Despite this, there is an almost complete lack of studies exploring to what extent the school climate, as measured by thoughts and feelings about the future, can influence individual adolescents. The aim of the current study is to investigate whether the future orientation (FO) climate, measured at the school class level, is related to delinquency, alcohol use and internalizing problems at the individual level, among a sample of Swedish students 14–15 years of age. The data used come from the Swedish part of the Youth in Europe (YES!) study, which is part of the larger project Children of Immigrants - Longitudinal Survey in Four European Countries (CILS4EU). In the present paper, we use data from the first wave, collected among 8th grade students in 2010/11 (n = 4119–4364). The method used was multilevel modeling (linear probability models (LPM) and linear regression analysis). The results showed that, in school classes where a high proportion of students had a positive future orientation, the risk of heavy alcohol use at the individual level was lower, also after adjusting for individual FO and for individual- and class-level socioeconomic conditions. A similar, but not statistically significant, tendency was found for delinquency. In addition, having a high proportion of students with a positive FO in a school class was associated with fewer internalizing problems, also after controlling for individual FO and socioeconomic conditions at the individual and school class level. We conclude that the surrounding school class, in terms of its general future orientation climate, may play a role for individual outcomes in the form of problem behaviors and mental health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is limited literature on the processes of choice-making in families of young people with learning disabilities. This paper examines the factors considered by parents of young people with learning disabilities when deciding their own and their child's role in a range of significant choices (health, social care and education) about their child's life. The paper reports data collected from a sub-sample of 14 parents recruited from 11 families participating in a longitudinal (2007–2010) qualitative study based in England. The parents all had children with learning disabilities and participated throughout the study. Data were collected over three semi-structured interviews. Parents' accounts demonstrated a continuum of parental involvement ranging from young people being unaware a choice was taking place to young people being fully involved in choice-making. Parents did not always adopt the same approach to choice-making; different approaches to their own and their son/daughter's level of involvement emerged when parents discussed different choices. Five choice-making factors are presented. These factors were used by parents to guide their own and their child's level of involvement. Although young people's level of understanding was considered, it was not always the most important factor. Other factors were important and, at times, could be considered more important by parents. The other factors were: parents' views on the nature of the choice, protecting their child, parents' personal attitudes/beliefs and confidence in practitioner knowledge. Insights from these factors highlight some important practice issues when practitioners work with families of young people with learning disabilities making significant life-choices. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Schools are large providers of mental health services for children and adolescents. Recent educational policy initiatives at the federal level have ushered in Response to Intervention and school-wide behavior supports that have potential to involve teachers in school mental health interventions. Little research exists investigating the involvement of teachers in school mental health services or the level of efficacy associated with teachers providing these services. This paper conducts a systematic review to investigate the extent to which teachers a) are the primary school-based service providers, b) collaboratively work with other professionals to provide services, and c) what levels of interventions within the Response to Intervention (RTI) framework apply to these interventions. This paper further evaluates how efficacious teachers and school mental health professionals are in impacting outcomes in previous studies. Results indicated that out of the 49 school mental health studies analyzed, teachers were actively involved in 40.8% of mental health interventions evaluated, and were the sole providers of interventions in 18.4% of the studies. It was also found that many of these school mental health interventions were universal (Tier 1) and took place in the classrooms. Further examination of findings suggested that different personnel, such as school mental health professionals and teachers, achieved similar outcomes across the studies. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

