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This paper reports on data that is part of a wider evaluation of a small‐scale project that offers support to parents, children and families affected by alcohol and substance use. Using semi‐structured interviews and a focus group, the data in this paper explore mother's sense making of their substance use and their experiences of various professional interventions which have helped or hindered their personal journeys of recovery. Mothers' narratives suggested a self‐critical inner dialogue conceptualized as shame. Fear of stigma and a sense of shame derived from historical abuse and had a profound effect on how mothers perceived themselves and how they negotiated a web of professionals involved in their lives. Community projects with a focus on understanding mothers and their needs, and not the risk they posed to their children, were considered most supportive. Interventions working within a non‐judgemental and empathetic framework that fostered the importance of relationships and connection had a greater impact on mothers' long‐term recovery goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The independent review of children's social care (2022) has proposed a radical reset of England's children's services, shifting a remote, assessment heavy system towards one that works alongside communities to help prevent statutory interventions. However, notions around the harnessing of community resources to deliver Early Help are often underpinned by assumptions regarding the voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) sector and the ease with which such organizations can be integrated into preventative strategies. This paper reports findings from embedded research within a unitary authority in Southwest England during remodelling of its Early Help service to work more collaboratively with local VCSE organizations. The study generated data from ethnographic observations, semi‐structured interviews and focus groups with 95 participants, including local parents, service providers, VCSE organizations and Council leaders. The findings illustrate that families value the compassionate, responsive and flexible support available within many VCSE settings. However, differences in practice cultures, regulatory pressures on statutory providers, the need to (re)build trust in communities and sensitivities around power‐sharing and resourcing meant negotiating VCSE sector integration was fraught with complexities. Few studies have gained such privileged access to a Local Authority's remodelling of Early Help services, and this paper has significant insights for the debates surrounding the independent review of children's social care (2022) and its recommendation to bring services 'closer to communities'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to analyse approaches to issues of risk, responsibility and representations of violence in women social workers' conversations with alleged or confirmed violent fathers. The study adds to a growing body of research on agencies' handling of intimate partner violence (IPV) in the context of separation. Empirically, the study draws from 12 structured, audio recorded and transcribed interviews with support‐seeking and divorced fathers, from five municipalities in Sweden, conducted as part of a cooperation project in which a risk‐detection method (Family Law Detection Of Overall Risk Screen [FL‐DOORS]) was also tested. The results suggest a tension between different professional tasks. To validate information on IPV, detect risk and enhance a child perspective competes with other professional projects, most obviously with promoting cooperation between parents. The study confirms previous research, which demonstrates unique challenges facing women social workers and counsellors when working with men as perpetrators. In conclusion, the paper concurs with the call for a focus on responsibility and on safe parenting in professional conversations with allegedly or confirmed abusive fathers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Australia, there are more than 46 000 children in out‐of‐home care (OOHC). Most of these children have been in OOHC for more than 2 years. Similarly, there are more than 407 000 children in the United States and over 80 800 in England who are 'looked after' with approximately one third of these children being in OOHC for more than 2 years. This paper concerns 'looked after' children's rights to contact with their birth parents. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) requires child protection systems to recognize the rights of children to maintain contact with their families except where this is not in the child's 'best interests'. In this paper, we report on a qualitative study conducted in Australia exploring legal and family support practitioners' perceptions of barriers to contact between children in OOHC and their birth parents. The thematic analysis identified four themes: These were as follows: a focus on systems driven responses; lack of cultural recognition and responsiveness; carers' disconnection from birth parents; and parents' exclusion. We discuss the implications of these findings for understanding and recognizing children's right to contact with birth parents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Children's participation in decision‐making remains a key focus of social work practice. Yet the protection and participation of children in our society remains a setting of tension for children, families and practitioners. Drawing on evidence from a retrospective qualitative study on Family Group Conferencing, this paper uses the lens of recognition theory to highlight the experiences of young people more broadly in the social work system. The study found social workers' attitudes affected children and young people's capacity to be 'partners' in decision‐making. Feelings of misrecognition can create barriers for how children and young people perceive and interact with social work professionals. While small, this study sheds light on the experiences of young people's struggles for recognition when involved in the social work system. Further research is needed on this topic to fully understand the implications of (mis)recognition in social work practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given that the number of children and young people needing care keeps rising and fewer people are becoming foster carers, efforts to support carers and workers in foster caring are essential. This paper considers the experiences of carers and foster care agency workers involved in Australia's piloting of the Mockingbird Family. With a view understanding experience, data were collected via focus groups with carers and agency workers (n = 20) involved in piloting, implementation and evaluation. Deductive analysis applied the theory of experience to generate understanding of experience, as both intrinsic and extrinsic dimensions to capture strengths in the Mockingbird Family's foster caring networks. These dimensions of experience included collective passions of carers and workers; experiential change over time; collective experiences as a moving force; and experiences as transformational. Understanding of experience associated with the perceived strengths of the Mockingbird Family, including strategies to promote strong professional relationships between carers and workers, is an important element in strengthening environments of children and young people in care. Safe and stable environments are crucial for wellbeing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports an Australian project designed to simultaneously explore and capacity build professional practice when working at the intersection of parental mental health and/or problematic substance use and domestic violence (DV). Data from this paper are derived from two main sources: observations and ethnographic notes obtained during 28 Community of Practice (CoP) meetings and semi‐structured interviews with 28 CoP participants. Participants