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ABSTRACT Drawing upon multiple case studies, this article examines how parenting double standards are reproduced in situations where women who have experienced domestic violence have been seen as ‘alienating’ mothers, while the men who have perpetrated the violence have been seem as ‘good’ or ‘good enough’ fathers. In total, 25 cases studies were conducted with women who had experienced domestic violence, had at least one child and had been perceived by at least one professional as ‘engaging in parental alienation’ at some point within the previous 5 years. Each case study involved at least one semi‐structured interview with the woman and the analysis of relevant documents, including family evaluation reports, child protection reports and court decisions. These double standards were identified when the mothers' and the fathers' behaviours and circumstances had been measured or evaluated using a different set of principles. The research findings reveal different main manifestations of parenting double standards, which relate to the parents' credibility and the parents' past and personal histories. Moreover, the fact that the parents talk to the children about the other parent is perceived differently when mothers and fathers are doing it. Professionals also reproduce double standards when they minimize and the justify the parents' ‘inappropriate’ behaviours and when they consider the parents' help‐seeking strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Like in most African countries, community leaders (including clan and family heads) in rural communities in Ghana undertake core child protection duties, including facilitating kinship placements, resolution of child maltreatment and trafficking issues, and spearheading community‐wide education programmes. The child protection activities carried out by community leaders are legitimized and sanctioned in the child welfare legislation of African countries, such as the Child and Family Welfare Policy in Ghana. As the role of the community leaders is being regularized and legitimized in most African countries, it has become necessary to understand how the child protection activities of these community leaders are supervised, regulated, and monitored by professional child protection workers. Through in‐depth narrative interviews with 12 community leaders in two rural communities in Ghana, this study explored community leaders' motivations for undertaking child protection practices, and how their child protection activities are supervised and monitored by professional child protection workers. The findings revealed child protection workers utilize training of trainers' programmes, and stakeholder policy engagements as supervision mechanisms to monitor the child protection duties of the community leaders. The study findings highlight key gaps in the monitoring and supervision duties performed by professional child protection workers, including (1) the lack of coordinated structure and framework for monitoring, and (2) the limited focus on outcome in monitoring. Implications for child protection practice have been discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The infants of women with histories of problematic alcohol and other drug use are among the most vulnerable children known to statutory child protection services, which they enter at a younger age, and in which they remain longer. The net results include overwhelmed child protection systems and the birth of subsequent children conceived to ease women's grief at the loss their infants. Without adequate and appropriate support to the mother and her family, the pattern repeats. Obstetric services have an important role to play in the assessment of risk and protective factors in the perinatal period and in determining pathways to service provision. A comprehensive assessment considers the availability and quality of informal support prior to activation of formal systems of support, both statutory, where engagement is mandated, and non‐statutory, where support is offered on a voluntary basis. This paper uses quantitative methods to explore the social networks of women with problematic substance use in the transition to motherhood and the relationship between formal and informal support systems and infant outcomes. Surveys were held with two counsellors from the Women's Alcohol and Drug Service (WADS), a specialist obstetric clinic in Melbourne, Australia, and with 18 child protection workers. In addition, the Norbeck Social Support Questionnaire (Norbeck, 1984; Norbeck et al., 1983) was administered with 20 participating mothers to measure levels of formal and informal support, as well as the type and quality of support available to mothers over a 12‐month period, and to consider the provision of social support against known outcomes for infants. The findings demonstrate that WADS counsellors made several referrals for most women but that there was little in the way of long‐term follow‐up by non‐statutory service providers, with most women experiencing a dramatic drop in support over the 12‐month period. Women whose main informal support was from a domestically violent partner, and those who had been in out‐of‐home care in their own childhood, were particularly vulnerable to losing the care of their infant. The role of child protection varied markedly across the 12‐month period, particularly in relation to the extent that a relationship between formal and informal systems of support for mothers and their infants could be established. Overall, the study findings demonstrate that mothers experienced diminishing formal and informal support over time and that the quality of social support available to the mother was more important in terms of outcomes for women and their infants than the quantity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT The Family Safeguarding Practice (FSP) framework represents a major shift in the approach to family safeguarding and services, with a much greater emphasis on empowering and supporting the family to be able to care for their child safely and independently. The aim of the study was to understand the impact of the new model to family's experience with children social services and what parts of the model were helpful or challenging. We recruited parents (n = 20) whose children are subject to statutory plans in Oxfordshire County Children Social Services. We used semi‐structured interviews to understand their experiences and views of services following the introduction of the new model (which was implemented in 2021). The data were analysed using thematic analysis. Parents reported positive experiences with social services when communication was clear and concise, and they felt involved and listened to, which motivated them to make changes and address long‐standing difficulties. Parents were especially positive about the involvement of adult‐facing practitioners (AFPs), in many cases, describing them as life transforming. The findings highlight the importance of working with the whole family and not just the child. Parents appreciated the key elements of the FSP programme: continuity of care, AFPs, open communication and better coordination of services. Parents' experiences however were very variable and suggest that some elements of the FSP model such as motivational interviewing and having one social worker throughout were not consistently implemented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Interventions to enhance positive parenting practices have become a cornerstone of many Western child welfare services. Parental mental health is a crucial factor that influences parenting practices and styles. However, research on the associations between mental health and parenting among parents involved with child welfare services is scarce. The aim of the study was to investigate the associations between self‐reported mental health and parenting practices and emotional style among parents in contact with child welfare services. A cross‐sectional survey was conducted in 2018–2019 (N = 256, 71.5% females). Linear regression analysis, adjusting for potential confounding factors, was conducted. The results indicated that higher levels of anxiety and depression symptoms were significantly associated with a higher degree of inconsistent parenting practices, a lower degree of involving parenting practices and higher levels of emotion coaching parenting style. Socioeconomic status slightly attenuated the associations. The results highlight the importance of considering parental mental health when assessing parenting practices and styles among parents in contact with child welfare services. It is also crucial for child welfare workers to be aware of how parental mental health can affect their parenting practices and to address these issues through their interventions in the family. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Child safeguarding services intervene when a child is at risk of serious emotional or physical harm. Oxfordshire County Council is implementing a new approach to child safeguarding (Family Solutions Plus [FSP]) with a greater focus on whole family support and reducing the need for foster care. We sampled two cohorts of children closed within 1 year and examined the time spent in services. The sample included 474 children entering services before the new model's implementation and 561 children after. A greater proportion of children receiving FSP required a single care plan before their case was closed (85.9%; 69.4%, p < 0.001) and only experienced the lowest level plan (74.5%; 61.8%, p < 0.001). On average, this group spent less time in services for the period being observed (MD = 17.58, 95% confidence interval = 6.19, 28.96). At this early stage, no significant reduction in the number of children requiring foster care was seen (5.5%; 3.9%, p = 0.23). These initial findings suggest a potential association of FSP with a reduced number and level of care plans as well as length of time. Local authorities in England may investigate further whether FSP is a potentially useful model in improving safeguarding services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social workers often fail to engage fathers in child protection investigations (CPIs), especially when they involve domestic abuse (DA) by fathers. The aim of this study is to examine the strategies used by social workers to achieve cooperation with fathers in CPIs that involve the father being suspected of DA against the child's mother. With the use of qualitative methods, we conducted 31 semi‐structured interviews with 15 social workers during their work on 12 CPI cases. Through thematic analysis, two main strategies for achieving cooperation were created: (1) Securing an Initial Bond, which involved reducing the tension in CPI proceedings and affirming the father; (2) Maintaining the Bond while addressing the father's abusive behaviour, which involved negotiating with fathers about the DA and helping them shift their perspective on how their behaviour has impacted the victims. This analysis is rooted in the framework of shame, guilt and social bonds. However, there is a risk that these strategies may lead to the DA being minimized or overlooked. Striking a balance between building a bond and addressing abuse is crucial, and the timing of addressing DA plays a central role. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Child protection and welfare systems are entrusted with significant power by governments and are therefore a significant focus of monitoring activities. Monitoring can help to build a better child protection system and to ensure child safety; track policy and legislative implementation and resource allocation; contribute to preventing systemic ‘failures’; provide data for system, policy, and legislative reforms; and support continuous improvement. The Irish system is worth examining for three reasons. First, Ireland has had a single state‐provided child protection and welfare service called the Child and Family Agency. Second, the system has been through a sustained period of development. Third, Ireland has one dedicated statutory authority called the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA). This article provides a case study of the strategies and mechanisms adopted by Ireland to monitor the operation, quality and development of its child protection and welfare system. We will show that there is significant direct and indirect monitoring and focus on child protection from regulators, civil society organisations, government agencies and committees and independent actors. Such monitoring has significantly influenced the development of policy, practice and the development of the child protection system in Ireland. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT It is now well established that young people who, for different reasons, grow up in care face particular challenges when they leave the care system. Many policies have been enacted to support them, but not enough is known about their subjective views on their situation and what their idea of well‐being is and their aspirations in its regard. The article presents the results of a survey which involved 454 Italian care leavers aged 16–25 years old. The study was constructed with them, with the aim of understanding their condition, their opinion about the child protection system (CPS) and their subjective perception of well‐being regarding different life dimensions. Findings are useful to highlight factors associated with subjective well‐being (SWB), such as economic precarity, age and gender. Children participation seems to make a difference in the largest number of life domains, including the relationship with the birth family. The research underscored the overall value of participation for care leavers: holding together the many aspects that support SWB can indeed facilitate the construction of contextualized knowledge, thus providing useful and solidly grounded instruments with which to implement policies and practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Supervision is integral to social work practice; however, how it operates in day‐to‐day practice remains poorly understood. Existing research mainly comprises quantitative and qualitative accounts of social workers' and supervisors' experiences of supervision. More recently, a small number of studies examining the content of supervision have added to our understanding of what happens in supervision. However, supervisory interactions outside formal supervision have received scant empirical attention. This paper draws on an ethnographic study of four social work teams in England, exploring how formal and informal case discussion supports social workers' sensemaking. Data comprised observations of case talk in the office space (n = 21) and group case discussions (n = 2), recordings of one‐to‐one supervision (n = 17) and semi‐structured interviews (n = 22). Findings highlighted the importance of space in how social workers perceived and engaged with supervision. Supervisory spaces involve the interaction of physical, thinking and emotional spaces to create spaces that are supportive, task‐focused and reflective. Moreover, these supervisory spaces are not confined to formal one‐to‐one supervision or to the dyadic supervisor–supervisee relationship. This raises questions for how child protection social workers can be best supported, across diverse supervisory spaces and relationships, to ensure their practice is effective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

