Subject(s)
Altruism , Child Care/psychology , Orphanages , Volunteers , Child , Child Welfare , Child, Preschool , Humans , Object Attachment , Risk FactorsABSTRACT
Group care is a frequent placement for adolescents placed in out of home care when their birth parents' care is deemed unsafe. In the present study, we assessed whether foster parents show greater commitment to children than group care providers. Given that group care represents a number of living arrangements, we considered both shift care (where staff work shifts and do not live with the children) and cottage care (where staff live for extended periods of time with the children in a group living context). Commitment was assessed using the This Is My Child Interview (adapted for adolescents). Thirty-one foster parents, 18 shift workers, and 28 cottage care providers were interviewed. As predicted, foster parents showed higher levels of commitment than both shift care workers and cottage care providers, and the associations held when children's externalizing behaviors and the number of children the caregivers had cared for were controlled. The results suggest that foster care promotes greater commitment among caregivers than other out of home placements, and add to other findings that favor foster care as the out of home placement of choice for adolescents.
ABSTRACT
Group care for children and adolescents is widely used as a rearing environment and sometimes used as a setting in which intensive services can be provided. This consensus statement on group care affirms that children and adolescents have the need and right to grow up in a family with at least 1 committed, stable, and loving adult caregiver. In principle, group care should never be favored over family care. Group care should be used only when it is the least detrimental alternative, when necessary therapeutic mental health services cannot be delivered in a less restrictive setting.
Subject(s)
Child Rearing/psychology , Family/psychology , Group Homes/standards , Orthopsychiatry/standards , Adolescent , Child , Consensus , Humans , Object Attachment , PolicyABSTRACT
The absence of a father figure has been linked to very poor developmental outcomes for the child. During incarceration, there are limited opportunities for visitation between fathers and their children. The Baby Elmo Program provides incarcerated teen fathers with parenting training and visitation with their children with the stated goal of enhancing father-child interactional quality. Forty-one incarcerated teen fathers and their infants ranging from 1 to 15 months of age participated in the present study. During individual sessions, a trained facilitator prepared fathers for visits with their children by introducing key concepts such as following the child's lead, using developmentally appropriate media to illustrate those concepts. After each training session, the incarcerated teen father interacted with his infant and the visit was video recorded. Analysis of the visit sessions focused on father's time use on different activities, the quality of father-infant interactions, and father's integration of target skills introduced in the intervention. The time-use analysis revealed that time use changed as a function of infant age. Growth linear modeling indicated that there were significant positive increases in the amount of parent support and infant engagement as a function of the number of sessions. Follow-up analyses indicated that changes between specific sessions mapped onto the target skills discussed during specific training sessions. This study's preliminary findings suggest that an intervention integrating visitation and appropriate media may be effective for incarcerated teen fathers. Due to the lack of a randomized control group, the present findings are exploratory and are discussed with a focus on further program development.
Subject(s)
Father-Child Relations , Fathers/education , Parenting/psychology , Prisoners/psychology , Adolescent , Adolescent Behavior , Age Factors , Analysis of Variance , Child Development , Child, Preschool , Curriculum , Emotional Intelligence , Fathers/psychology , Humans , Infant , Linear Models , Male , Pilot Projects , Prisons , Program Evaluation , Time Factors , Video RecordingABSTRACT
Millions of infants and toddlers are in institutional care around the world, care that is poorly suited to meet young children's developmental needs. In this article, we briefly review the history of institutional care and surrogate care. We then discuss why institutional care is at odds with children's needs, and review the empirical evidence regarding the effects of institutional care on young children's development. Finally, we discuss alternatives to institutional care, and make recommendations for changes.