were front‐line workers from a range of government and non‐government organizations providing services to families experiencing DV across three Australian states who participated in The STACY Project: Safe and Together Addressing ComplexitY. Thematic analysis was employed to examine the research questions: How do professionals and organizations understand and respond to families experiencing DV, parental mental health difficulties and problematic substance use issues? How did practitioners report participation in the STACY Project reorienting professional practice with families experiencing DV, parental mental health difficulties, and substance misuse issues? This paper reports workers' exploration of practice implications. The research found that 'domestic violence blind' practice has become entrenched at the intersections of child protection, substance misuse and mental health problems, but a shared framework could bring practitioners from diverse sectors together to generate new ways of working with these complex problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents parents' experiences of community support and their recommendations for how their communities, and the services within them, might support their families. Generated through a human‐centred design methodology and using a desire‐centred framework, the findings suggest that parents receiving a family service require support invoking feelings of intimacy, trust, reciprocity, inclusivity, connection and belonging. Parents' recommendations for community support include addressing material and attitudinal constraints impacting on engagement with services; creating non‐judgmental services tailored to their needs but accessed as a last resort; and creating peer‐based opportunities to support each other. Parents reflect that moving beyond basic survival of risk and vulnerability to a position where thriving is possible requires purposeful integration of parent's existing and desired community into service interventions. Facilitating deliberate change at the intersection of community and service support is pertinent to current and future social work policy and practice. Wider opportunities for understanding and enabling the needs and aspirations of parents, which are often overlooked because of a focus on addressing risk and vulnerability, are considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The gathering of 'wishes and feelings' in UK child protection proceedings (s.53 Children Act 2004) should highlight the child's opinion of social work intervention and services provided. However, with no statutory social work guidance on participation currently in place, children frequently miss opportunities to be involved in their own child protection planning. This paper is drawn from a 3‐year study into participation in child protection social work. It includes findings from qualitative interviews, and one focus group, with social workers, parents, children and participation workers, from three local authorities in the United Kingdom. The findings revealed some examples of significant gaps in service provision, particularly from the perspective and understanding of the child. The skewed translation of wishes and feelings legislation, along with its subsequent (and often inadequate) application to practice, prevents children from understanding and responding to social work intervention and can lead to idiosyncratic practice. This paper provides recommendations for a practical response to practitioner dilemmas regarding wishes and feelings and bridges the gap between research and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Children living in out‐of‐home care are at greater risk of poor educational outcomes compared to other children. To address their educational needs, several programs have been developed. Within a qualitative paradigm, this study explored the experiences of students about their involvement in TEACHaR (Transforming Educational Achievement for Children at Risk), a specialized education programme. Eight students (aged 13 to 18 years) from the programme participated in individual, semi‐structured interviews. Responses were analysed using Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis. Participants indicated that the programme provided individualized and flexible academic support, reduced their shame and embarrassment and provided them with more than academic support. They highlighted the importance of the student–educator relationship, and the need for encouragement and motivation to pursue their educational goals. Finally, findings report on how COVID‐19 impacts on student experiences of the programme. Recommendations for the development and improvement of education programs for students in out‐of‐home care conclude this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Only limited attention has been drawn to children's narrative practice of negotiating cultural ideas about who they are and what they can do. This paper focuses on children living in families where adults have psychosocial problems and analyses how they negotiate different family‐related and/or societal master narratives about their identity and agency. Twenty‐two children, 6–17 years old, have been interviewed about themselves and their lives. The findings suggest three master narratives as central in children's telling: the story of the child as problem bearer, the story of the child as inheritor of psychosocial problems and the story of the child as an unknowledgeable object. The analysis shows that children negotiate these master narratives by positioning and repositioning themselves and others in, and through, their telling. The core contribution of the study is the notion that children's problem descriptions contain important information about both material and discursive aspects of the problematic situation. Through listening to children's stories, social work practitioners and researchers can deepen their understanding of how the individual child relates to, and negotiates, wider cultural ideas about identity and agency. This knowledge is relevant in the pursuit of matching support with the child's needs and perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of standardized screening tools to identify trauma exposure and associated symptoms is commonly recommended as a key component in the development of trauma informed services and is seen as integral to facilitating access to evidence‐based therapies. However, there is limited evidence in the UK about the factors influencing the adoption of such tools into routine practice in children's social care. This paper presents the findings from a process evaluation of how practitioners implemented a screening tool for post‐traumatic stress disorder, anxiety and depression into their day‐to‐say practice and what worked or did not work during the process. The findings from this study highlight the potential benefits for both young people and practitioners, alongside some of the challenges involved. In particular, practitioners need to see the direct benefit for young people of being assessed. Additionally, practitioners value regular mentoring as they become more proficient in using standardized screening tools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the findings from a qualitative study that sought to understand the experiences of frontline staff working in Oxfordshire County Council (OCC) Children's Social Care Services and their views on a new family safeguarding model (Family Solutions Plus). Focus group interviews were conducted with 20 frontline staff and managers in different teams across OCC Children's Social Care Services using video conferencing software. Thematic analysis identified three overarching themes: Preparation for the implementation of Family Solutions Plus, staff views on the implemented model, and challenges to its implementation. Staff voiced strong support for the new model, which places a much greater emphasis than previous practice on supporting the whole family, developing parenting skills