An empirical analysis of behavioral and emotional problems of foster children as related to re-placement in care

Foster care is seen as a temporary service. However, for many children, foster care involves years of long term care. Most professionals feel that if a child must remain in care, the number of foster homes or re-placements the child experiences should be minimized. Evidence suggests that this lack of stability has a detrimental effect on the child's psychosocial development. Even though the research evidence supports the negative impact of re-placement on the foster child, little empirical research has dealt with identification of factors associated with children likely to be re-placed. This article focuses on foster children with behavioral and emotional problems and analyzes the association of these problems with placement stability and continuity. The findings report that children with behavioral and emotional problems are replaced in foster care more often than those children without similar problems.     

Exploring the Letterbox Club programme’s impact on foster children’s literacy: potent intervention or general support?

ABSTRACT

The book-gifting programme, the Letterbox Club, was developed as a response to the increased interest in ways of improving the educational outcomes of children in out-of-home care. By reporting quantitative and qualitative findings from a Swedish trial, and compiling findings from previous British evaluations, the purpose of this paper is to further our understanding of the programme’s potential impact. Pre/post measurements of the reading age of 72 foster children showed an average improvement of 2.5 months in comparison to the national average. With some exceptions, interviews with children and carers showed that the programme was well received and indicated that it could increase reading engagement and carer involvement. The current empirical base knowledge suggests that the Letterbox Club has a small impact on foster children’s literacy. The results do not allow for causal interpretations. Long-term outcomes are unknown. The programme lacks a theoretical foundation, and the implementation is dependent on individual and contextual factors. However, the programme is simple to administer, low-cost, and can reach a large number of children. The article therefore suggests that the Letterbox Club could be seen as a general supportive measure, and promotion of carer involvement is proposed as a way of improving its potential impact.     

Youths in foster care with language delays: Prevalence,causes, and interventions

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 antecedent is child abuse and neglect. Early delays greatly impact long‐term outcomes for children, including delays in their reading, writing, and social competence. This article explores possible causes of language delays for youths in foster care, describes the negative impact of language delays, and identifies evidence‐based practices for early intervention within the child welfare system and primary and secondary schools, specifically targeting practices for school psychologists, school counselors, school social workers, and speech pathologists.     

当前幼儿读物存在的问题及原因分析——以呼和浩特、乌兰察布市为例

幼儿读物是幼儿认识世界的重要媒介之一,幼儿读物对幼儿的发展有着不可替代的影响作用。笔者通过访谈、观察呼和浩特、乌兰察布市的一些图书市场,以及对幼儿家长的调查问卷,发现当前幼儿读物存在以下问题：幼儿读物的种类多但质量参差不齐;主题过于单一而缺乏创意;内容繁杂而良莠不齐;题材多外国经典而少本土原创;形式多样但安排不当;多媒体电子读物对幼儿图书阅读形成一定的冲击。     

Mental health care for foster children in California

This paper reports on a study conducted to assess the health care needs of foster children in California. To evaluate foster children's mental health problems and the services provided to meet them, 154 program administrators, social workers, foster parents, and health care providers were interviewed in 14 counties. Foster parents and social workers were interviewed in groups, and foster parents and administrators also completed questionnaires. We found that although all counties care immediately for children who are injured, abused, or ill, only one county performs routine mental health evaluations of all children, and in most counties less than a third of children ever receive such evaluations. Informants identified mental health problems as more severe than medical problems in this population, and they identified four major barriers to access to appropriate therapy. Recommendations are that all children should receive comprehensive mental health evaluations, and procedures for immediate and ongoing care with consistent providers who are sensitive to foster children's needs should be included in case management plans, and covered by improved payment mechanisms. Additionally, communication, coordination and joint planning should be instituted among relevant agencies to address foster children's needs, and increased resources and training should be directed towards social service agencies and foster parents.     

Selecting Books for Children Birth Through Four: A Developmental Approach

The selection of books to read to young children matters enormously in the role books play for enriching children’s lives. This paper reviews the scientific evidence for the appropriate selection of books, and argues that care in selecting books targeted to children’s developing skills will enhance the power and the pleasures of reading to young children.     

