Search Results (319)

Background/Objectives: Sleep is an important biobehavioral process that supports child and adolescent health and development. However, many prior studies examining sleep and mental health have relied on total sleep scores, which may mask the heterogeneity of sleep disturbances. Youth exposed to childhood adversity are at increased risk for sleep disturbances and poor mental health, and thus it is important to examine the links between sleep and mental health within adversity-exposed samples, such as those involved with the child welfare system. Methods: This study used latent class analysis to identify underlying patterns of sleep disturbances and examine differences in mental health symptoms (assessed at baseline and at an 18-month follow-up) across the identified subgroups in a sample of child welfare-involved adolescents (N = 1041, M_age = 13.63 years, SD = 1.86). Our sample was derived from the second cohort of the National Survey on Child and Adolescent Well-Being (NSCAW) study. Results: We identified three subgroups of sleep disturbances: no sleep disturbances (38%), sleeping more than peers and overtired (16%), and trouble maintaining sleep (47%). We found significant mean differences in mental health symptoms across subgroups. Across internalizing, externalizing, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms at baseline and at an 18-month follow-up, those in the no sleep disturbances subgroup had overall lower levels of symptoms compared to those in the trouble maintaining sleep subgroup, which had higher levels of symptoms. Compared to those in the sleeping more than peers and overtired subgroup, the trouble maintaining sleep subgroup had higher levels of PTSD symptoms at baseline, and higher levels of externalizing and PTSD symptoms at the follow-up. Those in the sleeping more than peers and overtired subgroup had significantly higher levels of internalizing, externalizing, and PTSD symptoms at baseline compared to the no sleep disturbances subgroup, but there were no significant differences at the 18-month follow-up. Conclusions: The current study highlights the importance of considering the heterogeneity of sleep disturbances to identify child welfare-involved youth who may be more at risk for sleep disturbances and poor mental health and to inform more targeted sleep interventions for this population. Full article

Urban playgrounds are vital public spaces that support children’s play, social interaction, and well-being. However, many playgrounds in socially disadvantaged or aging urban areas experience physical deterioration, limited play diversity, and declining use. Although corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives have increasingly supported playground regeneration, many projects continue to emphasize short-term physical improvements rather than participatory processes and social value creation. This study conceptualizes CSR-supported, child-participatory playground regeneration as a social value creation process and examines how CSR enables process continuity through a structured six-stage participatory approach spanning planning, design, construction, and post-opening use. Two cases were selected from the “Save the Playground” program in Seoul, Korea: Saerok Children’s Park in a stable residential neighborhood and Mukjeong Children’s Park in a high-mobility, multicultural commercial district. Using a qualitative multiple-case study design, the study triangulates workshop outputs, observational records, facilitator field notes, and official program documents through thematic and cross-case analyses. The findings indicate that CSR support primarily ensured process continuity and facilitated multi-actor coordination across project stages. By securing implementation continuity and stabilizing governance arrangements, CSR support allowed participatory outputs to be iteratively translated into design development and post-opening evaluation. Post-opening outcomes differed by urban context; nevertheless, both cases showed social value creation through strengthened place attachment, responsibility-oriented use, and inclusive mixed-group play. This study advances a cross-case analytical framework linking urban context, participatory mechanisms, and post-opening social value outcomes, contributing to a more context-sensitive understanding of CSR-supported participatory design processes and their implications for sustainable urban public space development. Full article

This paper presents qualitative findings from a broader study conducted with beneficiaries of social assistance grants in Nkonkobe Municipality, South Africa, guided by Amartya Sen’s Capability Approach and a Feminist Political Economy perspective. It specifically examines the impact of the Child Support Grant (CSG) on women residing in rural areas with limited economic opportunities. Drawing on the narratives of twenty-five female beneficiaries, the study explores the grant’s role beyond child welfare outcomes. Despite its small monetary value, the CSG demonstrated significant and unintended transformative effects. Within contexts of persistent poverty, unemployment, and inequality, the grant contributed to alleviating household hardship and enhancing women’s empowerment. Participants reported increased economic agency, autonomy, and decision-making capacity. The CSG also served as a critical resource for women seeking to exit abusive relationships by providing a measure of financial independence, often lacking among survivors of domestic violence. These findings contribute to broader debates on welfare services as tools for equality, diversity, and democracy, highlighting the CSG’s potential to advance gender empowerment and social inclusion. However, the grant alone remains insufficient to ensure sustainable economic security. The paper recommends that the CSG be strengthened through increased value and complemented by active labour market interventions that promote women’s economic participation. Full article