National and state governments in settler colonial countries are increasingly committing to policies and practices aimed at strengthening Indigenous frameworks, programmes and leadership in child protection services. However, research‐based information on Indigenous child welfare services and programmes is sparse. This qualitative literature review explores and documents key features of Indigenous child welfare and protection models and/or frameworks in an international context, with a specific focus on Indigenous children, young people, families, and communities. Twenty‐four publications meeting the inclusion criteria were included in the analysis. Published frameworks, models, services, interventions and/or programmes within the broader area of child welfare and children protection that are Indigenous‐designed and/or led or developed in partnership or collaboration with Indigenous peoples were identified. The review highlights 11 key dimensions that underpin the frameworks, models, services, interventions and/or programmes. Findings of the review also reveal commonalities across Indigenous cultures and contexts that from an Indigenous perspective are considered fundamental to supporting Indigenous children, young people and families involved with child protective services. Additionally, the findings point to the critical need for ongoing advocacy for Indigenous‐designed and led services and programmes, including support for Indigenous research, evaluation and intellectual leadership. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reports on an exploration of social workers' perspectives on the social policy and agency processes that shape their experiences of working in child protection services. A qualitative constructivist grounded theory methodology was employed, and 17 qualified social workers and managers were recruited. Social workers described working within an oppressive system, balancing unrealistic demands placed on them, and struggling to restore balance and hope. They shared how this filtered into the work they do with families and the role that relationality and peer support has in surviving the work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2018, the child welfare system in Ontario, Canada, expanded the age of protection to include 16 and 17 year olds for the purpose of mitigating risk of harm for older adolescents. To date, there is little information regarding investigations of older adolescents, particularly in Ontario; this study will address this gap. Data used for this analysis were drawn from the Ontario Incidence Study of Reported Child Abuse and Neglect‐2018. The Ontario Incidence Study of Reported Child Abuse and Neglect‐2018 sample data were weighted to derive an annual incidence estimate of 155 649 maltreatment‐related investigations conducted in Ontario in 2018. Child, caregiver, household, and investigation characteristics were compared across three age groups: children (0–10), younger adolescents (11–15), and older adolescents (16–17). Characteristics and differences in the likelihood of a service response (referral to nonchild welfare services, transfer to ongoing child welfare services, or placement in out‐of‐home care during the investigation) were examined descriptively and using chi‐square automatic interaction detection. Half of investigations involving older adolescents received a service response, and they were more likely to receive a service response when there were concerns about future risk of harm, where there were concerns about the relationship between the adolescent and their caregivers, where internalizing or externalizing symptoms were noted, where caregivers had few social supports, and where the household experienced economic hardship. These findings suggest that older adolescents are being triaged for circumstances that reflect concerns about their vulnerability, including mental health needs, attachment concerns, and caregiver isolation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social workers routinely make judgements and decisions as part of their everyday practice. The nature and quality of these can have a significant and long‐lasting impact on the children and families concerned. In this paper, we present an analysis of more than 20 000 judgements (n = 21 193) made by social workers (n = 586) in relation to case vignettes, based on a series of anonymized referrals (n = 12) to social services in England. We do so to ascertain how accurately the social workers were able to predict subsequent actions, events and outcomes, and to calculate the ratio of true positives to false positives at various decision thresholds. We find that the social workers' predictions were more accurate than chance in relation to all but one of the referrals, albeit at the cost of a high rate of false positive errors. We consider these findings in relation to what appears to be a general lowering of the threshold for child protection interventions in England in recent years and in relation to who suffers the injustice of false positive errors in child and family social work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Over the last decades, child protection workers (CPWs) have largely focused on improving their work with a strength‐based approach in order to empower families. This study investigates to what extent CPWs draw on families' strengths, that is, by promoting autonomy and competencies and by involving their informal networks in goal formulation. This quantitative study analysed the goals, as stated in case files, formulated by CPWs for 177 families within a single Dutch child protection service. 