By Dana Mandolesi on March 1, 2010
HEY has released 4 new HEY Statistics focusing on foster youth and unemployment. The 4 HEY Statistics paint a picture of the barriers foster youth face while searching for and keeping employment. They express the current services available to them to assist them to find employment, and provide best practices for youth serving agencies. The HEY Statistics also focus on how to best track foster youth data, how organizations can better serve foster youth in employment programs, and the value of tracking foster youth data in their programs.
Check out the HEY Statistics:
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Posted in Foster Care Library, Trends To Watch | Tagged data, employment, foster youth, HEY, hey statistics, unemployment
By admin on March 1, 2010
[from the NRCPFC Weekly Update 2/24/10]
Find information on how to adopt for the families you work with, including resources that explain who can adopt, factors to consider before adoption, the many adoption choices available (including domestic, intercountry, and open adoption), home study requirements, finding an agency, adoption by different types of families (including single-parent; stepparent; kin and relative; military; transracial and transcultural; or lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender [LGBT] families), and assistance with adoption expenses.
http://www.childwelfare.gov/adoption/adoptive
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Posted in Foster Care Library | Tagged adoptiton, child welfare
By Dana Mandolesi on February 28, 2010
New Online Clearinghouse for State Child Welfare Policies
Child Trends, with support from Casey Family Programs, launches the State Child Welfare Policy Database to provide information on child welfare laws, procedures, and agency guidance for all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The Database can help elected officials, administrators, advocates, practitioners, researchers, and other stakeholders keep up to date with the policies that protect our nation’s most vulnerable children.
The site can be navigated by state or by topic. You can learn about your state’s expenditures on child welfare services, policies for relatives and “kin” caring for children involved in the child welfare system, benefits and services provided to foster youth after age 18, and much more. In addition to the traditional web version, the site is designed to be compatible with your mobile device, allowing for easily accessible information on the go.
For more information about child welfare resources available at Child Trends, please visit: www.childtrends.org/childwelfare. Through program evaluations, data analysis, policy surveys, literature reviews, and research syntheses, we seek to inform policy makers and frontline practice.
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Posted in Foster Care Library, State Foster Care Policy Updates | Tagged child trends, child welfare, child welfare data, data, foster youth, policy, state policy
By admin on February 23, 2010
[from Benzinga.com, 01/27/10]
WASHINGTON–(BUSINESS WIRE)–
Kicking off the year, the Child Welfare League of America (CWLA), the nation’s oldest and largest membership-based child welfare organization, announced its top challenges and opportunities for 2010, during its “Children 2010: Leading a New Era” National Conference. CWLA’s Top 5 list captures events and trends are shaping the future for foster children this year…and beyond.
“The Top 5 are key issues affecting foster children. Even though the economy continues to take its toll, we do see promising changes in the way our nation treats children and tackles child welfare issues,” said CWLA’s CEO Chris James-Brown. “As President Obama reports on the State of the Union, we encourage him to continue embracing changes that help children succeed. Smart and sustained investments in children are critical to our nation’s future.”
Click on the article title to see the top 5 trends
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Posted in Federal Foster Care Policy Updates, Foster Care Library | Tagged challenges, cwla, foster youth
By admin on February 9, 2010
Fourth National Incidence Study Shows Overall Decrease in Maltreatment
[from the Child Welfare League of America, Children's Monitor Online 2/08/10]
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has released the Fourth National Incidence Study of Child Abuse and Neglect (NIS-4). The last NIS was published in 1996, and, like that one, this congressionally mandated study surveys professionals from dozens of U.S. counties. The analysis includes children who were investigated by CPS agencies, but it also obtains data on children seen by community professionals who were not reported to CPS or who were screened out by CPS without investigation. This means NIS estimates provide a more comprehensive measure of the scope of child abuse and neglect known to community professionals, including abused and neglected children who are in the official statistics and those who are not.
The study indicated that the incidence of maltreatment between this and the 1996 study went down by 19%, compared to an increase of 56% between the second and third studies. Overall 1.256 million children experienced maltreatment during the study year, 2005-2006. Of that total 44% (553,000 children) were abused, 61% (771,000 children) were neglected. Of the abused children 58% (323,000 children) experienced physical abuse and 24% (135,300 children) were sexually abused. Of the children that were neglected, 47% (360,000 children) experienced educational neglect, 38% (295,000 children) experienced physical neglect and 25% (193,400 children) were subjected to emotional neglect. All the figures represent higher numbers then the annual National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS) data released every spring. The last NCANDS report, based on 2007 information, indicated that just fewer than 800,000 children were substantiated as abused or neglected.
