Background: Media reports of child deaths as a result of abuse and neglect can influence how children move throughout the foster care system. Using the theoretical frameworks of moral panics and street level bureaucracy, the current study examined how news reports of violent child abuse and neglect cases relate to foster care children with…

Much as one would like to be able to base permanency decisions on the solid ground of empirical findings and objective knowledge, the nature of child abuse precludes this possibility. In the absence of any unitary knowledge base, it is important to know what knowledge social workers use to inform their permanency decisions. This article presents…

Children in the foster care system often face many educational challenges, including having an increased risk of language delays compared to the general population, with an estimated 35%-73% of the foster youth population experiencing language difficulties. Language delays are caused by many factors, but for children in foster care, one major…

Since March 2020, states across the country have taken extreme measures to prevent the spread of the coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19). Stay-at-home orders and deteriorating economic conditions have placed families under stress, while children home from school have diminished exposure to adults who might detect and report abuse and neglect. There are…

Cross-system collaborations are central to the provision of services for young children with disabilities who have experienced abuse. While multiple position papers and policy briefs emphasize and encourage these cross-system collaborations between the Early Intervention and Child Welfare systems, very limited empirical research has examined these…

This article describes the role of a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA). CASA volunteers are appointed by judges to represent the best interests of children who have been removed from their homes because of abuse or neglect. CASA volunteers are everyday citizens who have undergone screening and training with their local CASA program (National…

This longitudinal analysis examined predictors of reentry to foster care among children and youths who entered foster care between 2001 and 2007. Three sources of administrative data (Chapin Hall Center for Children longitudinal files, National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System, and structured decision making) from one state were used to assess…

In 2004, Chapin Hall researchers conducted a study to learn why youth ran way from substitute care (Courtney, et al., 2005). As part of the study, qualitative interviews were conducted with 46 youth who had run away from care and 16 professionals and foster parents who worked with these youth. Although the youth were not prompted with specific…

Unique in its explicit use of a developmental perspective of all child welfare activities, this four-volume field guide was designed to support education and training of child welfare professionals throughout their careers. The volumes integrate both theory and practice, and can serve as text for college courses or inservice training, and as a…

This module is part of a training program for foster parents and foster care workers offered at Colorado State University. The module describes what sexual abuse is, why sexual abuse occurs, and how counties report and investigate cases of alleged sexual abuse. The module's learning objectives address: (1) ways of improving the child placement and…

The Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997 has made child safety an explicit focus in child welfare. The authors describe an automated critical incident reporting program designed for use in foster care and family-support programs. The program, which is based in Lotus Notes and uses e-mail to route incident reports from direct service staff to…

Although the trauma that children experience in abusive situations differs from the trauma of a disaster, its effects are just as profound. The information and skills that caseworkers need to assess families and children who have been traumatized, to make more appropriate treatment planning decisions, and to carry out their professional roles with…

Seeking solutions for a troubled child welfare system, the Children's Action Alliance in Arizona held four forums throughout the state in 1997 at which participants were invited to give testimony on their experiences with the child welfare system--its positives and negatives--and their solutions for change. Along with their comments, this report…

Providing instructor and participant materials, this training manual presents specialized information about the prevention of abuse in family foster care. Focal concerns are (1) the dynamics of abuse in general and in foster families particularly; (2) the need for prevention related activities on a systems level, for adequate training and supports…

Recent concerns regarding permanence for foster children have inspired child welfare agencies to re-focus more of their efforts on biological parents as permanent resources for children in care. The social work field has responded to this situation with family-focused training for frontline staff; one such curriculum is the Family Development…