48.6% of CPWs prioritise promoting families' autonomy in goal formulation. With regard to competencies, only 40.1% of the goals refer to the families' competencies. In addition, the support system that the goals call upon tends to be dominated by formal rather than informal networks (in 71.2% of cases). While it is true that child protection cases can benefit from the support of a formal networks, CPWs overwhelmingly failed to encourage support from existing informal networks (in 95.5% of cases). There were no relationships between these percentages and the nature of the family problems or the question of whether or to what extent the CPWs identified the specific strengths of families. These findings show that half of the CPWs had integrated a strength‐based approach in their daily practice to some extent, and therefore improvements are needed in order to more successfully encourage families to change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Although vulnerability is a somewhat nebulous concept, the term is widely used in child protection, and child protection workers often refer to vulnerability when describing the situations of families they work with. Because perceiving families as vulnerable or as living in vulnerable conditions may impact interventions, it is important to know what child protection workers mean when they talk about vulnerability. To this end, we explored community family workers' conceptions of the vulnerability of families involved with Quebec's child protection system for reasons of child neglect. Thematic analyses of semistructured interviews with nine community family workers revealed two main components to their conceptions of vulnerability: (1) a distinction between vulnerability, viewed as an intrinsic characteristic of all human beings, and (2) a heightened vulnerability caused by the cumulative effect of lacking resources in several domains. We discuss the impact of these conceptions of vulnerability on community family workers' perceptions of families and of the child protection system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Restoring children from out‐of‐home care (OOHC) to their families is the preferred outcome for all children removed by child protection services, yet little is known about how restoration processes are experienced by families and services supporting them. This paper provides important insights about Aboriginal child restoration from 40 practitioners and stakeholders at a community forum led by Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations in regional New South Wales (NSW), Australia. This is one component of larger Aboriginal‐led research, which investigates child protection experiences and pathways to successful restoration in NSW and the data source for this paper. The community forum explored the issues for families navigating family preservation, OOHC and restoration within child protection and legal systems. Findings include the need for a continuum of support for families throughout their engagement with child protection systems and crucially following the removal of their children. Barriers to effective restoration practice included a lack of access to meaningful and ongoing preservation services, insufficient cultural care planning and family finding efforts that are often too late, the pressure on services to support families without adequate capabilities or enough resourcing, the lack of transparency and the complexities in navigating the restoration process, and the lack of culturally informed support for children and their families while children are in care. Implications for policy and practice are discussed. This paper contributes to understanding practice, processes and barriers for restoration, particularly focused on the perspectives of Aboriginal families and communities, with potential insights for practice within Australia and internationally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Children in out‐of‐home care may experience multiple losses, from separation from birth parents and siblings to loss of friendships, culture, and sense of belonging and normality. The impacts of these significant losses on a child's development and wellbeing have typically been the subject of childhood trauma research. While understanding the impact is important, children's experiences of the losses and the ways adults can support them to grieve are less explored in research. Recently, out‐of‐home care researchers have begun to address this knowledge gap by applying the concept of ambiguous loss to capture and understand children's grief and loss. This article builds on this work and reports findings of a qualitative study that involved 30 out‐of‐home care practitioners. Constructivist Grounded Theory was applied to analyse the research data which resulted in the HEAR model that outlines the practice components that out‐of‐home care practitioners considered important in effectively responding to children's experience of ambiguous loss. These components are (1) Honouring ambiguous loss; (2) Establishing a care community; (3) Attuning to the lack of finality of ambiguous loss and (4) Reducing ambiguity. This article presents research findings that supported the development of the HEAR model, and discusses its implications for out‐of‐home care practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Independent experts are commonly used in child protection care proceedings to assess families and contribute to a sound basis for care order decisions. Yet the role and function of these experts varies across contexts, with issues raised concerning the quality and impact of their reports. Based on six focus group discussions (FGDs) with child welfare service (CWS) social workers in Norway, this study aims to advance the understanding of how independent experts are used when it comes to child protection. Reflexive thematic analysis was conducted, which revealed that the social workers mostly found the experts' contributions useful in that they provide a fresh pair of eyes and reduce the complexities in a case. However, the use of independent experts also had some negative aspects. The social workers experienced that their competence was undermined in court and had some experience working with experts whose work was of poor quality, which was unrecognized by quality control measures. This study raises timely questions about the role of the expert and suggests a clearer distinction between the function of providing expert knowledge to complement the social workers' assessments and the function of providing an independent assessment of the family on behalf of the courts. [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]

