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ABSTRACT The absence of a sociological discourse about children in the past meant that child and family social work has largely relied on psychological interpretations of children and their behaviour. However, since the 1990s, the sociology of childhood has been developed in the UK. The aim of this paper is to explore the relevance of the sociology of childhood in understanding looked-after childhoods and in informing contemporary social work practice with looked-after children and young people. The central argument of this paper is that, in order to fulfil professional responsibilities and to implement current and forthcoming UK social policies for looked-after children, social work needs to employ broad understandings of children, young people and looked-after childhoods. The paper goes on to discuss the ways in which a social work approach drawing on the sociology of childhood can offer such a conceptualization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper was concerned with the changing nature of adoptive kinship. The analysis was located in the context of current sociological and anthropological theory and parallels were drawn with other alternative family forms i.e. gay and lesbian families, and families formed by new reproductive technologies. Adoption as a family form has largely been neglected in sociological and anthropological literature, yet the changing nature of adoption, particularly in relation to open adoption and gay and lesbian adoption, means that it has an important contribution to make to new discourses of kinship. Adoption is far more likely to feature in psychological and child welfare literature than that on the family and kinship, yet it is a unique addition to the heterogeneous family landscape with a profound impact on cultural definitions of family and kinship. By considering contemporary adoption practice through a social construction and kinship theory lens, the paper argues that new kinship studies are helpful in conceptualizing adoptive kinship. Adoption also has a valuable and significant contribution to make to contemporary kinship theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In response to a study of Canadian child welfare workers that unexpectedly found participants scoring high on a measure of emotional exhaustion (burnout) and, at the same time, high on overall job satisfaction, this paper reviews research that has investigated these constructs in the social work literature as well as in selected studies from sociology, social psychology, management and women’s studies. The review reveals that some previous studies also report the coexistence of high levels of emotional exhaustion and strong job satisfaction in child welfare and social worker samples. Several studies have suggested that individual characteristics, including finding reward in helping others, having a commitment to the mandate of child welfare and believing that one’s labour is ‘making a difference’, contribute to satisfaction with child welfare work in spite of work overload and emotional exhaustion. Attributions regarding causes of exhaustion, coping strategies and goal orientation may also attenuate the expected negative effects of emotional exhaustion. Considerable evidence supports the positive influence of variables organizational managers can control, including job autonomy, supportive supervisors, workload, promotional opportunities and perception of personal safety. The degree to which this phenomenon is associated with female socialization and the ‘ethic of care’ underlying social work is discussed. Implications for child welfare research, practice and policy are offered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Past research on care leavers has, understandably, tended to focus on those who are in their mid- to late-teens or early 20s. This reflects the profound impact of central and local government policy on those young people. It also reflects their prominence in contemporary analyses of most of the indicators of social exclusion among young people in the UK – unemployment, homelessness and lack of educational qualifications among them. However, some issues affecting adults who grew up in care apply across the life course. One such issue is the access that former care adults have to their child care files. Indeed, as we shall see, this issue has particular importance for many older adults (in their 30s and upwards). Policy and practice in this field has changed significantly during the past 20 years and there is a growing awareness of the needs of former care adults in this area. Access to such files can be a significant element in the process of seeking to address identity concerns centring around family and childhood experiences. This paper explores some of these identity concerns and analyses how access to care files both reflects such concerns and attempts to address them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews the international research on young people leaving care. Set in the context of a social exclusion framework, it explores young people’s accelerated and compressed transitions to adulthood, and discusses the development and classification of leaving care services in responding to their needs. It then considers the evidence from outcome studies and argues that adopting a resilience framework suggests that young people leaving care may fall into three groups: young people ‘moving on’, ‘survivors’ and ‘victims’. In concluding, it argues that these three pathways are associated with the quality of care young people receive, their transitions from care and the support they receive after care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite long‐standing knowledge about child welfare clients' educational disadvantage, we know less about the individuals' progress through the educational system. Based on Norwegian data, this study examined educational transitions following compulsory school and the first 3 years of upper secondary school, which correspond approximately to the transition following middle school/junior high school to the first years of high school in the USA. It is argued that in examining educational success in the child welfare population it is necessary to analyse whether child welfare clients follow the academic or vocational track. In addition, the degree to which educational transitions are related to gender, school performance and parental education was examined. Child welfare clients' educational transitions were compared with those of a comparison sample from the general population. The analyses show that after completing compulsory school, child welfare clients most often begin in the vocational track and that they often drop out of school. This tendency is largely related to low school performance and low parental education. In addition, child welfare clients' successful transitions are somewhat lower in the vocational than in the academic track and decrease during upper secondary school. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of children's agency can be used to understand how children actively shape their lives. While in social work there is a growing body of research on how children experience meetings that involve collaborating professionals, little is known about the ways in which they exert an influence. The purpose of the study is, in a Swedish context, to investigate children's perceptions of their agentic capacity in regulating participation and exerting an influence on outcomes in interprofessional collaborative meetings. Interviews were carried out with 28 children in receipt of social services support. Findings revealed that children perceive professionals' talk as restricting opportunities for input. They also perceive that they have the capacity to exercise agency by (i) conforming to expectations by feigning boredom and seeming disengaged, but at the same time paying close attention; (ii) by using exit strategies; and (iii) by developing ‘in‐situ’ strategies to end meetings. Rather than, as previously suggested, being powerless in such circumstances, the children tell how they carefully assess situations, and, from a position of apparent subordination, talk of ways of acting that reveal their agentic capacity. These insights are of importance for practitioners who are encouraged to look beyond behaviours that first meet the eye. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a list of books related to sociology. Some of the books listed are "Myths, Risks and Sexuality," by K. Buckley and P. Head; "When I'm Away From Home," by J. Camis; "Lost Children: A Guide for Separating Parents," by P. Cross; An Introduction to Family Therapy: Systematic Theory and Practice," by R. Dallos and R. Draper; "Narrative Approaches to Working With Adult Male Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse," by K. Etherington; "Family Poverty and Social Exclusion"; "Children and Families in the Voluntary Sector: An Overview of Child Placement and Adoption Work by Voluntary Adoption Agencies in England 1994-1998," by G. Ivaldi; Child Welfare Policy and Practice: Issues and Lessons emerging From Current Research," edited by D. Iwaniec and M. Hill; "Parents' Education as Autism Therapists: Applied Behaviour Analysis in Context," by M. Keenan, K. Kerr and K. Dillenburger; "Guarding Children's Interests: The Contribution of Guardians ad Litem in Court Proceedings," by McCausland; "Having Someone Who Cares? Barriers to Change in the Public Care of Children," by J. Morris.