and keeping children safe with their families. The challenges associated with the transition to a new model were considerable in the short term, partly due to the COVID‐19 pandemic, but there was optimism that the new model could be sustained and stabilized over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sibling relationships are potentially central in children's and young people's lives. Research has shown that the quality of sibling relationships changes in a variety of ways when a sibling(s) moves into care. There is limited understanding of the mechanisms that cause these changes. This study addresses this gap by reanalysing a dataset of 25 semistructured interviews with young people (16 to 23 years) drawn from a municipality in Southern Norway. The original study explored the changes in sibling relationships when the young person moved into care. This reanalysis of the data set explores specifically, using a template analysis, the mechanisms that children describe when exploring why these changes occur. Findings show the intricacies of the young person's social identification with the biological and/or foster family and how sharing a common identity may be key to the development of the sibling relationship when the young person(s) is taken into care. Our findings also show how key adults, such as foster parents and social workers, influence the relationship. The paper concludes with recommendations for social workers on how they may strengthen sibling relationships in families where children have been taken into care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Growing numbers of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning (LGBTQ) people are becoming foster parents in several western countries. The LGBTQ perspective on the child welfare system has received little attention in practice, research and policy. Despite their increased rights, LGBTQ foster parents continue to face challenges related to fostering. Knowledge is needed on LGBTQ individual perceptions of the process of becoming foster parents, including barriers and facilitating factors. This paper reports on the experiences of 13 gay or lesbian foster parents in Norway. The study shows a lack of knowledge about the possibility of becoming foster parents due to lack of information directed at them as a minority group. Participants felt vulnerable and experienced "minority stress" before encountering the child welfare system, while mainly experienced the encounter with the staff as good and respectful. Although several valued being treated "like everyone else" by the system, others questioned why LGBTQ‐specific parenting issues were not raised and discussed. Apart from lack of information, the process towards foster parenting seemed mostly hampered by participants' own assumptions that sexual identity would be a barrier and to some extent biological parents' refusal. The study suggests that foster care and child welfare services would benefit from information in recruitment of foster parents, aiming at being more inclusive. Furthermore, we address gender and sexuality diversity related to foster care work and highlight the strengths and challenges it may offer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Family Group Conference (FGC) is grounded in a rights‐based framework, whereby children and their families have the right and responsibility to be primary decision‐makers when child protection issues arise, and the statutory agency has the responsibility to convene the entitled members of the family network to lead the decision‐making. A distinct core component of FGC—private family time (PFT)—allows families to discuss the information and formulate their responses and plans privately during conferencing. This paper describes how a large child welfare agency in the United States adapted PFT in two ways: (1) including a parent advocate (PA) and (2) abbreviating the amount of time allowed for this discussion. Given the lack of empirical research on the PFT component, this qualitative exploratory study sought to understand the functions and perceived impacts of PA‐supported PFT during initial child protective services (CPS) conferences at which decisions of child removal or placement were being contemplated. PFT served multiple beneficial functions and impacted families in several positive ways: families gained greater awareness of safety concerns, felt empowered and confident in the preferred safety and service plan, became increasingly engaged and involved in the case decision‐making process and ultimately felt less apprehensive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Child sexual exploitation (CSE) has been found to have a detrimental and long‐lasting impact upon a victim's physical and emotional well‐being. A large body of research has raised concerns about how practitioners identify and respond to CSE. In particular, research has indicated that male victims of CSE are commonly being overlooked by practitioners. It has been suggested that this may occur as a result of gender stereotypes. However, this has not been specifically explored by existing research. Therefore, this research project explored how gender stereotypes may influence how practitioners identify and respond to children and young people who are victims (or at risk) of CSE. Semi‐structured interviews were conducted with eight practitioners from one Youth Offending Service in the South West of England. Three key themes emerged from the interviews. These themes highlight that as a result of gender stereotypes, practitioners may be less likely and/or slower to identify males as victims and may be less likely to provide males with supportive multi‐agency responses. This paper makes recommendations about how this issue can be addressed to ensure that all victims of CSE are adequately safeguarded. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Siblings are key actors in the social network of young people in care. This paper explores young people's perceptions of changes in the quality of sibling relationships and the pathways relationships follow during the transition from the biological family into care. A thematic analysis of interviews with young Norwegian people (n = 25) in care showed that, in the biological family, sibling relationships are characterized by alliances, parentification, conflicts or nonexistence. After admission to child welfare services care, sibling relationships developed along multiple pathways. Their sibling relationships reshaped into either close and supportive, conflictual or completely broken relationships. Sibling relationships were dynamic, complex, with the pathway, and its impact on well‐being, being unique to each young person. Sibling relationship quality in the biological home did not predict relationship quality after admission to child welfare services. The implications for social worker practice are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The role of family environments, where conflict--ranging from disagreements between young people and their parent(s) or carers to home-based circumstances where violence and/or abuse is present--is well documented in research that has examined the causes and correlates of youth homelessness. However, far less attention has focused on how young people themselves frame and understand the significance of family ruptures. This paper examines the family 'turning point' experiences embedded in the life stories of homeless youth. The study, which was biographical and longitudinal, aimed to generate an in-depth understanding of the nature of homelessness, how it emerged and its impacts on the lives of young people. Conducted in Ireland, 40 youth aged 16-24 years were recruited at baseline, with all interviews commencing with an invitation to young people to tell their 'life story'. Analysis of participants' life story narratives revealed three major family turning point experiences associated with parental absence and separation, bereavement and acute interruptions to family life. These turning points, the