Theories on collective efficacy and social support suggest that indigenous values that support collective practices and sanction community obligations to childcare would be protective against child neglect. Likewise, new qualitative findings show that collective values are stronger in rural areas than in urban. This study tested the claims that the value of Ubuntu, which is a symbolic cultural value of 'being for others', will be protective against the likelihood of neglect; this relationship will be stronger in rural compared with urban communities in Ghana. Using data obtained from a nationally representative sample of 1100 mothers (from 22 communities) in Ghana, we tested the claims using fixed effects logistic regression. The Ubuntu norms were significantly endorsed in rural communities compared with the urban. The overall model showed that higher levels of Ubuntu are associated with lower odds of child neglect (OR.47, [.29,.76] p < 0.05), and the relationship remained significant only in the rural sample (OR.13, [.06,.31] p < 0.001). Similar evidence was recorded for the Ubuntu norms of community care and compassion. The results suggest that child protection in rural Ghana can be fruitful when interventions are developed to boost the value of Ubuntu and the norms of collective childcare. [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]

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]

Mothers who are at risk of losing custody of their children represent a vulnerable population whose voices are seldom heard. Exploring their perspectives of parenting, their child and the relationship with their child—their 'parenting representations'—can improve our understanding of their struggles and inform interventions. Research in this area so far has been predominantly quantitative, meaning valuable information about subjective experiences is often lost. The present study sought to address this gap by thematically analysing interviews with eight mothers with under‐3‐year‐olds on the edge of Local Authority care, completed at the beginning of a therapeutic intervention. Results are reported around five themes: 'Idealistic portrayal of the child and the relationship', 'Struggling as a parent', 'Shadows of the past', 'The child and motherhood as comfort' and 'Anxiety about loss and fighting for the child'. The parenting struggles of mothers in this population are complex and multi‐faceted, fuelled by unresolved relational trauma, fears of further pain, adversity and difficulties in accessing and trusting support. Successful interventions are likely to require comprehensive, long‐term approaches that holistically address mothers' unmet physical and emotional needs and begin with building relational trust. [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]

During the Covid‐19 pandemic, social workers played an essential role in helping people understand what was happening and cope with new unforeseen difficulties, even carrying out new tasks and activities. Social workers were asked to redefine their work methods to maintain aid relationships with families. This reorganization was complex and challenging for child protection services. The paper will discuss the results of a qualitative research project aimed to describe the Italian child protection social workers' functions during the Covid‐19 pandemic. Three online focus groups were conducted with child protection social workers. These focus groups helped researchers explore the new organization of social workers' work in child protection services, which was aimed at maintaining their role and performing the new tasks they need to carry out to support families and children. Three main areas of discussion emerged from the qualitative analysis: (1) postponed and maintained activities; (2) remote work advantages and challenges; and (3) new professional learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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