• During COVID-19, care leavers in Wales looked to their corporate parents for support. • Social care workers sought to provide continued support despite lockdown restrictions. • Some young people felt supported, but others felt neglected and forgotten. • Corporate parenting responses had the potential to mitigate or compound adversities during COVID-19. • Evidence from this study supports on-going efforts in Wales to strengthen corporate parenting. This paper considers the support available to care leavers during the Covid-19 pandemic from their corporate parents. The paper contributes to a developing evidence base concerned with social work efforts to adapt and maintain support provision during the unprecedented circumstances, and provides insight into how such support was perceived and experienced. Funded by Voices from Care Cymru and Cardiff University, a qualitative, mixed method study was conducted which included a survey of Welsh Local Authority professionals (n = 22) and interviews with Welsh care-experienced young people aged 17–24 (n = 17). The findings of this paper show the propensity of corporate parents to provide protection against the adversities of the pandemic, or to compound difficulties. While some young people reported being both practically and emotionally supported, for others corporate parenting support was perceived as unavailable, unhelpful and / or uncaring. The Covid-19 pandemic provides a unique lens to consider the strengths, flaws and future opportunities for corporate parenting. The findings emphasise the need for parity of support for young people leaving care and consideration of national, local and individual responses is included. Yet consistent with findings pre-dating the pandemic, the findings reaffirm the enduring importance of both relationships and resources in ensuring good support for care leavers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Immigration-related family separation is a crisis in the US. • There are many forms of immigration-related family separation. • Immigration-related family separation leads to poorer education outcomes for children. • Length of time of separation leads to poorer outcomes for immigrant children. • Family separation affects children from all countries and regions of origin. Forced separation of immigrant children from their parents in 2018 spurred calls for immigration reform. Research shows that immigrant children experience separation from parents during the immigration process for many reasons and that they experience a wide range of negative outcomes. This paper builds on the scholarship exploring the relationship between family separation and education outcomes of US immigrant children. Using the sample of immigrant children (n = 94,731) in the 2010–2018 American Community Survey, this study analyzes the association between separation and the likelihood of a peer education gap using descriptive statistics and multivariate logistic regression analysis. This paper supports prior scholarship and finds that immigrant children who experience separation are over 35% more likely to experience a peer education gap. It adds to the literature by exploring patterns of immigrant children from all countries of origin and examining the effects of length of separation on education outcomes. While children from all places of origin experience separation, the percentage of such children is much smaller when children come from wealthier countries and regions and, more importantly, the length of separation is much longer for immigrant children from poorer countries. This study finds that the length of separation correlates with poorer education outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The Just Beginning parenting intervention combined instructional videos and father-child play sessions with the aim of improving the quality of father-child interactions. • Using video-recordings of 152 father-child play sessions, we find a pattern of improvement across Just Beginning sessions on one indicator of positive father-child interaction quality, but we did not find statistically significant changes on several other indicators. • For non-resident fathers, the intervention was associated with growth in three indicators of parenting behaviors that are associated with healthy child development. The Just Beginning intervention aims to improve the quality of interactions between fathers with low income and their young children. This intervention was implemented at a fatherhood program site in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Fathers participated in up to five sessions of the Just Beginning program, which included unstructured play sessions with their young child. In this paper, we use growth curve models to estimate patterns of change across the five sessions in the quality of the father-child interactions, drawing on 152 video observations from 53 father-child dyads. We find that fathers' positive regard toward their children increased across JB sessions, but do not find statistically significant changes in other indicators of fathers' positive parenting behaviors or in fathers' negative parenting behaviors. Estimating results for non-resident and resident fathers, we find that improvements in positive parenting behaviors appeared to be larger and more widespread for non-resident fathers than they were for fathers who lived with their focal children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Computer-mediated family service provision holds the promise of equal efficacy, lower cost, and higher accessibility than traditional parent education groups that require parents to travel to a service venue, thereby alleviating often-cited pragmatic barriers to participation in parenting programs. Hence, examinations of which populations are attracted to particular service modalities are a necessary step in building a reliable evidence base. The scant computer-mediated parent education literature indicates that online parenting programs are beneficial to indicated or secondary prevention programs seeking to bolster specific parent, child, or dyadic outcomes; it is reasonable to ask, then, if this service provision mechanism would be equally effective for all parents, outside of targeted intervention designs. The current paper describes the provision of