Sexual Violence against Children with Disabilities: A Danish National Birth Cohort Prospective Study.

Background: Children with disabilities are at heightened risk of sexual violence compared to non-disabled peers. Objective: We aimed to examine the associations between ten childhood disabilities and sexual victimization. Methods: Data were drawn from the Danish Psychiatric Case Register, the Criminal Register, and other population-based registers. Children born between 1994 and 2001 (n=570,351) were followed until 18 years of age. Using logistic regression, the association between the disabilities and risk of sexual victimisation was estimated. Results: We identified 8,860 cases of sexual victimization towards children and adolescents. In the fully adjusted models, children with a diagnosis of ADHD, speech disability and intellectual disability were at highest risk of sexual victimization. Children with comorbid disabilities were particularly vulnerable to sexual victimization. Conclusions: We found that children with certain types of disability have a higher risk of sexual victimization. Our findings indicate that educational institutions and health care professionals should be aware of and have specialized training in, recognizing and assessing sexual victimization among children with disabilities.

Physical violence against children with disabilities: A Danish national birth cohort prospective study.

Background: Children with disabilities are at heightened risk of violence compared to their non-disabled peers. However, extant research suffers from several limitations, focusing on child abuse and one or few types of disability, ignoring conventional violent crimes.Objective: The aim was to assess 10 disabilities and to examine whether different disabilities vary in their risk of criminal victimization.Method: Using the Danish Psychiatric Case Register, the Criminal Register, and other population-based registers, we included nine birth cohorts (n = 570,351) and followed them until 18 years of age. We compared children exposed to violence with non-exposed children. We estimated odds ratios (ORs) for the disabilities and adjusted the ORs for several risk factors.Results: We identified 12,830 cases of reported violence (2.25% of the population) towards children and adolescents. Children with disabilities were overrepresented, as were boys and ethnic minorities. After controlling for risk factors, four disabilities had heightened risk for criminal violence: attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), brain injury, speech, and physical disabilities. When we compared risk factors controlling for the various disabilities, parental history of violence, family break-up, out-of-home placement, and parental unemployment contributed especially to the violence, while parental alcohol/drug abuse was no longer a predictor. Having several disabilities increased the risk of violence.Conclusions: Criminal victimization of children and adolescents with specific disabilities was common. However, compared to the previous decade, a considerable reduction of one-third has taken place. Four risk factors contributed particularly to the risk of violence; therefore, precautions should be taken to further reduce the violence.

Based on data from nine full birth cohorts, followed for 18 years, the study concludes that disabled children are considerably more exposed to police-reported physical violence than non-disabled children.Four disabilities were especially exposed to physical violence when we controlled for risk factors.Four risk factors contributed particularly to physical violence when we controlled for diagnoses.

The role of mental health problems in out-of-home care youths' educational pathways: Quantitative and qualitative analysis of Danish longitudinal data.

BACKGROUND: While the low educational attainment of out-of-home care youth (OHC youth) has been well established, less is known about the role mental health problems play in shaping their educational pathways. OBJECTIVE: This paper examines how mental health problems influence OHC youths' educational pathways and how this influence can be understood. PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING: The paper draws on a mixed-methods longitudinal study of OHC youth in Denmark. METHODS: Sequence and cluster analyses and logistic regressions of survey data (n = 525) and administrative registries were used and combined with narrative analyses of two qualitative cases. RESULTS: We identified four educational pathways: 1) the typical academic pathway, 2) the typical vocational pathway, 3) the disrupted pathway, and 4) the non-completion pathway. Moreover, mental health problems were found to be an essential predicting factor of entrance into the disrupted pathway (3) or the non-completion pathway (4). For youths who entered the disrupted pathway (3), mental health problems appeared to be the key predicting factor. Even though mental health problems also played a fundamental role in entrance into the non-completion pathway (4), we also found a more complex intersection of predictive factors, such as care history, lack of social support, and other social problems, such as cannabis abuse and homelessness. CONCLUSIONS: The findings showed a need for a stronger focus on how mental health problems among OHC youths impact their educational pathways. Mental health problems played a key role in OHC youths' transition to independent adulthood and, consequently, their chances for a better life.

