Dec/Jan 2010Vol. 10, No. 10Print issueSpotlight on Youth Involvement

While termination of parental rights (TPR) can be a barrier to permanency for children who cannot return to their birth families, there are many other barriers that may delay or prevent permanency even after TPR has been achieved. A recent article published in Research on Social Work Practice examined barriers to adoption of children after TPR. The authors of "Vulnerability to Foster Care Drift After the Termination of Parental Rights" reviewed the cases of 640 children and conducted indepth research on 145 cases. Data were gathered in multiple categories, including current placement, permanency goals, history of goal changes, reasons for changes, history of residential treatment, and other related areas.

The authors found that a number of variables were associated with delayed adoption or no adoption. Younger females and those of Hispanic origin were more likely to be adopted than older children and male children. The strongest association was found between time out of the home and age. Every year in foster care equaled an 80 percent reduction in likelihood of adoption.

Emotional and behavior problems also affected adoption: Of the children not adopted during the study, 92 percent had recorded emotional or behavioral problems. Agency factors also played a role: Children whose social workers changed were 44 percent less likely to be adopted. Those placed before TPR were adopted in a little over half the time of those who were not placed at TPR.

The authors suggest that it is important for case managers to be aware of the time that passes after TPR. They need to work to ease foster parents' concerns toward adopting their foster children, and they themselves must be careful about transferring cases too quickly.

"Vulnerability to Foster Care Drift After the Termination of Parental Rights," by Gretta Cushing and Sarah B. Greenblatt, was published in Research on Social Work Practice, Vol. 19(6), and is available for purchase online from the publisher:

http://rsw.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/19/6/694

The term "adoption displacement" has become increasingly accepted as a way to refer to the situation of adopted children who return to foster care or group care. In a recent article in the Journal of Child Welfare, authors Trudy Festinger and Penelope Maza suggest that the negative connotations associated with this term may affect the expectations of professionals involved and unfairly label the children in this situation.

In its place, Festinger and Maza suggest use of the term "postadoption placement," which is less value laden. This term better reflects research findings that show that most of the children who enter foster care after adoption eventually return to their adoptive homes after a period of placement.

Using fiscal year 2005 data from the Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS) administered by the Children's Bureau, the authors analyzed data on children in State child welfare systems who had ever been adopted. Compared to children in the child welfare system who had never been adopted, those who had been adopted were more likely to be older (often in their teens), more likely to enter care because of behavior problems, and more likely to be placed in group settings. When the previously adopted children exited foster care, the majority returned to their adoptive homes. For those whose adoptions had dissolved, most were again adopted.

These statistics indicate that for those adopted children who enter foster care, the foster care placement is just temporary until they return home or to another permanent placement. Therefore, "postadoption placement" better describes their circumstances and avoids the negative connotations of "adoption displacement."

Festinger and Maza's article appeared in the Journal of Child Welfare, Vol. 3(3) from July 2009 and is available for purchase on the publisher's website:

www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~db=all~content=a914508665

A worldwide report on global efforts to protect children was recently released by UNICEF. Progress for Children: A Report Card on Child Protection represents an extensive effort to provide comprehensive estimates on the nature and extent of the violations of children's rights while proposing clear recommendations for preventive actions.

Guided by the provisions and principles of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, UNICEF adopted a new protection strategy that builds on an international framework for child protection and the recommendations of the United Nations' Secretary-General's Study on Violence Against Children. The strategy centers on the following areas of child protection:

• Improving child protection systems
• Promoting social change
• Enhancing child protection in emergencies
• Partnering for greater impact
• Building evidence

Based on the results of survey data compiled by UNICEF and its partners, this report pulls together international data for the first time on a number of international key indicators. Some of these indicators include:

• Violence against children
• Child marriage
• Female genital mutilation/cutting
• Child labor
• Sexual exploitation and abuse of children
• Child trafficking
• Children with disabilities
• Children without parental care
• Landmines, explosive remnants of war, and small arms

While the data show that there has been some progress in some areas of the world in raising the age of child marriage and in reducing female genital mutilation, there is still much to be done. The report concludes with a call to action to build a protective environment for children around the world.