Abuse of children in foster and residential care

OBJECTIVE: There have recently been many debates in the UK about how to provide good care for children placed away from home. Professionals have realized that the level of child abuse in foster care and children's homes is high. This research examines the characteristics of physical and sexual abuse of children in foster and residential care in a city in England. The number of cases of abuse reported by pediatricians in this group was compared to the number reported by the same pediatricians for the population of Leeds as a whole. METHOD: This is a retrospective study of 158 children, fostered or in residential care who were involved in 191 episodes of alleged physical and/or sexual abuse assessed and reported by pediatricians over a 6 year period from 1990 to 1995 in Leeds, England. Details of the child including the reason for placement in care, their physical and mental health, abuse characteristics, including perpetrator and case management were studied. RESULTS (see Table 1): 158 incidents of abuse in 133 children in foster/residential care are described. In foster care, 42 children were physically abused, 76 were sexually abused, and 15 experienced both forms of abuse. In residential care, 12 children were physically abused, 6 were sexually abused, and 6 experienced both forms of abuse. In foster care 60% of sexual abuse involved girls and 60% of physical abuse involved boys. In residential care almost twice as many boys as girls were reported to be abused. Foster carers perpetrated the abuse for 41%, natural parents on contact for 23%, and children 20% of incidents. A significant proportion of abuse was severe with 1 death, 8 children with burns, 18 with genital, and 34 with anal penetration. Long-standing emotional, behavioral and learning difficulties were common. Most children (80%) had been abused prior to entry into care. Foster children were 7-8 times and children in residential care 6 times more likely to be assessed by a pediatrician for abuse than a child in the general population. CONCLUSIONS: Children in foster or residential care form an at risk group for maltreatment. Their special needs include additional measures to protect them from abuse.     

Exploring a national book-gifting scheme: parents' and children's reactions

Several early learning programmes have targeted children's reading, particularly their relationships with books. One, Bookstart, provided free books to babies attending their eighth-month health check at local clinics. Study of this programme suggested that it led to an improvement in language performance upon school entry. Booktime continues from Bookstart and involves the donation of a book pack to five-year old children in their first school term. This paper reports an evaluation of the impact of Booktime on the views about, and enjoyment of, reading, of participating children and on the views of parents/carers about helping their children with reading.     

亲子教育中的绘本阅读

研究绘本对亲子教育的影响,使家长更加重视绘本的地位和作用,认识到绘本的重要性,以及通过绘本的选择,为儿童创设一个良好的阅读环境以及固定的阅读时间等。与儿童一起阅读,融入到幼儿的成长中,密切关注儿童的成长变化,密切联系亲子之间的关系。     

Effects of the TutorBright tutoring programme on the reading and mathematics skills of children in foster care: a randomised controlled trial

ABSTRACT

We evaluated the effects of TutorBright tutoring on the reading and mathematics skills of children in family foster care, examined several potential moderators of the impact of tutoring, and explored possible ‘spill-over’ effects on the children’s executive functioning and behavioural difficulties and on their caregivers’ level of involvement in schoolwork in the home. The sample consisted of 70 children in care in Ontario, Canada. At the pre-test, the children were aged 5–16 years (M = 10.41, SD = 2.94) and enrolled in school grades 1–11 (M = 5.53, SD = 2.90). Thirty-four children were randomly assigned to tutoring and 36 to a waiting list control condition. Seven subtests from the Woodcock-Johnson III (WJ-III) achievement test served as outcome measures. The tutored children made statistically greater gains than those in the control group on the WJ-III subtests of Reading Fluency, Reading Comprehension, and Mathematics Calculation, but not on Word Reading, Spelling, Math Fluency, or Applied Math Problems. Age, executive functioning, caregiver controlling involvement in schoolwork, and self-reported post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms were found to moderate the effectiveness of tutoring. There were no spill-over effects of tutoring. The implications of the results for improving foster children’s reading and mathematics skills were discussed.     

Identifying divergent foster care careers for Danish children

Foster care children who experience placement disruption and foster care instability are at elevated risk for a host of poor outcomes, yet little work considers what these unstable foster care careers look like or what causes them. In this article, I start by using previous studies on foster care drift, instability, and placement disruptions to define the unstable foster care career as a subset of foster care careers. I then use administrative data on 30,239 Danish children born 1982–1987 who entered foster care to generate nine foster care careers, two of which meet the criteria for an unstable career. Children with a high number of risk factors associated with foster care entry were also the most likely to enter an unstable career. I end by discussing implications for recent studies of the effect of foster care on children's later life outcomes and the relevance of the findings for practitioners.     

Estimating the number of children in formal alternative care: Challenges and results

Given the relatively large body of literature documenting the adverse impacts of institutionalization on children’s developmental outcomes and well-being, it is essential that countries work towards reducing the number of children in alternative care (particularly institutional care), and, when possible, reunite children with their families. In order to do so, reliable estimates of the numbers of children living in such settings are essential. However, many countries still lack functional administrative systems for enumerating children living outside of family care.The purpose of this paper is to provide a snapshot of the availability and coverage of data on children living in residential and foster care from some 142 countries covering more than 80 per cent of the world’s children. Utilizing these country-level figures, it is estimated that approximately 2.7 million children between the ages of 0 and 17 years could be living in institutional care worldwide. Where possible, the article also presents regional estimates of the number of children living in residential and foster care.This work represents an important step to systematically identify and compile sources of data on children in alternative care and provides updated global and regional estimates on the magnitude of the issue. Its findings contribute to raising awareness of the urgent need to strengthen the capacity of countries to improve national systems for counting, monitoring and reporting on these vulnerable children.     