computer-mediated parenting services to a large sample of parents (N = 192, 89.6% female, average age 40 years; 27% racial/ethnic minority) with no shared prevention indicator through an employer-based program. Our research questions on service provision and utilization include: Who is served by primary prevention programs like this? Do participants report satisfaction with computer-mediated services commensurate with traditional face-to face services? In addition to significant differences in perceived social support by gender, marital status, and number of children younger than 18 living in the home, results from three measures of parenting attitudes and behaviors (e.g., discipline style, sense of competence, and locus of control), indicate that this sample has some confidence in their general abilities as parents, but struggle to feel an internal sense of control over their children's behavior, with the greatest number of parents tending towards overreactive discipline. Associations between these indicate a consistent pattern such that dysfunctional parenting practices tend to co-occur, and parents who do employ dysfunctional strategies feel less competent as parents. Participants report high satisfaction with these services, at equal or better rates than reported in the parent education literature. This work provides evidence that computer-mediated parenting services can attract and exceed expectations of participants with clinical and subclinical but moderate parenting needs, indicating that this service delivery mode has the potential to reach a wide number of individuals ideally situated for prevention services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• There is marked overrepresentation of First Nations children in child welfare. • These children are three times as likely to be investigated as white children. • Still more likely to be placed when controlling for investigation concerns. • Recent policy changes have not brought change to this overrepresentation. First Nations children are overrepresented in the Canadian child welfare system as a result of generations of colonial practices that have systematically separated First Nations children from their families. In recent years in Ontario and Canada, changes to policies and practice guidelines have been aimed at ameliorating outcomes for First Nations children and families involved with the child welfare system. Given the significant changes made to policy and practice between the 2013 and 2018 cycles of the Ontario Incidence Study of Reported Child Abuse and Neglect (OIS), this paper examines if the disparities in child welfare service dispositions persisted for First Nations children between study cycles. Secondary analyses of the OIS-2013 and OIS-2018 were conducted. Descriptive information on investigations involving First Nations children in Ontario in 2018 is presented along with two logistic regressions predicting placement in 2013 and 2018. When controlling for child, caregiver, household, and investigation characteristics, investigations involving First Nations children were approximately two times as likely to result in an out-of-home placement compared to investigations involving white children in both 2013 and 2018. Despite significant policy and practice changes that were implemented in the intervening five years between study cycles, the disparity in placement rates documented in Ontario in 2013 remained in 2018. Systemic re-structuring of Ontario child welfare is required to address this overrepresentation, and the existing forensic investigation model needs to be replaced with a more supportive, community-based, and prevention-focused model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Children with histories of child abuse and neglect, particularly children residing in foster or adoptive homes, are commonly considered by many professionals to need “attachment therapy” in order to address emotional and behavioral needs. However, evidence-based treatments rarely utilize an attachment-based justification outside of the infancy through preschooler age range. In actuality, many evidence-based treatments can be understood through the lens of attachment theory. This paper reviews the tenets of an attachment-based approach to treatment and describes how one evidence-based treatment, Parent–Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT), conforms to all expectations and requirements prescribed by attachment theory and research. Next, pilot data from an open trial of PCIT with a sample of adopted children and their adoptive caregivers ( n = 85) are provided. Results demonstrate significant improvements in positive parenting techniques, reductions in parenting stress, and reductions in externalizing and internalizing concerns among the children. These results are discussed in the context of improving the quality of care for children often described as in need of “attachment therapy.” [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Infant mortality rate (IMR) and under five mortality rate (U5MR) are vital indicators of the health of a population. • For U5MR, mother 's age, birth order, and birth interval are significant factors, as discussed before. Parental education is an important factor for U5MR. • This paper focused more on the gender differential in child survival by selected sociodemographic and economic factors. Future research can take care of this limitation and take a holistic approach to child survival analysis. • Infant mortality rate (IMR) and under five mortality rate (U5MR) are vital indicators of the health of a population. • For U5MR, mother 's age, birth order, and birth interval are