Peer action coordination in middle childhood is thought to benefit from socio-cognitive abilities such as emotion understanding and inhibitory control, but empirical evidence for their role is limited. This study replicates and extends a previous study by examining whether emotion understanding and inhibitory control correlate with children’s peer action coordination in a cooperative sensorimotor problem-solving task. To test this hypothesis, 6- to 10-year-old children (N = 108, M = 8 years, 8 months, 46.3% girls, 53.7% boys) completed the Test of Emotion Comprehension and the Attention Network Task. To assess children’s performance in coordinating their actions with a peer, they were asked to complete the Labyrinth Ball Game—a sensorimotor task that they first performed individually and then together with a peer. Contrary to expectations, there was no direct association between emotion understanding or inhibitory control and children’s peer action coordination after controlling for age, gender, and individual sensorimotor skills. However, a significant interaction between age and gender revealed that older boys showed greater cooperative action coordination performance than younger boys, whereas girls’ performance remained stable across age. These findings challenge the view that individual socio-cognitive abilities straightforwardly support cooperative success, suggesting that peer action coordination in middle childhood may rely on more complex mechanisms, such as gender-specific communicative strategies or social play, rather than on emotion understanding and inhibitory control. Full article

The adoption of the Anishinabek Nation Child Well-Being Law (ANCWBL) has given birth to a framework for Indigenous communities in Ontario, Canada, to exercise self-determination in governing child and family services, including service delivery and authority over policy and funding. This means an end to child and family services agencies that serve First Nations on reserves and are bound by provincial standards and legislation following a protection-based model. Instead, it begins a system of customary care that genuinely respects and supports the primary role of parent/guardian, family, and community in prevention-focused child welfare in accordance with standards based on Anishinabek cultures and the practice of consent. This conceptual essay highlights an Indigenous feminist perspective on the ANCWBL’s significance and its ability to address the historical suffering stemming from colonial child welfare practices and to institute child and family services by reinstating the rights of Indigenous children and women’s leadership in care as a communal responsibility. Full article

This study investigates why U.S. states vary in their spending of federal funds under the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant, the primary federal program grant to support low-income families with children. Grounded in fiscal federalism and state welfare politics, the study examines how political and institutional settings shape states’ spending decisions, using panel data from all 50 states from fiscal year 2004 to 2016 and a two-way fixed effects model. The results indicate that policy and political factors significantly impact states’ spending decisions, whereas most socioeconomic indicators do not. In particular, states with a TANF job-search requirement allocate a larger share of TANF funds to child care than those without such requirements. However, this positive effect becomes negative when female legislative representation exceeds a certain threshold. These findings demonstrate that policy design and political representation interact to shape the implementation of federal grants at the state level. The study suggests that state allocation decisions under federal block grants are closely tied to institutional design and political context, with broader implications for welfare governance under federalism. Full article

The transition to adulthood is challenging for all youth, but this developmental period can present substantial difficulties for youth involved in child-serving systems due to a constellation of adversities and a lack of protective factors present in their lives. Notably, many system-involved youth are disconnected from important relationships and are tasked to navigate the increased demands of adulthood without sufficient support. There is a spectrum of services available for youth transitioning out of system-involvement, but the majority focus on independent living skills, which alone are often insufficient to facilitate a successful transition to adulthood. This paper provides details regarding the importance of building relational permanence—relationships with permanent-supportive individuals—among young adults transitioning out of system involvement. Authors review evidence-based approaches, used by community agencies, which build relational permanence for system-involved youth, while discussing future directions to improve the rigor of research on relational permanence, and action for necessary policy change. Full article

Guatemala’s intercountry adoptions were suspended in 2007 after widespread illicit procedures and the persistent trafficking of children. This article is a historical and policy analysis of the related social welfare systems. It uses Midgley’s framework to examine the past and the changes that have resulted in Guatemala’s reform era. Specific attention has been paid to non-formal systems, market-based or profit-oriented systems, non-profit and faith-based systems, and importantly, government-based systems. Previous (pre-reform) child welfare systems, particularly during the millennium adoption surge, are then compared to a relatively new and reformed system. An international child rights legal and policy context, to include the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption, frames the discussion that also considers the passage of the 2007 Adoption Law. The article has a child rights perspective and considers the role of women, particularly birth parents, during Guatemala’s peak adoption years. Full article