Progress for Children: A Report Card on Child Protection is available on the UNICEF website: 

www.unicef.org/media/files/Progress_for_Children-No.8_HiRes_EN_USLetter_08132009.pdf  (2.34 MB)
 

The Fall 2009 issue of The Future of Children presents some of the latest available research on evidence-based policies and programs designed to prevent child maltreatment. Contributors examine how insights into risk factors for maltreatment can help target prevention efforts. Articles assess the effectiveness of communitywide interventions, parenting programs, home visiting, drug and alcohol treatment, and educational programs on sexual abuse for preventing maltreatment. Articles include the following:

• "Progress Toward a Prevention Perspective" (Matthew W. Stagner and Jiffy Lansing)
• "Epidemiological Perspectives on Maltreatment Prevention" (Fred Wulczyn)
• "Creating Community Responsibility for Child Protection: Possibilities and Challenges" (Deborah A. Daro and Kenneth A. Dodge)
• "Preventing Child Abuse and Neglect With Parent Training: Evidence and Opportunities" (Richard P. Barth)
• "The Role of Home-Visiting Programs in Preventing Child Abuse and Neglect" (Kimberly S. Howard and Jeanne Brooks-Gunn)
• "Prevention and Drug Treatment" (Mark F. Testa and Brenda Smith)
• "The Prevention of Childhood Sexual Abuse" (David Finkelhor)
• "Prevention and the Child Protection System" (Jane Waldfogel)

This issue of the journal focuses on prevention as the key to reducing child maltreatment and its long-term costs—in adverse effects on children's health and development and in the expensive social and legal services required to rectify those effects.

The Future of Children is available for free download:

www.futureofchildren.org/futureofchildren/publications/journals/journal_details/index.xml?journalid=71 

 

For many youth in out-of-home care, the court may determine at a permanency hearing that there is a compelling reason that reunification, adoption, guardianship, and relative placement are not in the child's best interests. If the court makes such a finding, it may order another planned permanent living arrangement (APPLA) as the permanency goal for the child. A publication from the Iowa Department of Human Services, Permanency for Children: Another Planned Permanent Living Arrangement: Practice Bulletin, focuses on promoting practices that can make APPLA as a permanency goal truly permanent for children and not just a synonym for long-term foster care.

Generally, APPLA is viewed as an appropriate permanency goal only for some older youth, age 16 or older. For children for whom this goal is being considered, it is expected that the youth will participate in the team meeting that establishes the permanency plan. In addition, the planned permanent living arrangement must:

• Be a permanent living arrangement with a foster parent or relative caregiver or other suitable person
• Include written commitment from all the parties involved or an order of the court, with the expectation that the child remain in that placement until he or she reaches the age of majority

Examples of permanent living arrangements include the following:

• With foster parents who have made a formal written commitment to care for the child until adulthood
• With relatives who plan to care for the child until adulthood
• In appropriate agency-supervised transitional living, with the expectation that the child will successfully transition to young adulthood

The bulletin provides practical guidance for structuring placements that will give youth permanent and stable places to call home until they reach adulthood. It stresses that lifelong connections should be in place and stable long before a youth transitions out of foster care. In addition, skill development for young adulthood needs to be finalized so the child has the best chance for success.

Resources provided by the bulletin include a permanency checklist, examples of cases when it is inappropriate to use APPLA as a permanency goal, and recommendations from youth for improving practice.

The publication is one of a series of child welfare bulletins and is available on the Iowa Department of Human Services website:

www.dhs.iowa.gov/docs/0109%20PB.pdf (368 KB)

A new briefing paper examines efforts to implement recommendations made by the Pew Commission to improve State court processes as they apply to State and Tribal courts that hear cases involving American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) children.

Court Reform and American Indian/Alaska Native Children: Increasing Protections and Improving Outcomes explores State and Tribal court involvement in Indian child welfare matters, State Court Improvement Program grants, challenges and promising practices gleaned from Tribal-State collaborations around court improvement, and opportunities for progressing court systems for the betterment of AI/AN children. Intrinsic to this analysis is the recognition that AI/AN children have a unique political status as citizens of sovereign nations, and these nations are inherently best equipped to identify, understand, and respond to the children's needs.

The Pew Commission's report, Fostering the Future: Safety, Permanence and Well-Being for Children in Foster Care, which was released in 2004, provided many recommendations for strengthening and supporting the nation's dependency courts. This briefing paper gives a preliminary analysis of what has been accomplished since the release of the Pew Commission's recommendations. Separate sections discuss some of the identified challenges and promising practices from Tribal-State collaborations in four areas of court improvement: data collection, training and collaboration, improving legal representation, and court operation.

The briefing paper concludes with a discussion of supplemental recommendations that build upon those of the Pew Commission and add application possibilities specific to the needs of AI/AN children. The briefing paper was written by Ashley Horne, Timothy Travis, Nancy B. Miller, and David Simmons and published by the Permanency Planning for Children Department of the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges (NCJFCJ), in collaboration with the National Indian Child Welfare Association.

Court Reform and American Indian/Alaska Native Children: Increasing Protections and Improving Outcomes is available for download on the NCJFCJ website:

www.ncjfcj.org/images/stories/dept/ppcd/pdf/nicwabulletinweb.pdf (871 KB)

American Humane, an organization dedicated to protecting children and animals, has developed a program aimed at providing registered therapy animals to children in need. The Therapy Animals Supporting Kids (TASK) Program encourages child welfare and other professionals to use therapy animals while working with children who have been abused, neglected, or have witnessed violence. Program creators suggest that this type of therapy can be used with traumatized children who often find it difficult to speak about their experiences, as the animals can help these individuals open up during the healing process.