effects of which had a temporal character, reveal the rippling impact of family ruptures on the lives of young people who embarked on a path of leaving home and becoming homeless. The implications of the findings for enhancing engagement with the families of young people who experience homelessness are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Poor education and employment outcomes have long been associated with care experienced young people transitioning into independence, even after adjusting for prior disadvantage. In the United Kingdom, such young people are generally referred to as care leavers. Policies that aim to reduce the gap between care leavers and noncare experienced young people's success transitioning to employment and independence have had limited success. This paper draws on a qualitative methodology that utilized theories of resilience, to glean a range of perspectives from both care leavers and their employers. All the participants were engaged in a U.K. local authority's initiative to support care leavers into employment. Drawing on resilience theory, resilience was found to be located in a complex interaction between a resilience enabling environment and, crucially, emotionally supportive networks. Uniquely, we argue that emotional support, drawn from such networks, is the key factor that facilitates young people navigating towards such resources, leading to successful outcomes. Previous studies have underplayed this aspect in favour of more tangible resources. Attention to strengthening emotional support networks is thus identified as a significant factor that supports transition to employment and successful independence for care leavers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Children and young people living in residential care are vulnerable to sexual abuse, and there is scant evidence about what sexuality education could help address this vulnerability. This paper explores the impact of the Power to Kids: Respecting Sexual Safety programme, which involved capacity-building workers to have 'brave conversations' with children and young people in residential care. The aim of the study was to capture the perceptions of workers about changes in their skill and confidence levels in relation to having brave conversations with children and young people and the impact of those conversations on children and young people. A mixed-methods study was undertaken, involving multiple sets of interviews with 27 workers associated with four residential houses. The qualitative and quantitative data analysis showed that workers perceived the impact of the capacity building and brave conversations as strengthening protective factors available to children and young people vulnerable to sexual abuse. The research revealed the 'LINC model' as a viable approach to capacity-building workers to educate children and young people in residential care about sexual health and safety. Workers perceived the enhancement of the following protective factors: stronger safe relationships, greater comfort disclosing abuse and improved knowledge of normal versus harmful sexual behaviour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Limited research has directly sought the input of parents involved in the child protection system during pregnancy and with their infants. As the focus of these policies and practices, parents have a unique and important insight not available to others, so it is vital to obtain their input. As part of a larger Australian study, qualitative interviews were undertaken with 13 parents asking about their views and experiences. Parents predominantly became involved with child protection services during pregnancy through a prenatal report. Parents who previously had their newborn removed from their care described it as sudden and unexpected, leaving them distressed and unsupported post‐removal, with a growing list of requirements for them to see their baby or for restoration to be considered. Domestic violence was a particular issue of concern for some mothers who expressed distress that their partners, perpetrators of violence, were allowed access to their infant with fewer requirements than for them. Improvements recommended by the parents included greater communication and preparation for the removal, better recognition of improvements in their situations and increased supports to be provided to parents both pre‐ and post‐removal. Parental experiences provide an important guide to improving child protection practice with these families. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID‐19 pandemic created multiple stressors for college students, particularly for young adults experiencing multiple forms of disadvantage. Little is known about the pandemic experiences of independent college students, many of whom are emancipated minors, former wards of the state, and other students who lack familial financial and practical support as they pursue higher education. Twenty‐three independent students, ages 18–23, from one northeastern university were interviewed to understand how independent students were affected by the COVID‐19 pandemic, and their needs for support from the university during this time. Most participants were identified as Black or Latinx, and two thirds were first‐generation college students. Participants reported an overall lack of support from their families prior to the pandemic. During the pandemic, they experienced compounding academic, economic, and mental health‐related stressors. Students responded to these stressors in resilient and resourceful ways, by adapting to their new realities, expressing gratitude, and finding opportunities for self‐growth. Participants recommend that institutions of higher education support independent students during periods of emergency through providing financial assistance, offering opportunities for connection with both adults and peers, and demonstrating administrative flexibility and understanding of their unique needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In domestic violence (DV) shelters, offering psychosocial support services to mothers and children is vital. The program 'Time for Tony the Turtle' has been developed for mothers and children residing in DV shelters in the Netherlands. It aims to foster attachment and regulation skills, which can also prepare for trauma treatment if sought after later on. This qualitative study explores the experiences of mothers, children and professionals with the program and its perceived impact and what components function as facilitators and barriers in the implementation of such a program in DV crisis shelters in the Netherlands. We conducted in‐depth interviews with 15 mothers, 11 children and 18 professionals from three organizations offering DV shelters. We used thematic analysis to identify patterns of meaning in the interviews. Mothers, children and professionals valued that the program provided a calm moment for reflection in hectic times and that the playfulness in which the program addressed trauma‐related topics. However, mothers find it difficult to attend the program in the beginning of their shelter stay, therefore hampering the applicability of the program. Our findings suggest that integrating the topic of discussing father in a program in crisis shelters is complex and deserves more attention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article employs concepts from family sociology to explore how 'family' is conceptualised in 14 life narratives of young people in foster care in Spain. The article draws on a multi‐method approach with young people who are in long‐term non‐kinship foster care. Seven girls and seven boys aged 10 to 22 took part in the study. The empirical material reveals an interplay between biological preference and foster family affective practices in young people's narratives, illuminating a struggle to make sense of the concept of family in foster care. Most of the participants understand family as shared affective practices sustained through