significant factors, as discussed before. Parental education is an important factor for U5MR. • This paper focused more on the gender differential in child survival by selected sociodemographic and economic factors. Future research can take care of this limitation and take a holistic approach to child survival analysis. Infant mortality rate (IMR) and under five mortality rate (U5MR) are vital indicators of the health of a population. Included in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), they are, together with health and nutrition status, considered significant indicators of child well-being. In India, during the period 1990 to 2015, female IMR declined from 81 to 39 deaths per 1000 live births, while male IMR declined from 78 to 35. Further decline was reported by SRS 2018 (Female IMR 33, Male IMR 32). However, the female-male gap in IMR continues to persist. The aim of the present study is to assess the gender disparities in and the risk of infant and under five mortality in India. The study used data from the fourth round of the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-4, 2015–16). The study revealed that the risk of under-five mortality was higher among males. The pattern of sex differences in infant mortality appears to be the same across India, while that of under-five mortality shows slight differences among males and females. The findings of this study suggest that though socioeconomic characteristics appear to significantly influence infant mortality, sex differences in infant mortality are not influenced by these factors. These findings will enable policymakers and public health practitioners to develop cost-effective interventions targeting the sub-populations of children at risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Parental belief is associated with Child social-emotional development. • Parental investments mediate parental belief and child development. • The mediation effects vary across investments and developmental outcomes. • The varieties of play materials and activities are the strongest mediators. Parental investments are associated with early child outcomes, and some evidences outside China suggest that parental belief might affect parental investments. However, the interrelationships of parental belief, parental investments, and early child development has not been well documented in China. This paper aims to study the interrelationships between the caregiver's parental belief, the caregiver's parental investments, and the child's early developmental outcomes in rural China. A total of 1787 sample households in an undeveloped rural area of western China are enrolled in the cross-sectional study. A parental belief questionnaire, the Family Care Indicators (FCI), the Bayley Scales of Infant Development version III (BSID-III), and a socioeconomic questionnaire were used to measure the caregiver's parental belief on parenting practices, the caregiver's parental investments, the child's early developmental outcomes, and the socioeconomic characteristics of sample households, respectively. The mediation model was then applied to estimate the interrelationships. The results find that the caregiver's parental investments significantly mediate in the relationships between the caregiver's parental belief and the child's early developmental outcomes. Through parental investments, one standard deviation (SD) increase in the caregiver's parental belief is corresponding to 3% of one SD increase in the child's four developmental outcomes (cognition, language, motor, and social–emotion) respectively. For future studies aimed at designing targeted interventions on early child development in rural China, the key findings of this paper might be informative. Early interventions aimed at strengthening the caregiver's subjective belief on parenting practices and increasing the parental investments in the household might be effective to improve the development of rural children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Risk perception of COVID-19 negatively correlated to willingness to help. • Interpersonal alienation partially mediated the link between risk perception of COVID-19 and willingness to help. • Expressive suppression moderated the associations between interpersonal alienation and willingness to help. Previous studies have revealed that situational risk factors have a significant influence on the willingness to help. Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, maybe risk perception of COVID-19 is also correlated to the willingness to help. This study examined the mediating effect of interpersonal alienation and the moderating effect of cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression in the relationship between risk perception of COVID-19 and willingness to help. Data from a large sample of Chinese college students (N = 2, 163) completed the measures of risk perception of COVID-19, willingness to help, interpersonal alienation, emotion regulation strategies including cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression. The results indicated that the risk perception of COVID-19 negatively correlated to willingness to help. Interpersonal alienation partially mediated the link between risk perception of COVID-19 and willingness to help. College students' expressive suppression moderated the associations between interpersonal alienation and willingness to help. And who adopted more expressive suppression, the connection between interpersonal alienation and willingness to help was weaker compared to students who reported less expressive suppression. But cognitive reappraisal did not moderate the relationship between risk