This comparative study, the first to date, examines how representative samples of citizens across 40 OECD countries (N = 41,232) balance religion and child welfare when deciding whether to move a five-year-old thriving in foster care to match parental religion. Using a vignette experiment and six hypotheses, the analysis links religiosity, perceived religious rights, authoritarian values, institutional context, and confidence in child protection to placement preferences. A large majority (88%) would not move the child, prioritising stability and well-being. The results show a trust “paradox” in which higher confidence in child protection correlates with support for moving the child. Justifications show broad appeal to the best interest principle across opposing choices. Deference to professional assessment varies markedly across countries, indicating divergent authority of social work expertise. Findings underscore the need to operationalise the best interests standard and to account for institutional context, while policymakers should recognise stable placements as the public default. Full article

Background: Children can be removed from their home if allegations of abuse or neglect are substantiated. The preference is to place them with family members. In the most extreme cases, a child may be placed in a congregate care setting. A child with diabetes should only be placed in such a facility if the staff have been appropriately trained. Otherwise, the consequences can be devastating. In 2022 and 2024, two children were placed into congregate care facilities in Arizona and died of diabetic ketoacidosis due to a lack of appropriate employee training. Study Objective: We aim to inform providers of the legal processes and laws that can result in a child being placed into a congregate care setting. We analyze what went wrong in the care of these two children. We present alternative pathways that might ensure the safety of children before they are placed in such facilities. Methodology: We reviewed public information for cases of morbidity and mortality in children with diabetes in congregate care. We reviewed the California Welfare and Institution legal codes and applicable laws in the Federal Register. We obtained information regarding children with diabetes mellitus who were in the care of child welfare on PubMed. Results and Conclusions: While there are legal safeguards for children with diabetes who are placed in congregate care, these safeguards are ineffective if staff are inappropriately trained. We present programs and recommendations to prevent a child who is placed in a congregate care facility from suffering medical complications or death. Full article

Demographic trends over the last decades and future projections clearly indicate a steady increase in the proportion of older adults (65+) relative to both the working-age (15–64) and child populations (0–15) across Europe. This demographic shift—driven by rising life expectancy and declining fertility—raises pressing challenges for intergenerational equity and questions the sustainability of the implicit formal and informal “social contract” that links generations through the distribution of rights, responsibilities, and resources. In particular, the two fundamental pillars of European post-industrial societies, namely an extensive welfare state and a liberal–democratic institutional framework, appear to be at risk. To address this issue, the notion of “intergenerational fairness”, recently adopted by social policies in both USA and Europe, appears flexible and fundamentally ambiguous. As a substantial variant of neoliberal austerity policies, it is simply used as a justification for further austerity measures, the withdrawal of entitlements to social and economic rights by citizens and the dismantling of welfare states. A second meaning of “intergenerational fairness” is possible starting from the concept of ambivalence used to describe the mix of conflict and solidarity that characterizes intergenerational relations in contemporary post-industrial societies. In this respect, the two concepts of “successful ageing” and “active ageing”, often considered as overlapping, actually involve very different perspectives: successful ageing adopts a substantially reductionist, individualistic, and static approach to the process of ageing, whereas active ageing is a more comprehensive and dynamic strategy that seeks to overcome all these limitations by a life-course perspective. This recognizes that a person’s path to old age is not predetermined but depends primarily on earlier life experiences and their influence: the ageing process affects people of all ages, not just the elderly. And since the subjectivization of ageing in contemporary societies has challenged the conventional notion of “natural life stages”, the new theoretical concept advanced in the article of “ageing styles” becomes central to understanding the ageing process today. Ageing styles are the outcome of the interplay between the objective and subjective dimensions of the life course, represented, respectively, by life chances (social structure) and life choices (agency). A theoretical framework is proposed for analyzing ageing styles that can be used from a life-course perspective to highlight their complex and dynamic nature. An evidence-based European political strategy aimed at promoting active ageing from a perspective of intergenerational fairness, based on the eight principles indicated, can be flexible enough to ensure that everyone can adopt their preferred ageing style without top-down imposition and contribute to the maintenance of the intergenerational social contract. Full article