love, commitment, consistent care and reciprocity rather than blood ties. Some show a preference for biological connectivity, while others describe family as determined by rituals and family displays. The key practice implications highlight the importance helping young people positioning themselves in birth family relationships, and supporting their sense of family belonging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Disabled young people leaving care often experience a more complex transition to adulthood than other youths. Still, policy and services can fail to recognize the intersection between a young person's care experiences and disability. Drawing on data from a qualitative interview study with 14 social workers who work with aftercare in the Norwegian child welfare services, we investigate social workers' professional judgements about support for this subgroup of the leaving care population. Our analysis uses the theoretical construct of institutional logics and shows that social workers did not include concepts of disability in their judgements about support for these young people. Instead, the social workers' considerations were guided by three other organizing principles: a 'medical logic', an 'activation logic' and an 'aftercare logic'. We discuss these findings in light of critical disability studies and argue for a more nuanced understanding of disability in social work practice with care leavers. Highlighting disability rights and going beyond diagnosis and categorisations of disabled people can challenge a medical model approach to service provision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to explore the lived experiences of grandparents raising their grandchildren with foetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD). Specifically, we sought to identify how caregivers make meaning of their experience, what challenges are faced by grandparents while raising a second generation and what positive experiences are encountered. Ten grandparents raising a child with FASD in Ontario, Canada, participated in semi‐structured interviews. Interpretative phenomenological analysis was used to analyse the interviews to determine reoccurring themes. Three main themes were identified: (i) challenges when raising a grandchild with FASD, including kinship adoption struggles and intergenerational issues; (ii) worries about the future, including financial planning and health concerns; and (iii) rewards, such as shifts in priorities and the opportunity to raise a second generation. Grandparents raising their grandchildren with FASD face challenges and thus require specific supports so that they may adequately provide a safe and nurturing home environment for children with often challenging learning and social needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The arrival of unaccompanied minors from Africa in Spanish territory has been a constant since the last decade of the twentieth century. This migratory phenomenon has forced the child welfare system to attend to thousands of migrant children. The transition to adult life is a decisive stage in overcoming the situation of social exclusion. This research aims to analyse which socio‐educational intervention strategies are effective during the process of transition to independent living with unaccompanied minors of African origin. We designed a qualitative research according to the grounded theory, which we divided into two phases. Twenty‐nine young people (26 men and 3 women) participated. In phase 1, we performed two focus groups (N = 11), and in phase 2, we conducted longitudinal follow‐ups (N = 18) for 24 months through 180 interviews. The results indicate the effectiveness of designing socio‐educational accompaniment, prioritizing spaces of trust from which to attain the goals of emancipation. Young people consider effective those strategies that favour their knowledge of the social, labour and legal reality of the host society, designed considering each minor's individualized situation. We concluded that professional involvement acts as a buffer, reducing the bureaucratic obstacles implemented by the Spanish government. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although children's social care is an area rich in guidance, there is very little research looking at the implementation of new policies in the United Kingdom. In this article, we report on the first stage of a realist evaluation of the implementation of the new Safeguarding Children from Child Sexual Exploitation guidance in Wales. We discuss the development of an initial programme theory, for which we conducted semi‐structured interviews with practitioners and managers in three local authorities. We developed programme theories across three areas: policy nature and development, implementation plans and organizational context. Findings suggest that, for policies to produce a significant impact on practice, they need to be sufficiently different to social workers' current perceptions of practice. Second, we found that the coordination between national and local policies is critical for successful implementation as contradictions between them might lead to confusion in what local teams should prioritize. Finally, our findings highlight the importance of effective communication of policy changes, as well as a supportive organizational culture to strengthen implementation in local contexts. These findings illustrate the complexity of policy implementation and the need for policymakers to consider the meaningful involvement of local practitioners in national policy development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to contribute to the literature exploring the parents' perspective on what parenting in poverty means in their everyday life and how they are able to cope with the challenges that arise from a condition of economic deprivation. Forty parents living in different Italian regions had been interviewed. Data gathering and data analysis were conducted as a simultaneous and iterative process, oriented by the constructivist grounded theory. Our findings provide a clear picture of the parents' constant struggle to protect their children from an environment in which structural conditions and dominant narratives lead to normalize and personalize disadvantages. Parents described enabling and disabling processes that interplay at a material, relational and symbolic level, influencing their movement along a continuum that depicts different experiences in different moments of their lives, as the output of processes where vulnerabilities and strengths are combined. The parents' knowledge helps to explain the wider social processes and the day‐to‐day social interactions that influence the flow along this continuum. The final purpose is to allow their voices to be heard and to learn from their perspective, as it is essential in designing policies and services that are supposed to help them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Children's participation is essential to achieve good outcomes for children involved in child protection systems. Despite this, research has consistently found children report low levels of participation, are poorly consulted and feel inadequately involved in decisions about their lives. To explore how practitioners understand children's participation, 18 in‐depth interviews were conducted with statutory child protection practitioners in Australia. The interviews explored the ways child protection practitioners understand children's participation. Our findings show practitioners conceptualize children as rights holders and believe it is essential to hear directly from children about their needs and wishes to keep them safe. Practitioners identified the importance of transparent processes and decisions. Different understanding of participation emerged, with some participants talking about children as their central focus but not discussing meaningful participation of the child. It appeared that children's participation relied largely on the views and skills of individual