Comparative studies on child protection decision‐making highlight the implications and determinants of differences in child welfare systems internationally and reinforce discussions regarding child protection practices and family support when a child is exposed to inadequate parental care. To date, Italian child protection studies have highlighted a system characterised by a strong degree of variability related to the absence of practices shared nationally. Differently, this comparative study focuses more on similarities within the Italian context, seeking to understand how they influence practices. The opinions of 188 Italian social workers with respect to the substantiation of maltreatment, risk assessment and intervention recommendations were compared with the results of a recent study involving practitioners in Israel, Northern Ireland, Spain and the Netherlands. The main outcomes show that Italian social workers prefer a family support orientation, meaning that children are usually removed from their home only if necessary and generally with the aim of reunification with their families. The study also reveals that Italian professionals are more in favour of residential care than foster care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current study aimed to explore the factors that influence how social workers make decisions and develop their decision‐making skills in care proceedings, and to identify effective support and intervention to develop social worker decision‐making skills. The study employed a mixed thematic approach across two phases of study: an initial inductive thematic analysis of responses to an online qualitative questionnaire and then a mixed thematic analysis of follow‐up focus groups and interviews with social workers working in various social work roles within England and Northern Ireland. The findings identified a number of themes that help to understand the decision‐making skills of social workers; thorough assessment skills, relationship‐based anti‐oppressive practice, being mindful of the lived experience of the child and using critical reflection to make complex decisions. Wider structural factors that support or hinder decision‐making, particularly in respect of organizational support and management supervision were also identified. Social workers can be supported to develop decision‐making skills through additional training, reflective learning and management support to develop their practice wisdom within this field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous studies have found mixed results about the effects of family support services within the child protection system. The purpose of the study is to examine whether family support services are associated with the need for child removals at the community level. The material of the study consists of Finnish municipalities (N = 292) and their child protection indicators. Linear regression analysis was conducted to analyse the associations between the dependent variable (child removals) and the main predictors (child welfare notifications and family support services). It was found that family support services are associated with child removals. The more children there are in family support services, the more there are also child removals in a municipality. The key finding of the analysis is that a higher rather than lower proportion of clients in family support services buffers the increased effect of demand (child welfare notifications) on child removals better. In this sense, the demand for child removals is not only associated with the characteristics of children and families but may be partly explained by the role of family support services in a municipality. The present study underlines the significance of a system‐level approach to child protection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In child welfare policies, as in contemporary society in general, great attention has been given to parenting roles and investing in 'positive' parenting practices. Several studies have suggested that socio‐economic factors frame parenting practices. There is broad evidence of a significant correlation between socio‐economic inequalities and child welfare intervention rates. Nevertheless, few studies have investigated parenting practices in a child welfare population. The aim of the present study was to investigate the association between socio‐economic status (SES) and parenting practices in a Norwegian child welfare population. The study was based on a cross‐sectional survey conducted in 2018–2019. The sample consisted of 256 parents (71.5% females). Linear regression analysis, adjusting for potential confounding and intermediate factors, was conducted. Lower SES was associated with higher levels of positive parenting/involvement practices (b = 0.146, CI: 0.026–0.266, P = 0.018), indicating an inverse pattern compared with the general population. When adjusting for symptoms of anxiety and depression, the association was slightly attenuated but remained statistically significant. No significant association was found between SES and inconsistent discipline/other disciplinary practices. The present study offers insights that should be useful in practice and further large‐scale studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous research argues that emotional abuse (EA) is not as well understood as other forms of abuse and that it poses a challenge to professionals concerned with the well‐being of children. The aim of this scoping review is to explore how EA is defined and described in peer‐reviewed studies in the context of child welfare and social work. The electronic databases PsycINFO, Web of Science, Social services abstract, Scopus and Medline were searched to identify studies. Twenty‐six recently published studies that provided a sufficient definition or description of EA were included in the review. Findings were analysed using thematic synthesis. The results indicate a varying and somewhat inconsistent terminology when labelling EA and that definitions and descriptions of EA mainly are gathered from quantitative research. Moreover, the results reveal a lack of research from the perspective of children and youth in contact with CWS and from child welfare workers. Such research may expand current knowledge of the definitions and descriptions on EA by providing a more nuanced understanding of how children and youth experience EA, and elaborate on their susceptibility and resilience in relation to their experiences of EA. [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]

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]

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]