The full NIS-4 is more than 400 pages. To download a PDF of the full report, read an executive summary, or choose access other related materials, visit the study’s website.
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Posted in Federal Foster Care Policy Updates, Foster Care Library | Tagged cwla, Federal Foster Care Policy Updates, maltreatment
By admin on February 8, 2010
This paper by Naomi Weisel, PhD candidate at the Hunter College School of Social Work, discusses primary prevention, offers a literature review on risks associated with abuse and maltreatment, universal primary prevention programs, and targeted primary prevention programs, and explores implications for future research. (December 2009)
http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/socwork/nrcfcpp/info_services/PreventingChildMaltreatment.pdf
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Posted in Foster Care Library | Tagged abuse, prevention
By admin on February 8, 2010
Mental health of current and former recipients of foster care: A review of recent studies in the United States
This paper presents data about the emotional, behavioral and substance abuse disorders of youth in foster care and former recipients of foster care in the U.S. The prevalence rates of these groups are compared to those of youth and young adults in the U.S. general population. The implications of these data for policy and program design are discussed.
Pecora, P. J., White, C.R., Jackson, L. J. & Wiggins, T. (2009). Mental health of current and former recipients of foster care: A review of recent studies in the United States. Child and Family Social Work, 14, 132-146. Link: http://bit.ly/jw47a, from wiley.com. (Please note that you may need to access this article through an academic institution to view it free of charge).
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Posted in Foster Care Library | Tagged foster care, mental health
By admin on February 5, 2010
Benefits and costs of intensive foster care services: Casey Family Programs compared to state services
The foster care system attempts to prepare maltreated children and youth for successful adult lives. This study documents the economic advantages of a privately funded foster care program that provided longer term, more intensive and more expensive services compared to public programs.
The study found significant differences in major adult educational, health and social outcomes between children placed in a private program and those placed in public programs operated by Oregon and Washington.
Based on available data, the estimated present value of the enhanced foster care services exceeded their extra costs. Based on the roughly 100,000 adolescents age 12-17 entering foster care each year, if all of them were to receive the private model of services, the savings for a single cohort of these children could be about $6.3 billion in 2007 dollars.
Zerbe, J. R., Plotnick, R., Kessler, R. C., Pecora, P.J., Hiripi, E., O’Brien, K., Williams, J., English, D., & White, J. (2009) Benefits and costs of intensive foster care services: The Casey Family Programs compared to state services. Contemporary Economic Policy, 27 (3), 308-320. Published Online: Feb. 16, 2009. Link: http://bit.ly/1OFZ6t from ilrinc.com
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Posted in Foster Care Library
By Dana Mandolesi on February 5, 2010
Prevention Initiative Demonstration Project (PIDP) Year One Evaluation Summary Report
In February 2008, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors approved the Prevention Initiative Demonstration Project (PIDP), an innovative countywide effort to demonstrate effective approaches to reducing child abuse and neglect.
This unique partnership between the Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) and community-based organizations is designed to strengthen families while providing opportunities for government agencies and community residents to increase the safety and well-being of children, families and the community.
The purpose of the year-one evaluation was to understand the value added by PIDP networks in the complex multicultural communities of the county and to identify areas for improvement.
Each of the PIDP networks implemented three braided and integrated strategies:
1. Building social networks using strengths-based and relationship-focused community organizing approaches.
2. Increasing economic opportunities and development.
3. Increasing access to and utilization of beneficial services, activities, resources, and supports.
Prevention Initiative Demonstration Project: Year One Evaluation Summary Report. (2009). Seattle: Casey Family Programs. Link:http://bit.ly/w8e3g from casey.org.
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Posted in Foster Care Library | Tagged casey family, prevention
By admin on February 1, 2010
[from Kidsdata Monthly, Lucile Packard Foundation for Children's Health 1/26/09]
Just Added to Kidsdata.org: Child Safety Data for All 58 California Counties
Kidsdata.org’s statewide expansion continues this week with the addition offoster care,child abuse, anddomestic violence data — 25 indicators in all – for all counties across California. Data on many other topics will be phased in over the next several months . Coming up next: Data from the California Healthy Kids Survey and data on children with disabilities.
Highlights from These New Data:
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Posted in Foster Care Library | Tagged abuse, data, foster care, neglect
