Suchergebnisse

AbstractThe government's contracting out of foster care services in Guangzhou, China, introduced the possibility of partnerships between nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and government‐led human services. To understand network governance among actors involved in contracting out foster care services, service funders, service providers, and service users were interviewed. A thematic analysis of interviews combined with a critical review of archival data was conducted. Drawing from the policy network governance analytic framework, we found that network governance conditions in contracting out foster care services were characterized by close interdependence among actors, moderate standardization in work duties, but nonreciprocal patterns of interactions, and low to modest levels of autonomy, along with strong power in the government but limited self‐governance among NGOs and foster families. Our findings indicate that network governance was not fully achieved among actors involved in the contracting out of foster care services. Implications for practice and research are discussed.

The risk of child maltreatment is heightened during the pandemic due to multiple COVID-19 related stressors, such as physical and mental health concerns, economic stress, challenges in homeschooling, marital conflicts and intimate personal violence, and intensified child–parent relationships. Both parental internal (e.g., parenting styles) and external resources (e.g., social support), and parental perceptions toward stressors will affect how parents cope with these stressors, which may exacerbate or mitigate the risk of child maltreatment. Guided by family stress theory, this article identifies COVID-19 related stressors at the family level, and further elaborates on how these stressors are associated with child maltreatment via parents' resources, perceptions, and coping strategies. Implications for future practice and research are discussed.

Retention of the estimated 30,000 U.S. volunteer community mediators is critical to provision of high‐quality services. Although workers' retention and burnout is well researched, retention of volunteers such as community mediators is less understood. Survey data of 53 volunteer mediators were analyzed. For volunteer mediators, burnout and intent to remain for 2 years were significantly negatively associated. Using a self‐determination‐based basic needs satisfaction scale, more relatedness satisfaction predicted lower burnout for volunteer mediators, while competence satisfaction and autonomy satisfaction did not. This association held, even when controlling for mediators' experience in the field and self‐care behaviors.

Although family-centered practice has been implemented nationwide in child welfare, measures for evaluating family-centered practice have not been well-established. This study aimed to evaluate the factor structure of the Family-Centered Practice Questionnaire. Confirmatory factor analyses were conducted to examine the factor structure of the Family-Centered Practice Questionnaire. The five-factor and second-order five-factor models of the revised Family-Centered Practice Questionnaire with 31 items both demonstrated adequate fit. The higher order of this scale was family-centered practice and five factors were mutual trust, shared decision-making, family as a unit, strengths-based practice, and cultural competence and sensitivity. Findings suggest that the revised Family-Centered Practice Questionnaire may be helpful to practitioners and researchers seeking to measure the implementation of family-centered practice in child welfare settings.

A recent study estimated that over one‐fourth of Chinese children have suffered maltreatment (Fang et al., 2015). However, the current child welfare policy in China is limited to orphans, abandoned children, and children with disabilities. Also, there is very little comparative research in China on Chinese and other countries' child welfare systems. The purpose of this study was to analyze applicable US and Chinese child welfare policies, identify gaps in Chinese policy regarding child maltreatment, and make recommendations for a policy agenda for improving child welfare in China based on cultural values and existing policy structures. Results show that China has considerable capacity to make improvements in child protective services, foster care, and adoption policies. Based on the results of this study, several implications are provided to develop China's child maltreatment policy to increase children's outcomes of well‐being, safety, and permanency.Key Practitioner Message: • To understand the background and system of current Chinese child maltreatment policy; • To review US child maltreatment policy and its implementation to identify gaps in the Chinese child maltreatment system; • To provide policy suggestions to develop Chinese child maltreatment policy and provide recommendations for social work education and practice in China.