This article examines parents' involvement in care order decision-making in four countries at one particular point in the care order process, namely, when the child protection worker discusses with the parents his or her considerations regarding child removal. The countries represent different child welfare systems with Norway and Finland categorized as ‘family service systems’ and the USA as a ‘child protection system’, with England somewhere in between. The focus is on whether the forms and intensity of involvement are different in these four countries and whether the system orientation towards family services or child protection influences practice in the social welfare agencies with parents. Involvement is studied in terms of providing information to parents, collecting information from parents and ensuring inclusion in the decision-making processes. A vignette method is employed in a survey with 768 responses from child protection workers in four countries. The findings do not show a consistent pattern of difference regarding parental involvement in care order preparations that align with the type of child welfare system in which staff work. The goal in each child welfare system is to include parents, but the precise ways in which it is carried out (or not) vary. Methodological suggestions are given for further studies.

Signs of Safety (SofS) is a popular framework for child protection social work practice, used in more than 200 jurisdictions worldwide. Although workers tend to find SofS tools easy to use, skilled application of the approach is challenging, and research has found that SofS is often not implemented as intended. This study aimed to deepen and inform the explanation (initial theory) of what key SofS tools and processes are expected to achieve in the family–worker interaction and why. A realist synthesis was used, involving a realist review of literature and focus groups with 22 international SofS experts. Using self‐determination theory, we detail how SofS can be conceptualized as aiming to support families to experience 'autonomous' rather than 'controlled' motivation by supporting basic human needs for 'autonomy' (feeling a sense of volition), 'competence' (feeling effective) and 'relatedness' (feeling cared for). This explanation can be used for training and evaluation purposes to better explain and test how SofS expects to engage families in the child protection process. More broadly, we suggest that self‐determination theory may contribute a mechanistic explanation of effective social work practice more generally and that this hypothesis should be empirically investigated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

International guidelines recommend that groups of siblings remain together when protective measures are taken. Although this is a deeply rooted practice in most countries, research has found no conclusive evidence of the benefits of this practice, so further knowledge in this field is required. This work aims to describe the characterization of groups of siblings in residential child care. The sample consists of 281 children and adolescents who were in residential care, of which 42% were composed of groups of siblings. Case files were analysed, and the main results indicate that those who are cared for with their siblings are younger, have longer stays and have been subjected to neglect to a greater extent than those who are alone and reunification with their family is more complicated than for the rest. These results are discussed with regard to the scientific literature in this field and conclude with the need to carry out preventive actions and to make decision‐making criteria about groups of siblings more flexible. [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]

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]