Acogimiento residencial terapéutico para niños y adolescentes: una declaración de consenso del Grupo de Trabajo Internacional sobre Acogimiento Residencial Terapéutico / Therapeutic Residential Care for Children and Youth: A Consensus Statement of the International Work Group on Therapeutic Residential Care

En muchos países desarrollados a lo largo del mundo las intervenciones en acogimiento residencial para niños y adolescentes se encuentran en un momento de creciente debate. Ante esta situación, se organizó una cumbre internacional en Inglaterra (primavera de 2016) con expertos de 13 países para reflexionar sobre el acogimiento residencial terapéutico (ART). Se partió de la siguiente definición de ART: "el acogimiento residencial terapéutico implica el uso planificado de un ambiente de convivencia multidimensional, construido a propósito, diseñado para desarrollar o proveer tratamiento, educación, socialización, apoyo y protección a niños y jóvenes con necesidades reconocidas de salud mental o conductuales, en cooperación con sus familias y la colaboración de un amplio espectro recursos comunitarios formales e informales». La reunión se caracterizó por el intercambio de información y evidencias y la preparación de una agenda internacional de investigación. Además, se discutieron las bases para una declaración de consenso. Esta declaración, originalmente publicada en inglés y ahora reproducida en español, comprende, entre otras cuestiones, cinco principios básicos de acogimiento que de acuerdo con el grupo de trabajo en acogimiento residencial terapéutico deben guiar el acogimiento residencial de jóvenes que se preste en todo momento (AU)

In many developed countries around the world residential care interventions for children and adolescents have come under increasing scrutiny. Against this background an international summit was organised in England (spring 2016) with experts from 13 countries to reflect on therapeutic residential care (TRC). The following working definition of TRC was leading: «Therapeutic residential care involves the planful use of a purposefully constructed, multi-dimensional living environment designed to enhance or provide treatment, education, socialization, support, and protection to children and youth with identified mental health or behavioral needs in partnership with their families and in collaboration with a full spectrum of community based formal and informal helping resources». The meeting was characterised by exchange of information and evidence, and by preparing an international research agenda. In addition, the outlines of a consensus statement on TRC were discussed. This statement, originally published in English and now reproduced in a Spanish translation, comprises inter alia five basic principles of care that according to the Work Group on Therapeutic Residental Care should be guiding for residential youth care provided at any time (AU)

[Therapeutic Residential Care for Children and Youth: A Consensus Statement of the International Work Group on Therapeutic Residential Care].

Therapeutic Residential Care for Children and Youth: A Consensus Statement of the International Work Group on Therapeutic Residential Care. In many developed countries around the world residential care interventions for children and adolescents have come under increasing scrutiny. Against this background an international summit was organised in England (spring 2016) with experts from 13 countries to reflect on therapeutic residential care (TRC). The following working definition of TRC was leading: “Therapeutic residential care involves the planful use of a purposefully constructed, multi-dimensional living environment designed to enhance or provide treatment, education, socialization, support, and protection to children and youth with identified mental health or behavioral needs in partnership with their families and in collaboration with a full spectrum of community based formal and informal helping resources”. The meeting was characterised by exchange of information and evidence, and by preparing an international research agenda. In addition, the outlines of a consensus statement on TRC were discussed. This statement, originally published in English and now reproduced in a Spanish translation, comprises inter alia five basic principles of care that according to the Work Group on Therapeutic Residental Care should be guiding for residential youth care provided at any time.

Fathers' Leave and Fathers' Involvement: Evidence from Four OECD Countries.

In recent years, several OECD countries have taken steps to promote policies encouraging fathers to spend more time caring for young children, thereby promoting a more gender equal division of care work. Evidence, mainly for the United States and United Kingdom, has shown fathers taking some time off work around childbirth are more likely to be involved in childcare related activities than fathers who do not take time off. This paper conducts a first cross-national analysis on the association between fathers' leave taking and fathers' involvement when children are young. It uses birth cohort data of children born around 2000 from four OECD countries: Australia, Denmark, the United Kingdom and the United States. Results show that the majority of fathers take time off around childbirth independent of the leave policies in place. In all countries, except Denmark, important socio-economic differences between fathers who take leave and those who do not are observed. In addition, fathers who take leave, especially those taking two weeks or more, are more likely to carry out childcare related activities when children are young. This study adds to the evidence that suggests that parental leave for fathers is positively associated with subsequent paternal involvement.

The effect of low birth weight on height, weight and behavioral outcomes in the medium-run.

A number of studies have documented negative long term effects of low birth weight. Yet, not much is known about the dynamics of the process leading to adverse health and educational outcomes in the long run. While previous studies focusing mainly on LBW effects on physical growth and cognitive outcomes have found effects of the same size at both school age and young adulthood, others have found a diminishing negative effect over time. The purpose of this paper was to bring new evidence to this issue by analyzing the medium run effects of low birth weight on child behavioral outcomes as well as physical growth at ages 6 months, 3, 7 and 11 years using data from the Danish Longitudinal Survey of Children. Observing the same children at different points in time enabled us to chart the evolution of anthropometric and behavioral deficits among children born with low birth weight and helped understanding the nature and timing of interventions.