workers, as well as their ability to incorporate meaningful participation in limited time and in complex practice environments where children's safety is a primary concern. Systemic changes to address time barriers, training practitioners to understand and implement participatory practice, and seeking children's input into service design, will support consistent and meaningful participation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Secure care in Sweden is the most intrusive child welfare intervention, and children and their family members have restricted contact. For each child in secure care, there are at least twice as many affected family members and parents who must manage the consequences of this institutionalization. Clearly, it is just as important to understand how secure care affects parents as it is to understand how secure care affects children. To address this issue, we conducted in‐depth interviews with 11 parents to eight children who had been placed in secure care during their childhood, focusing on the institutional and societal structures that affected these parents and their parenting. With a narrative approach, stories alluding to a metaphor of war are identified. These stories reveal how all parents (but especially single mothers) are affected by their diverse socio‐economic positions and the rigid frames of family life presumed by child welfare interventions. In these narratives, parenting emerges as a social practice rather than a skill. Above all, the stories demonstrate a great deal of vulnerability and sensitivity of parenting. The findings raise critical questions about the meaning and overarching consequences of institutional interventions in a family life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This qualitative case study aimed to explore environmental circumstances and interactional processes that appeared to be relevant for the dynamics of resilience in adolescents exposed to child abuse. Fieldwork at a learning and coping centre for children and their families was combined with semi‐structured interviews with adolescent participants aged 12 to 18 years. A critical realist approach was used to unpack what has been called the 'ordinary magic' of resilience. We found that intensively validating qualities of both the environment and relationships seemed to be driving components for resilience. Borrowing ideas from the sociometer theory, we propose that particularly the consistent intensiveness may offer a recalibration of the adolescents' immediate life‐worlds, in terms of how they perceive the people they meet and the environments they step into. In keeping with the transactional‐ecological model of resilience, we suggest that such a recalibration leads to altered social agency that becomes visible through their immediate social participation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Children placed in residential care are significantly over‐represented in youth justice systems. Drawing on interviews and focus groups with service providers, this exploratory study examines practice factors that impact on the criminalization of this group of children across multiple services and systems, including in the residential care environment, police, lawyers, courts and youth justice systems, as well as multi‐systems practice with this group in one Australian state. Positive outcomes were observed for children in residential care where well‐functioning care teams existed, as well as for children in therapeutic residential care settings. However, clear limitations were identified across all phases of children's youth justice system involvement, including placement with offending peers, the criminalization of behaviours of concern, greater use of remand and detention, limited support to navigate legal and youth justice processes, challenges to service collaboration, and limited applicability of sentencing considerations. The findings indicate a pervasive level of systemic disadvantage for this group of children, and imply that a holistic strategy underpinned by affirmative action across several systems will be necessary to address the ongoing criminalization of children in residential care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Exploring the experiences of adolescent caregivers of mentally ill parents is essential to understand their challenges and identify their care needs. Using a qualitative research design, 18 caregiving adolescents shared their experiences of living with and providing care to a parent with a severe mental illness. The analysis of the interviews resulted in the emergence of three main categories: (1) emotional exhaustion with associated subthemes of 'ongoing worries', 'fear of loneliness', 'feeling of shame and guilt' and 'fear of discrimination and stigma'; (2) being trapped in a difficult situation with subthemes of 'living a compromised life', 'alienating from peers' and 'caregiver rather than care receiver; and (3) adapting to the situation with subthemes of developing new skills and growing accountability. The study findings suggest that adolescent caregivers of parents with severe mental illness experience significant challenges and psychological distress associated with their caregiving role. They need to be supported by health care providers to develop strategies to adjust to their situation and maintain health and well‐being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The pressures of 'accelerated adulthood' are a critical challenge for young people ageing out of the care system. Despite the trauma related to their placement history, young people 'aging out' are expected to adapt to adulthood at younger age and faster pace than their non‐care peers, who enjoy an 'extended adolescence' a far more gradual progression into adulthood than previous generations. This article draws on first‐person narratives of care leavers in Ireland who have aged out of care and transitioned into independent living in a dedicated social housing programme to examine their strategies for coping with these competing pressures. It examines their worries about the sudden withdrawal of supports after they reach 18 years, which they characterized as a 'care cliff'. The emotional and practical challenges they faced when transitioning to independent living at a comparatively young age are explored, and strategies for mitigating these are identified. These include better preparing care leavers for this transition, maintaining supports for longer and withdrawing them in a more gradual way, which is tailored to meet the specific needs of each care leaver and grounded in more comprehensive after care planning than has been the norm in Ireland. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over 16 million people in the United States belong to a mixed‐status family in which at least one member of their household is undocumented. The current study will explore adult reflections on childhood experiences of parental deportation in order to elucidate their meaning of the loss and if their experiences resemble an ambiguous loss. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis was utilized to analyse in‐depth retrospective meaning‐making narratives of adult children who lost a parent to deportation. Findings indicate that the children of detained or deported parents experienced difficulty not knowing what was happening, believed their parents would return, and noted family practices that they found to be helpful or unhelpful in processing their loss. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The term 'sibling sexual dynamics' (SSD) describes (in this study) a continuum of childhood sexual behaviours that are inconsistent with age‐appropriate curiosity and can include abuse (SSA). The present qualitative study, based on 20 semi‐structured interviews, conducts an analysis via constructivist grounded theory on the perspectives of adults who, as children in the Orthodox Jewish community, experienced sexual interactions with one or more of their siblings. Ultimately, the goal is to deepen the understanding of the religio‐cultural aspects of SSD in this cultural context. The findings reveal three main themes: (1) taboos, both those relating to intrafamilial sexual encounters and the religious taboo around sexuality in general; (2) family hierarchic dynamics, including gender‐based hierarchies; and (3) religious prohibition, a concept that the participants perceive as influencing their modes of thought and logic. The study highlights the need for practitioners to attend to the double ambiguity arising from the sibling and religious contexts. Additionally, we suggest that distinguishing between religious and interpretative socio‐cultural factors may provide practitioners with a path to create a dialogue with clients, individuals and religious leaders within the community around issues that may constitute risk for sibling sexual acts and abuse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Quality Parenting Initiative (QPI) is a systems reform approach aimed at strengthening the quality parenting practices of foster parents, and their support by child welfare workers. QPI has been implemented in over 80 jurisdictions across 10 states; however, no external evaluation has informed its development. This study explored perceptions of QPI's impact on the foster parent experience, with a particular focus on foster parent involvement in implementation efforts and strengthening stakeholder relationships. Semi‐structured qualitative interviews were conducted with non‐relative foster parents (N = 31). Data were analysed through thematic analysis, and a codebook was developed to adequately capture patterns in perspectives across the interviews. Study findings indicate that QPI improved the relationships between foster and birth parents through specialized training and peer‐support groups that challenged biases, articulated the roles and expectations of caregivers, and cultivated a team‐based approach to meet the best interests of children in care. Foster care agencies may benefit from incorporating strategies that promote frequent, positive interactions across stakeholders. Strengthening these relationships may be the first step in reimagining the roles of foster parents in family reunification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Refugees children and families cope with the complexities and opportunities of living in a new country. Based on in‐depth interviews with Eritrean parents in Israel and the social workers who serve them, this article explores the relationship between exclusionary state policies, the negative social construction of refugees and parenthood experiences. It presents two main types of unparenting, which can be defined as the interrelation between structural power and the intimate parent–child relationship: direct unparenting, reflecting the physical and psychological impact on parenting of family deportations and welfare interventions in at‐risk situations and more veiled unparenting, reflecting the accrual of a lack of legal status and rights and its impact – and that of racism – on the lack of parental resources such as time, income, education, emotional availability and, ultimately, the ability to 'be parents'. Such precariousness further impairs parents' mental recovery, which in turn negatively impacts children's well‐being. Still, parents' resilience is demonstrated by their ability to manage work, family and community life. We conclude by noting a dearth in the research on the impact of socio‐political and legal contexts of the familial sphere, as well as the need to politicize social work practice with refugee children and families. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vague programme descriptions are known to impede implementation and evaluation. Yet social work change programmes often fail to describe in detail how they aim to provide better outcomes for children and families. This study focused on the Systemic Practice Model (SPM), which is a Finnish adaptation of Reclaiming Social Work, a practice model developed in England. The SPM aims to deliver systemic practice in children's social care and has recently been widely disseminated across Finland. However, research has found both considerable variation in its delivery and a lack of clarity about what it is. This study, applying realist evaluation, aimed to formulate a programme theory based on the perceptions of key informants (n = 12) involved in the national development and dissemination of the SPM during the period 2017–2019. The analysis yielded three core components (a systemic team, systemic weekly meetings, and systemic practice) and two context‐mechanism‐outcome (CMO) configurations, which represent causal chains of the SPM. The findings should enable its quality implementation and meaningful outcome and process evaluation. The findings will also aid organizations and practitioners both to identify changes required in their service provision and prevent adverse effects. This programme theory should be tested and refined with empirical data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adoption is the preferred form of permanence for young children in care in England who are unable to live with their birth family or relatives. However, there have been growing concerns about the use of adoption, particularly in cases where birth parents have not given their consent. Despite concerns, there has been little research into birth parents' views of consent in adoption. This article reports on the experiences of 12 birth mothers and 2 birth fathers whose children were adopted from care in England. Birth parents' views on consent changed throughout the adoption process. They reported that care proceedings could be traumatic, and they did not always understand what was happening. There was a disparity in the quality of legal advice and social work support that birth parents received. The findings raise questions for practice around the level of support birth parents receive during and after care proceedings and highlight the importance of good quality support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For effective childcare, identifying challenges and exploring the solutions to those challenges is critical. This study explores the different challenges of childcare in child care institutions and its solutions from caregivers' perspectives. The researcher uses a basic interpretive design approach and selects 39 respondents by purposive sampling, and uses semi‐structured interviews. The findings indicate need for separate institutions for different categories of children and trained and professional caregivers, balancing gender engagement, the necessity for establishing separate institutional care for differently able children, need for effective implementation of foster care and sponsorship and need to work with families for effective children's restoration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Children are at heightened risk of maltreatment during community wide crises. The Parenting Skill Development and Education (PSDE) Service is a 6‐week telehealth intervention designed and implemented during the COVID‐19 pandemic to support families with young children in Australia at risk of child maltreatment. This study aimed to conduct a formative review of the PSDE service to (a) describe families accessing the PSDE during the pandemic, (b) determine parent and referrers' satisfaction of the service and (c) explore clinicians' experiences of service delivery. A mixed‐method study design incorporating the analysis of routinely collected data, and qualitative interviews with clinicians was conducted. Participants were 11 families displaying child maltreatment risk and 11 clinicians. Parents accessing the service were experiencing considerable risk factors for child maltreatment. The service was deemed acceptable by parents and referrers; however, several challenges in telehealth delivery were documented including parent engagement, technology difficulties and assessing child safety. Our findings highlighted