Understanding reentry to out-of-home care for reunified infants.

Although many children placed in out-of-home care are reunified with their families of origin, a significant portion reenter care, reflecting continued family problems and weaknesses within the child welfare system. For infants, the stability of reunification is particularly crucial, given their developmental stage. This study reviewed the case records of 88 randomly selected infants who had been reunified with their families. Thirty-two percent of those infants reentered care within four to six years of their reunification. The identification of factors predictive of reentry into care has both policy and practice implications.

Impacts of welfare reform on California grandparents raising grandchildren: reflections from the field.

Debate over the potential impacts of welfare reform largely has ignored the implications of these changes for the growing number of grandparents who are raising their grandchildren. Results of a qualitative study involving 36 key informants who were intimately involved in the crafting and/or implementation of California's welfare reform plan are presented. Particular attention is focused on time limits on aid, work requirements, and sanctions regarding teenage parenthood as these may impact on grandparent caregivers and their families. Cross-cutting themes also are presented. A case is made for greatly stepping up data collection and evaluative research that may help in determining the actual impacts of the legislation on intergenerational households headed by grandparents.

When children cannot remain home: foster family care and kinship care.

Despite the best efforts of child welfare agencies, community agencies, and individuals, some children are not safe in their homes and must be placed in substitute care settings by child welfare authorities. Increasingly, as this article points out, child welfare agencies are placing children in the homes of their relatives rather than in traditional foster family homes (31% of all children in out-of-home care in the early 1990s were living with kin). This article discusses how such factors as the availability of foster homes, the demand for foster care, attitudes toward the extended families of troubled parents, and policies regarding payment for the costs of care have contributed to the rapid growth in kinship foster care. It discusses differences in the personal characteristics of kin and traditional foster parents and in the supports provided to the caregivers by child welfare agencies. Research findings suggest that kinship homes can promote the child welfare goals of protecting children and supporting families, but they are less likely to facilitate the prompt achievement of legal permanence for children. To forge a coherent policy toward kinship caregivers, officials must balance the natural strengths of informal, private exchanges among family members with the power of government agencies to provide both resources and oversight.

Race and child welfare services: past research and future directions.

A review of child welfare research suggests that children of color and their families experience poorer outcomes and receive fewer services than their Caucasian counterparts. The relationship between race and the outcomes of child welfare services is confounded, however, by the relationships among race and other contributors to poor child welfare outcomes. Child welfare researchers should take explicit account of race and ethnicity in designing and carrying out their studies. Service approaches intended to meet the special needs of children of color and their families should be developed and rigorously evaluated.

Parental involvement in child abuse prevention training: what do they learn?

This study examined the impact of parent education meetings on preschool parents' knowledge of child abuse. One hundred sixteen parents participated in the study. Parents were selected from seven preschool sites across California. Parent education appeared to have little effect upon (1) parents' knowledge of the prevalence of child sexual abuse, (2) indicators of abuse, or (3) parents' appropriate response to disclosures. Results from the parent data show the negligible effect of parent education as it is presently delivered. Few parents attend the meetings, and those who do learn very little.