perception of COVID-19 and interpersonal alienation. Implications of the present paper for theory and practice are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Differences in income explain some racial inequities in child welfare contact. • Differences in hardship do not explain racial inequities in child welfare contact. • Material hardship predicts child welfare contact across racialized groups. Child protective services (CPS) contact is consistently linked with poverty in the US, and empirical evidence is mounting to indicate that disparate exposure to income poverty explains a substantial portion of racial inequities in CPS involvement. Evidence about the different distributions of income poverty and material hardship also suggests that income poverty may not sufficiently capture economic wellbeing among families. This paper assessed whether differences in exposure to income poverty and/or material hardship explain racial inequities in CPS contact and further examined whether income poverty and material hardship predict CPS contact differently within racialized groups. We used data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (FFCWS), an urban cohort representative of births in large US cities in 1998–2000. The FFCWS data are ideal for this study in capturing each of the key constructs: racialized group membership, income, material hardship, and CPS contact. We measured income poverty and material hardship when children were age 1 and measured any CPS contact by age five. Our final sample included 3,517 families, including 1,848 Black, 614 white, and 1,055 Latinx families. We employed logistic regression to assess the associations between income poverty and material hardship, independently and jointly, and CPS contact. We conducted analyses in our full analytic sample and among subsamples of the Black, white, and Latinx families. We found that differences in income-to-poverty ratio account for differences in CPS contact between Black and white families. Differences in CPS contact between Black and Latinx families were not explained by economic wellbeing measures alone but were ameliorated when differences in income poverty, material hardship, and a full set of family characteristics were considered. Additionally, we found that material hardship was a consistent predictor of CPS contact in the full sample and within each of the Black, white, and Latinx subsamples, even accounting for differences in income and other family characteristics. The clear role of income poverty in explaining inequities in CPS contact between Black and white families and the consistent importance of material hardship in predicting CPS contact across all families underscore the critical importance of reducing income poverty and hardship and of distinguishing material need from maltreatment in the context of CPS. Our findings offer clear implications for policy intervention to reduce income poverty and material hardship. Such interventions might include extending the temporarily expanded Child Tax Credit and expanded food and housing assistance benefits, toward the ends of supporting child and family wellbeing and reducing economic and racial inequities in CPS contact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• UI benefits are positively associated with child support payments and compliance. • Wage withholding from UI may be an effective child support enforcement tool. • Referrals to UI programs may be beneficial for unemployed noncustodial parents. This paper investigates the relationship between receipt of unemployment insurance (UI) benefits and formal child support payments and compliance among low-income parents experiencing employment difficulties. In theory, receipt of UI benefits may help noncustodial parents experiencing employment difficulties continue to meet their child support obligations. Under federal law, child support agencies can collect child support from unemployment insurance benefits received by noncustodial parents on IV-D cases. In practice, take-up of UI is quite low, particularly among low-income workers. In order to learn more about the relationship between unemployment insurance and child support payments, this paper uses survey and administrative data from a federally funded eight-state intervention for noncustodial parents. Findings from individual-level fixed effect models indicate that UI receipt is associated with increases in child support payments and compliance. These findings suggest that UI can be an important source of economic support for children living apart from the parent receiving benefits. These findings also highlight the potential for service connections between child support and UI agencies to support noncustodial parents in meeting their child support obligations and the continued importance of expanding economically disadvantaged workers' access to the UI program. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Reports on child maltreatment identify actions, responses, and causes of abuse. • Language used to report child maltreatment differs in urban and rural counties. • Language usage is different across different racial/ethnic backgrounds of children. • Text mining is a viable method for identifying thematic topics in child welfare. Child welfare involvement begins with unscripted or semi-scripted narratives reported to intake specialists by professional and nonprofessional reporters. These narratives determine how to respond to reports of child abuse and neglect. Child welfare reporting varies drastically based on geographic region and is known to have a disproportionate impact on children of color. This paper explores how textual analysis can be used to study language differences between urban and rural jurisdictions, report source, and how language use differs according to the child's race. Reports on child abuse and neglect from State Fiscal Year 2019 in a Midwestern state's public child protection services agency were used. Analysis was conducted on 145,423 reports using sentiment analysis. Every word was assigned a sentiment score. Report scores were calculated using the average sentiment of all words within the report. Each report's overall score was used to evaluate whether sentimental language differed across geographic location, report source, and child race/ethnicity. Textual analysis shows that language differs between urban and rural reports (p = 0.033) and the language used by report sources to report on children of different races/ethnicities is significantly different across groups (p = 0.00). However, these variables only explained 4% of the variation in sentiment value with an effect size of D = 0.01. Textual analysis offers child welfare jurisdictions a way to explore variation within reports across different geographic areas, report sources and children's race/ethnicity. For sentiment analysis to be more applicable to child welfare, a child welfare specific dictionary should be developed to ensure each word is considered within the context of child abuse and neglect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Insomnia mediated the association between psychological strain and psychological distress. • Relieving psychological strain among graduating students could reduce the risks of sleep disturbance, psychological distress and suicidality. By exploring the roles and mechanisms that insomnia and psychological distress play in the relationship between the psychological strain and suicidality, this study aims to determine whether psychological stain increased the risk of suicide in Chinese graduating students. In this cross-sectional study, about 601 final year undergraduates were recruited from two faculties (science and arts) in a comprehensive university, and asked to complete a paper–pencil survey using the 7-item Insomnia Severity Index (ISI), the Suicidal Behaviors Questionnaire-Revised (SBQ-R), the Psychological Strain Scales (PSS), and the Kessler-10(K-10). It was found that psychological distress as felt through aspiration strain and coping strain was the main risk factor for suicidality in graduating students, with female final year undergraduates reporting greater psychological distress than male final year undergraduates. Insomnia mediated the association between psychological strain (aspiration strain and coping strain) and psychological distress, but psychological distress only partly mediated the association between psychological strain (aspiration strain and coping strain) and suicidality. This study revealed that relieving psychological strain and especially aspiration and coping strain in graduating students could reduce the risks of student sleep disturbance, psychological distress, and suicide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Whilst child protection systems are concerned with removal of children from their families in the interests of safety, the capacity of child welfare systems to return children safely to their families of origin is of central importance. The multidimensional standardised assessment tool, the North Carolina Family Assessment Scale—Reunification (NCFAS-R) was used by practitioners to assess family strengths and needs in case planning and reunification decision making. The current paper examined (1) whether NCFAS-R domain ratings at intake and closure differ by characteristics of parents and children; and (2) whether reunification is predicted by NCFAS-R score at closure. The study sample consists of 145 children aged 0–12years from 84 families, who presented at Barnardos temporary care services in two metropolitan areas in Australia. This excludes children who had missing values on NCFAS-R or reunification outcome. Participants continuously entered the study over the four year study period, the study window being 18months since intake. Ordinary least squared (OLS) regression was used to examine whether NCFAS-R scores at intake and closure were predicted by demographic variables, primary reason in care, and placement circumstance. To examine the relationship between NCFAS-R scores at closure and reunification outcome, a logistic regression model was used. At intake, the average score was highest for the Child Well-Being domain and lowest for the Parental Capabilities domain. NCFAS-R scores were increased at closure on all domains, with the biggest improvement on the domains of Family Safety and Child Well-Being. At intake, NCFAS-R scores did not differ significantly by independent variables examined except for the Child Well-Being domain. Children who were placed with their siblings displayed 0.45 points higher scores on the Child Well-Being domain. At closure, NCFAS-R scores differed significantly by some family variables and a placement variable. In general, mothers being 25years or younger, mothers having Year 11 or a higher level of education, or children being placed with their siblings were significantly associated with higher scores on various NCFAS-R domains at closure. Overall NCFAS-R scores at closure significantly predicted reunification with parents or kin. One unit increase in overall NCFAS-R score at closure increased the odds of reunification by a factor of 8.39. Findings contribute to an evolving evidence base on decision making and facilitating reunification outcomes for children and families. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]