Background/Objectives: The relationship between household tobacco expenditure and child health has attracted considerable attention from both academic and policy communities, as tobacco expenditure can influence children’s health, nutrition, and overall well-being in multiple ways, particularly in rural and low-income settings. This study examines the causal impact of household tobacco expenditure on child health outcomes in a transitional economy. Methods: Using nationally representative microdata from the most recent Household Living Standards Survey, the authors employ Ordinary Least Squares (OLS), Random Effects (RE), and Instrumental Variable (IV) estimations to identify the effects of tobacco spending on children’s healthcare utilization and health status. Results: The results consistently show that higher household tobacco expenditure significantly increases the likelihood of hospitalization among Vietnamese children, with the effects being most pronounced for those under six years of age. Moreover, the authors uncover substantial heterogeneity across gender, maternal age at childbirth, and regional contexts, highlighting persistent socioeconomic inequalities in health outcomes. Conclusions: This study provides compelling evidence of the adverse effects of household tobacco expenditure on children’s health in Vietnam. Theoretically, the study contributes to the literature on the economics of health and intra-household resource allocation by providing micro-level causal evidence from a transitional setting. From a policy perspective, the findings underscore the need for targeted fiscal and public health interventions to mitigate tobacco-related welfare losses and to promote equitable access to healthcare among vulnerable populations. Full article

Young people in residential care settings hold distinct preferences regarding their relationships with key adults, including caseworkers and caregivers. However, their perspectives are not consistently assessed or effectively integrated into case planning. Evaluating this integration is essential for fostering positive adjustment and placement stability. Given that residential care represents the predominant child welfare intervention in Portugal, this study adapts and validates an existing instrument for use with youth in residential care institutions, providing evidence of its validity and reliability. Self-report questionnaires—the Positive Residential Care Integration (PRCI) scale (an adapted Positive Home Integration scale) and Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire—were administered to 511 youth (279 girls and 232 boys), aged 12 to 24 years, across 46 Portuguese residential care institutions. The study examined the face validity, discriminant validity, and reliability of the PRCI scale. Confirmatory factor analysis indicated good model fit, supporting a unidimensional six-item structure. Correlation analyses demonstrated associations with psychological adjustment and sociodemographic variables. The PRCI scale showed satisfactory psychometric properties, confirming its reliability for assessing youth integration in residential care. Cross-gender measurement invariance was also confirmed. These findings underscore the instrument’s relevance and validity for evaluating integration within residential settings and provide valuable guidance for caregivers, professionals, and caseworkers in child welfare services. Full article

We examine access to U.S. welfare programs—Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)—as primary prevention strategies against adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). Using the University of Kentucky’s National Welfare Data and National Survey of Children’s Health (2016–2022), we estimate two-way fixed effects models linking state-level access rates to child-level ACE incidence. TANF access predicts reduced parental mental illness (fully adjusted β = −5.40, 95% CI: −8.80, −2.00), and parental incarceration in the model adjusted for state-level factors (β = −4.44, 95% CI: −8.84, −0.05), though the latter attenuates with child-level covariate adjustment. Unexpectedly, SNAP access correlates with slight increases in neighborhood violence exposure (fully adjusted β = 0.95, 95% CI: 0.39, 1.51) and parental substance use (crude β = 0.48, 95% CI: 0.04, 0.93) in crude models. Robustness checks show greater TANF access is associated with fewer total ACEs (β = −0.27, 95% CI: −0.46, −0.07). Results suggest that welfare programs hinge on broader social contexts; TANF access appears protective, while SNAP findings diverge from prior research, likely reflecting measurement or contextual limitations that merit careful further investigation, rather than overinterpretations of program harm. Full article

Truth-telling, a community intervention to increase reconciliation after systemic injustices, has been employed recently to increase public awareness of harms perpetuated by the child welfare industry in the U.S. Guided by participatory action research principles, we examined a public truth telling initiative over two years which was co-designed by a trans-experiential team of emerging adults with lived expertise and child welfare system professionals in Kentucky. The aims of the truth-telling events were to raise awareness about the experiences of Black American youth in the Kentucky child welfare system and generate ideas for improvements. We conducted a longitudinal collaborative autoethnography (n = 9, 2 time points) to examine our collective experience of developing and hosting the truth-telling circles and supporting activities. Key themes included the transformative impact on the alumni of receiving validation and acknowledgement, as well as forming social and professional connections. Some concerns related to timing of activities and group dynamics also were reported. In addition, the four lived expert truth-tellers engaged in a systematic consensus workgroup process to select a list of 10 priority practice and policy recommendations, such as child welfare system alumni being hired to provide emotion regulation and self-advocacy skills training directly to youth. Full article