Collection
Child Wellbeing after Child Welfare System Involvement
A – or perhaps, the— fundamental question about the child welfare system (CWS, and/or child protection system) is, does it help children? Of late, many activists, as well as some scholars and governmental officials, have argued that CWS – at least in the US context – does more harm than good, especially (but not solely) when it places children in out-of-home (formal foster, kinship, or residential) care. Unfortunately, the evidence on child wellbeing following any form of CWS intervention remains underdeveloped and struggles to differentiate the effects of child maltreatment from the effects of any action or inaction by CWS. A great deal of research has focused on a narrow range of process/ system outcomes: recurrent involvement with CWS, experiences of children within out-of-home care (e.g., placement stability), and patterns of out-of-home care entry and exit. Though such studies are important, too often, this leads to child wellbeing being framed in terms of whether system goals were met. System goals may be weakly related, unrelated, or even contrary to a child’s health, functioning, or quality of life. We lack a more comprehensive understanding of whether, how, and for whom child welfare systems impact wellbeing across the life course.
This special issue focuses on studies on the wellbeing outcomes of children after involvement with the formal child welfare system (CWS; or other governmental entity with recognized authority for child protection).Specifically, studies that speak to the impact of CWS decisions and actions (e.g., services, foster care, adoption, reunification) on children’s short and long-term wellbeing (broadly defined).
The goals of this special issue are to (1) increase understanding of the range of wellbeing outcomes for children subject to CWS intervention across various places and contexts; and (2) gain broader insight about the strategies, practices, and policies of CWS that are most (and least) conducive to promoting child wellbeing.
Articles will undergo all of the journal's standard peer review and editorial processes outlined in its submission guidelines
Editors
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Sarah A. Font
Penn State University, State College, USA Sarah Font's research focuses on various issues related to child maltreatment and the child welfare system, including the measurement of child maltreatment, the causes and effects of involvement with the child protection and foster care systems, case-level decision-making, and system effectiveness.
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John Fluke
University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, USA Dr. John Fluke (U. of Colorado –Denver, Kempe Center) has over 33 years of experience in the area of child welfare and mental health services for children. Internationally recognized as a researcher specializing in assessing and analyzing decision making in human services delivery systems, he is active in national child maltreatment data collection systems and analysis; has worked with data collection programs worldwide; and has conducted research and evaluation in government, in the private non-profit sector, and with national foundations and associations.
Articles (5 in this collection)
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Young Adults with Lived Foster Care Experience Who Later Experience Houselessness: an Exploratory Latent Class Analysis
Authors (first, second and last of 4)
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A Balancing Act: How Professionals in the Foster Care System Balance the Harm of Intimate Partner Violence as Compared to the Harm of Child Removal
Authors (first, second and last of 6)
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