Allie Phillips and Diana McQuarrie have developed an implementation guide, American Humane TASK Program Manual, which has two main goals: (1) to address the practical issues involved with setting up an animal-assisted therapy program and safely working with therapy animals and (2) to outline the legal implications of using therapy animals effectively in work with children. The manual describes the proper handling of therapy animals when working with children who have suffered maltreatment, emphasizing that this specialized field requires extensive training. It also provides guidance for agencies on finding an appropriate handler-animal therapy team to join an agency's treatment team.

The manual identifies six situations in which incorporating therapy animals may be appropriate:

• Greeting children at a children's advocacy center or other agency locations
• Forensic interviews or evaluations
• Medical examinations
• Individual or group therapy sessions
• Court preparation
• Courtroom testimony   

Other sections of the manual describe a short case study of the use of a therapy animal (dog) with a young girl who had been a victim of sexual abuse. It also provides examples of several child advocacy centers and one prosecutor's office that routinely use therapy animals to help children who have been victims of abuse.

Find out more about TASK on the American Humane website:

www.americanhumane.org/human-animal-bond/programs/therapy-animals-supporting-kids

Access the TASK guidebook on the American Humane website:

http://www.americanhumane.org/assets/pdfs/interaction/hab-task-manualpdf.pdf (1,105 KB)

Older youth transitioning from foster care to independent living face a number of challenges, including the risk of becoming homeless, dropping out of school, being unemployed and depending on public assistance, having children at a young age, or engaging in criminal activities. Although city governments do not manage the foster care system, city leaders are becoming aware of the impact that youth who are aging out of foster care have on their communities and what can be done to support them.

The Municipal Action Guide on Supporting Foster Youth Transitions to Adulthood from the National League of Cities offers strategies and steps that city leaders can adopt to address the needs of transitioning foster youth and to improve communities. Recommendations include:

• Gather statistics on local foster youth transitions and use this information to set goals and track progress.
• Connect transitioning foster youth to existing programs and services.
• Make the case for supporting foster youth transitions to adulthood.
• Take a cross-system approach to service planning and delivery.

The guide also includes examples of cities' strategies in the areas of housing assistance, employment services, and educational transitions. Philadelphia's Achieving Independence Center is described as an example of one city's way to provide multiple services for transitioning youth in one building.

The Municipal Action Guide on Supporting Foster Youth Transitions to Adulthood, by Carlos Becerra and Andrew Moore, is available on the National League of Cities website:

www.nlc.org/ASSETS/6548970283A04EAC8EA64FDC003202FB/IYEF_Foster_Youth_MAG_8-09.pdf (756 KB)
 

The Fostering Connections Resource Center was established in October 2009 by a number of nonprofit organizations in response to the Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008. The Resource Center provides information, training, and tools to States and Tribes to aid in the implementation of the Fostering Connections law. The Resource Center provides:

• Nonpartisan data and resources on each section of the bill, including information tools and assistance for State policymakers and leaders
• Technical assistance
• Tracking of implementation activity
• Opportunities to communicate with experts and peers through mailing lists, webinars, and online forums
• Stakeholder networks

Issue-specific information also is available on the following topics:

• Adoption
• Education
• Health
• Kinship/guardianship
• Older youth
• Tribal issues
• Implementation progress

The Resource Center is managed by Child Trends and The Finance Project with funding support from the Annie E. Casey Foundation, Casey Family Programs, Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption, Duke Endowment, Eckerd Family Foundation, Jim Casey Youth Opportunities Initiative, Sierra Health Foundation, Stuart Foundation, and the Walter S. Johnson Foundation.

For more information on the Fostering Connections Resource Center or to sign up for email updates, visit:

www.fosteringconnections.org
 

Children's Budget 2009, a report from First Focus, provides information about more than 180 children's programs funded by the Federal Government. The report shows that while Federal spending on children increased by about 9.2 percent between 2005 and 2009, overall Federal spending increased at a greater rate, resulting in children's programs receiving a smaller portion of the Federal budget. Key findings include:

• For the past 5 years, less than one nickel out of every new, real nondefense dollar spent by the Federal Government has gone to children and children's programs.
• Spending on children's issues makes up less than 10 percent of the entire nondefense budget.
• The overall share of Federal, nondefense spending going to children's programs dropped by 12 percent over the past 5 years.
• Real discretionary spending on children has declined by 1 percent since 2005, while at the same time all other nondefense discretionary spending has increased by 4 percent.