Children and young people's right to participate in decisions affecting their lives has received considerable attention in recent years; however, there is no fixed definition of what their involvement means in practice and there is no consensus regarding how to determine the level of involvement. The purpose of this study was to quantitatively investigate the involvement of vulnerable young people in their own case processing. Based on quantitative measures of young people's relationships to their caseworkers, how well informed they feel and how much influence they seem to have, we analysed how involved young people feel in their own case processing and we show significant differences in involvement using a combination of survey and administrative data. We found considerable co‐existence of poor well‐being and poor involvement. By sampling a large proportion of the total group, and by receiving answers from 2334 young people, corresponding to one in five of all vulnerable young people in either out‐of‐home care or receiving in‐home preventive care, we are able to show significant differences in involvement. Consequently, we argue that questionnaire‐based surveys can help nuance the understanding of involvement challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sexual and gender minorities, for example, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning (LGBTQ) youth, are overrepresented in the child welfare system and an increasing number of LGBTQ people are becoming foster parents. The objective of this scoping review is to provide an overview of the existing empirical research on the practices of child welfare services towards LGBTQ individuals (i.e., youth, carers and foster parents). The review followed the methodology framework outlined by the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI). The electronic databases MEDLINE, Embase, PsycINFO, Web of Science, PubMed and Idunn were searched to identify studies appropriate for inclusion. There were 45 studies that met the inclusion criteria; 24 concerned LGBTQ youth, 10 encompassed foster parents, while nine had the service perspective as the primary focus. The studies originated from the USA (k = 34), the UK (k = 6), Australia (k = 2) and the Netherlands (k = 1). Of the included studies, 28 were qualitative, 14 were quantitative, and three studies used mixed method approach. The findings indicate that LGBTQ youth are overrepresented in the child welfare system and that LGBTQ youth and foster parents often face stigma and discrimination. The results reveal a gap in the current knowledge about social workers' attitudes, knowledge and experiences regarding working with LGBTQ individuals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Globally, children face an increasing risk of harm from abuse, violence and neglect. Progress towards securing a safe environment for them is slow and uneven. There is a growing need to understand how innovative community‐driven interventions could address sociocultural practices that harm children. In this paper, we evaluated the impact of the community‐driven urban programme on livelihood, income fortification and socio‐civic transformation intervention (UPLIFT) on child protection in Kampala, Uganda. We used a mixed‐method evaluation approach, which incorporated the difference‐in‐difference analysis and Kernel propensity score matching to estimate the programme's impact, and for the analysis of our qualitative data, we used the thematic approach. There were 663 pre‐intervention participants and 559 post‐intervention participants, aged between 13 and 17 years, in the study. Results showed improvements in various aspects of child protection; for example, there was strengthened community responsibility for child protection services and uptake of policy. However, we found undesirable impacts on situations presenting a serious risk of harm to children. We argue that protecting children against harm is a complex process, often rooted in the sociocultural and religious life of communities, and that child protection interventions must be deliberate about identifying and targeting ingrained sociocultural practices that sustain child abuse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Currently, Aboriginal children are significantly over‐represented in the out‐of‐home‐care system. Drawing on Aboriginal trauma scholarship and decolonizing methodologies, this paper situates the contemporary state removal of Aboriginal children against the backdrop of historical policies that actively sought to disrupt Aboriginal kinship and communities. The paper draws on submissions to the 2018 Australian Senate Parliamentary Inquiry into Adoption Reform from Aboriginal community controlled organizations and highlights four common themes evident throughout these submissions: (i) the role of intergenerational trauma in high rates of Aboriginal child removal; (ii) the place of children within Aboriginal culture, kinship and identity; (iii) the centrality of the principles of self‐determination and autonomy for Aboriginal communities and (iv) Aboriginal community controlled alternatives to child removal. Acknowledging the failure of both federal and state reforms to address the issues raised in these submissions, the paper reflects on the marginalization of Aboriginal voices and solutions within contemporary efforts to address the multiple crises of the child protection system and the implications for the future of Aboriginal children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Residential care continues to be the primary child protection measure for children in Mexico given the limited access to family placements and family support programmes. Legislation regulating residential care homes was not enacted until 2014. The first census of children in care was conducted in 2015. Prior to that year, key information such as how many children were placed in residential care, who was caring after them, what kinds of living conditions they faced, and their families histories was not well documented. To date, there remains a lack of reliable information on the number of children in residential care but it is estimated to be approximately 26,000. The lack of oversight has contributed to serious violations of children's rights. This article presents an overview of residential care in Mexico, including profiles of the children, families, and professionals involved. It also outlines the residential care process and various factors involved in decision‐making, with special attention to children from minoritized groups. We conclude that residential care in Mexico still presents a myriad of challenges and obstacles to providing comprehensive care for children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Removing children from parents through care orders is a highly intrusive intervention. This article explores how 12 experienced Norwegian child welfare workers perceive and cope with breaking bad news to parents of the decision for a care order initiative. A thematic analysis of qualitative in‐depth interviews revealed that the task of breaking bad news to parents includes several challenging aspects involving ethics, care and control that are influenced by relational and emotional aspects. Caseworkers felt obligated to convey the decision humanely and caretake children and parents, ensuring safety, determinacy and control. Caseworkers struggled to endure heightened emotions, handle the painful switch from helper to traitor and cope with an extreme though necessary intervention of child protection work. Care order meetings are complex and unpredictable and challenge child welfare workers professional and human capacity, as it represents considerable professional and personal demands. The article discusses the challenges of breaking bad news in the child protection profession compared with professions in the health care field. Moreover, discussing how caseworkers' coping strategies may impact their practice and highlights caseworkers' burden with the task, pointing to practical implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents findings from a qualitative study that focused on factors that facilitate professional judgement and decision‐making that is child‐centred. Appreciative inquiry informed the methodology that enabled four focus groups (n = 50) with child protection practitioners who worked with children and young people living out‐of‐home care. The study found that, firstly, child protection practitioners had clear conceptualizations of what child‐centred practice means and, secondly, articulated how functioning teams, effective organizational structures and relationships were crucial to child‐centred practice. The findings point to the importance of relationality in effective child‐centred professional judgement and decision‐making in child protection contexts. [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]

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]

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]