School of Public Health

Permanent URI for this communityhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/1633

The collections in this community comprise faculty research works, as well as graduate theses and dissertations.

Note: Prior to July 1, 2007, the School of Public Health was named the College of Health & Human Performance.

Browse

Subject: search.filters.subject.child welfare

Search Results

Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Experiences of child welfare social workers in addressing substance use among maltreated young mothers to prevent child maltreatment
    (Wiley, 2023-02-24) Doig, Amara Channell; Jasczynski, Michelle; Phillips, Danielle R.; Robinson, Jennifer L.; Aden, Faduma; Huq, Maisha; Lee, Kaitlyn; Jones, Gary; Bernardi, Chloe; Aparicio, Elizabeth M.
    Substance use during the perinatal period and while parenting can pose a significant risk to children's safety and well-being. Mothers who have experienced child maltreatment are more likely to use substances than mothers without a history of maltreatment. This study explores how child welfare social workers experience supporting young, maltreated mothers struggling with substance use to prevent the intergenerational transmission of child maltreatment. Semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with four social workers working with young mothers with a history of maltreatment and substance use. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis revealed two themes: (1) grappling with system challenges and (2) supporting strategies for disrupting intergenerational transmission of child maltreatment. The results highlight the need for systemic changes around support for social workers who work with young mothers who use substances and have a history of maltreatment, and substance use treatment and mental health programs themselves. Mothers need access to prenatal programs that are trauma-informed, non-judgemental and that support participants' basic needs and parenting skills.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Internalizing and externalizing behaviors of adolescents in kinship and foster care: Findings from the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-being
    (2007-05-07) Kaye, Sarah; Hofferth, Sandra; Family Studies; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    The mission of the United States child welfare system is to promote safety, permanency and well-being for children and youth. The underlying assumption of out-of-home placement is that kinship and foster families provide a safer, better quality care environment than biological families. Yet, decades of research have found out-of-home placement to be associated with negative child outcomes. This study answers the question, "What is the effect of out-of-home placement in kinship or foster care on adolescent behavior?" It contributes to previous findings using a series of hierarchical linear regressions in an improved research design. Data are drawn from a subset of 839 adolescents in the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-being (NSCAW). Measures at baseline, and 18 and 36 months after baseline allow for a longitudinal examination of the development of problem behaviors over time. After correcting methodological shortcomings in previous research, this study finds no negative effects of kinship and foster care on behavior. Kinship care has a direct protective effect on girls' externalizing behavior and foster care has an indirect protective effect on girls internalizing and externalizing behavior. Selection effects are corrected by considering the influence of pre-placement circumstances on post-placement outcomes. Outcomes for youth placed out-of-home are compared to the best available comparison group of youth that are investigated by Child Protective Services, but not placed. This study also advances our theoretical understanding of how placements affect child outcomes. Results suggest that the current care environment, as measured by child/caregiver relationship and parental monitoring, is a better predictor of adolescent behavior than the out-of-home placement experience. Foster caregivers provide more parental monitoring than biological parents, but the child/caregiver relationship might not be as good in foster placements as it is in the biological family. There is no difference in child/caregiver relationship quality in kinship families relative to biological families and there is a trend toward increased parental monitoring from kinship caregivers compared to biological parents.