The report breaks down Federal spending on programs in child welfare, education, health, housing, and more and includes an analysis of the $144 billion made available to children's programs through the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA), a $787 billion package to stimulate the economy.

Children's Budget 2009 is available on the First Focus website:

www.firstfocus.net/Download/CB2009.pdf (12.21 MB)

The Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute's (CCAI) Foster Youth Internship Program is a competitive internship for young adults who were in foster care at the time of their 18th birthday or who were adopted after their 14th birthday from foster care. The 2010 program will place 16 academically successful college students in the Washington, DC, offices of members of Congress where they will receive experience in the operations of a congressional office, as well as professional training.

Applicants must be enrolled in college and have completed four semesters by May 29, 2010. Applications are due January 4, 2010. For more information and an online application, visit the CCAI website:

www.ccainstitute.org/how-we-do-it/apply-on-line-foster-youth-internship
 

Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Justice, the National Center on Sexual Behavior of Youth (NCSBY) provides training and technical assistance for professionals working with children with sexual behavior problems and adolescent sex offenders. The NCSBY website offers information for treatment providers, the latest on sex offender registration laws, frequently asked questions about children with behavior problems and adolescent sex offenders, and useful links to related organizations. 

NCSBY publications, available for free download, include:

• Factsheets on sexual behavior problems, youth offenders, childhood sexual development, and more
• Bibliography of resources and a glossary of terms
• Treatment manuals for cognitive-behavioral group therapy for children and for caregivers of those children

Visit the website for more information:

www.ncsby.org/index.htm
 

Upcoming national conferences on adoption and child welfare through April 2010 include:

January 2010

• 24th Annual San Diego International Conference on Child and Family Maltreatment
  The Chadwick Center for Children and Families
  January 24–29, San Diego, CA
  
• CWLA 2010 National Conference
  Children 2010: Leading a New Era
  Child Welfare League of America
  January 24–27, Washington, DC
  http://cwla.org/conferences/default.htm

February 2010

• International Conference on Parent Education and Parenting
  The University of North Texas Center for Parent Education-and-International Sociological Association Committee on Family Research
  February 18–19, Denton, TX
  

March 2010

• National Conference on Juvenile and Family Law
  National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges
  March 14–17, Las Vegas, NV
  http://www.ncjfcj.org/content/view/1246/315
• Sixth Annual Conference on Childhood Grief and Traumatic Loss
  Restoring Joy to Children and Their Families
  Los Angeles County Inter-Agency Council on Child Abuse and Neglect and Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services
  March 17, Pasadena, CA
• American Adoption Congress 2010 Spring Conference
  March 19–21, Sacramento, CA
  http://www.americanadoptioncongress.org/national_conferences.php

April 2010

• NOFSW 27th Annual Conference
  Forensic Social Work: Integrating Research, Policy and Practice
  National Organization of Forensic Social Work
  April 10–14, Atlanta, GA
  
• 28th Annual "Protecting Our Children" National American Indian Conference on Child Abuse and Neglect
  National Indian Child Welfare Association
  April 11–14, Portland, OR
  http://www.nicwa.org/conference
• Families on the Faultlines: Re-Imagining Race, Kinship, & Care
  University of California, Berkeley, Center for Race & Gender
  April 29–30, Berkeley, CA
• Adoption: Secret Histories, Public Policies: 3rd International Conference on Adoption and Culture
  Alliance for the Study of Adoption and Culture
  April 29–May 2, Cambridge, MA
  http://web.me.com/shaslang/ASAC_2010_Conference/Welcome.html

Further details about national and regional adoption and child welfare conferences can be found through the Conference Calendar Search feature on the Child Welfare Information Gateway website:

http://www.childwelfare.gov/calendar/index.cfm

The National Quality Improvement Center (QIC) on Non-Resident Fathers and the Child Welfare System offers a curriculum designed to provide guidance to lawyers on how to navigate issues affecting fathers and their children involved in child welfare proceedings. It provides practical strategies to parents' attorneys who represent nonresident fathers who are often not the perpetrators of abuse or neglect.

Instructor guides, PowerPoint slides, handouts, and posttest instruments with answer keys are available for each of the following lessons:

• Asserting the Constitutional Rights of Non-Resident Fathers With Children Involved in Child Welfare Proceedings
• Effective Ways to Advocate for Non-Resident Fathers Outside the Courtroom
• Effective Ways to Advocate for Non-Resident Fathers Inside the Courtroom
• Ethical Considerations for Attorneys Representing Non-Resident Fathers

The American Bar Association also provides some free technical assistance to trainers as they adapt and use this curriculum. More information on the curriculum, available free on CD, and other resources are on the QIC website: 

www.fatherhoodqic.org/curriculum.shtml