the importance of ensuring adequate support and monitoring of families where there is child maltreatment risk during the COVID‐19 pandemic. In addition, these findings highlight the acceptability of telehealth services to support families at risk of child maltreatment for families, clinicians, and referrers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The transition period from care to independent living is a vulnerable time for care leavers who may experience increased mental health problems. This study explored risk and protective factors contributing to and predicting their psychological distress as emerging adults. The study is based on an extensive set of longitudinal administrative records combined with structured phone interviews among a representative sample of 2295 alumni of educational residential care in Israel (24–31 years old). Results indicated the importance of social support from peers and staff while in and after care in predicting lower psychological distress among the young adults. Participating in skills acquisition activities while in care and integration in post‐secondary education also predicted lower psychological distress. In contrast, post‐care material deprivation and lower life satisfaction in the area of finance and work were associated with greater psychological distress. Both the subjective experiences and the objective conditions thus contribute to care leavers' mental health. Our results indicate the importance for policy and practice of approaching mental health issues in a holistic manner. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Child‐welfare practices transformed drastically in 2020 after governments instituted quarantining and social‐distancing measures. Child visitation, mental health evaluations and treatment, and court hearings either ceased or only accessible via information communication technologies (ICTs). Peer‐reviewed published scholarship about technology use in child welfare is limited to voluntary, supplemental contexts and insufficient to understand the nuanced effects of this transition on vulnerable populations. We used a critical case study ethnography to name this phenomenon, 'pandemic practice', and describe how case‐management challenges were compounded and/or masked by pandemic practice. Mandatory ICT use in case management contributed to injustices for some families in the child‐welfare system, including children spending extended time in foster care, families receiving superficial treatment services and irreparable harm to timely case progression. We used technology adoption theory and technological capital framework to identify and understand the complexities of pandemic practice beyond a simple digital divide perspective. We present a hierarchy of technological capital necessary to participate in pandemic practice, suggestions to create sufficient capital and implications for policy and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the widespread utilization of residential care in the Philippines, little is known about the lives and circumstances of children living within these contexts. In response, this article presents an analysis of children and young people's experiences of living in residential care, specifically focusing on their social networks, relationships and the relationship‐based practices of their caregivers. Drawing on 50 qualitative interviews with children and young people currently or previously living in residential care, as well as a range of social workers and programme staff, this study identifies the highly relational lives of children and young people who cite extensive and close relationships with residential care staff, peers and family. Analysis reveals that children conceptualize 'family' as embodied in their residential care programme, drawing attention to the collective support and security offered, while also detailing the role of their spirituality as an important support. Relationship‐based practices are utilized by caregivers who offer long‐term, emotionally close and stable relationships with children to support their well‐being. These findings highlight the centrality of relationship‐based interventions and the maintenance of children's relational lives as a core practice, offering insights into the development of practice in these settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Youth in foster care overwhelmingly display heightened risks for both internalizing and externalizing behaviours. Few studies document how and under what conditions foster parents effectively respond to child behaviours. The overarching purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between foster parents' parental monitoring, youth behaviours and foster parent–youth relationship. This study utilized secondary data from National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well‐being (NSCAW II) to examine the experiences of 298 youth and their caregivers. Results indicated that parental monitoring was positively associated with lower rates of internalizing and externalizing behaviours. Interestingly, higher parental monitoring was also associated with a more positive relationship between the child and caregiver, as perceived by the youth. Demographic characteristics of youth or foster parents were not significantly associated with parental monitoring. The youth–foster parent relationship mediated associations between parental monitoring and both (a) self‐reported internalizing and externalizing behaviours and (b) caregiver reports of adolescents' externalizing but not internalizing behaviours. These findings suggest that the youth–foster parent relationship is a key mechanism to focus on and underscores the need for specialized foster parent training that emphasizes a relational approach to dealing with behavioural concerns. Future research should continue to explore these associations longitudinally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Much literature about kinship care has focused on the issues facing grandparent carers. An Australian research project explored the experience and support needs of young kinship carers and children in their care through analysis of census data and in‐depth interviews with young kinship carers and children/young people. This article describes the views of 16 young people. These young people expressed satisfaction with their home life and spoke of improvement over time in their wellbeing, mental health, and schooling. While they appreciated their carers' attunement to the world of young people, they articulated many challenges for themselves and their carers, including the burden on their carers, the challenge of adjusting to their carers' parental role, and financial pressures. They wanted greater access to counselling and casework services in order to deal with the impacts of family trauma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intimate partner violence (IPV) on average affects one in four women, with the majority of victim survivors identifying as mothers in national survey data. Children experiencing parental IPV are now equally understood as victims. Extensive research documents the short- and long-term impacts of children's experiences of IPV on their safety and wellbeing. More recently, research has started to examine adolescent children's use of violence in the home as adolescent family violence (AFV). Contributing to this emerging body of research, we draw on narrative interview data from mothers who participated in a larger study on IPV, helpseeking and the perceived impact on children to better understand how mothers make sense of children's use of violence in the home. Mothers identified an emergence of AFV in male children with childhood experiences of adult IPV. Although mothers' experiences of adult and adolescent violence highlight their dual victimisation, mothers frame their abusive children as victims rather than perpetrators. Implications for future research, policy and trauma-informed practice are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]