基于英文绘本的儿童英语阅读教学策略建构

语言学习依赖于大量的阅读,儿童只有"培养广泛的阅读兴趣,扩大阅读面,增加阅读量,多读书,读好书,好读书,读整本的书",他们的语言能力才会得到长足的发展。目前我们儿童英语学习低效的原因也和缺少阅读、缺少语言环境有关。近年来,笔者在教学中倡导开展英文绘本阅读,扩大儿童的英语阅读量,让儿童尽可能多地接触原汁原味的英语,这无疑是提升儿童英语水平的一条有效途径。     

The medical and psychosocial needs of children entering foster care

The estimated three to four hundred thousand children in foster care represent a population at high risk for medical and psychosocial problems. Their problems are compounded by the lack of adequate resources available to them while in foster care. This study provided a medical and psychosocial screening of 149 abused and neglected children entering the foster care system. The goal was to generate a profile of the medical and psychosocial needs of children entering the foster care system as a first step toward development of a better health care delivery system. Results indicated that these children have a much greater incidence of chronic medical conditions, are likely to weigh significantly less and be significantly shorter than the general population, require significant amounts of medical sub-specialty care, have a high incidence of developmental delays, and major deficits in adaptive behavior and have a large number of behavioral problems often associated with psychiatric disorders. Results are discussed in terms of the development of a regional model to effectively manage the health care needs of children entering foster care.     

Young children’s reading for pleasure with digital books: six key facets of engagement

This paper offers a new characterisation of young children’s (2–8 years) reading for pleasure (RfP) with digital books. This characterisation is rooted in a re-contextualisation of Anna Craft’s conceptualisation of twenty-first century childhoods in Creativity and education futures (Stoke on Trent, Trentham, 2011) and a review of the literature concerning young children’s RfP with digital books. The paper develops Craft’s (2011) work by considering the ways in which digital books can resource the ‘4Ps of digital childhood’ in reading for pleasure. Six facets of reader engagement, nested within Craft’s (2011) 4Ps, are presented: affective, creative, interactive, shared, sustained and personalised reading engagements. It is argued that this characterisation of young children’s reading engagements can enrich our understanding of the affordances of digital books in relation to RfP in the twenty-first century. The paper thus offers an important new contribution, going beyond established work in the field, which typically explores digital books in relation to children’s learning, product design or developmental outcomes.     

An integrative framework for studying,designing and conceptualising interactivity in children's digital books

In the past five years, there have been significant changes concerning the material and design properties of digital books, with an impact on children's enjoyment and learning from reading on screen. Despite the rapid advances in technology, research on children's digital books is disjointed. This is because of no consistent approach to the study of interactivity, an under‐theorised relationship between print and digital books, and a binary design focused on either learning or playful engagement with digital books. Drawing on the discourse reminiscent of digital game designers, some developers, scholars and professionals celebrate interactivity in digital books as a possibility to motivate and engage children in reading, while a body of experimental research documents the negative impact of interactivity on children's story comprehension and vocabulary learning. This paper presents an integrative framework based on a comprehensive literature review and a content review of the hundred most popular children's digital interactive books. The framework offers: (1) methodological guidance and a definition of interactivity based on five key categories; (2) theoretical guidance based on the third‐space theory; and (3) innovative design and evaluation models based on a ‘method assemblage’. As such, the integrative framework provides new tools and perspectives to advance the field of children's digital books.     

Cetacean Frustration: The Representation of Whales and Dolphins in Picture Books for Young Children

To enable children to develop towards becoming part of the solution to environmental problems, it is essential that they are given the opportunity to become familiar with the natural world from early childhood. Familiarity is required to develop understanding of, care for and, ultimately, action in terms of protecting the natural world. As adult-led reading of picture books is a common form of indirect exposure to the natural world for young children, this study examines the biological accuracy of the representation of whales and dolphins in the images and text of picture books. Of the total of 116 books examined, 74 (63.8?%) had errors in the representation of cetaceans in the images and/or text. Errors were identified in both fictional (mean?=?8.0 errors/book, SD?=?11.1, n?=?55) and non-fictional (mean?=?2.3 errors/book, SD?=?4.9, n?=?61) books. The potential impact of the errors is discussed, and suggestions are made as to how the impact could be reduced and how the biological accuracy of picture books could be improved.     

The socio‐emotional needs of children with dyslexia in different educational settings in Ireland

This paper reports on a four‐year research project examining the experiences of children with dyslexia in mainstream schools and reading schools/classes. The focus of this paper is on the socio‐emotional effects of dyslexia on a group of children attending a reading school/class for a specific duration before returning to mainstream. The findings suggest that while the primary focus of attending such a placement is to attain greater levels of literacy, other gains such as increased positive socio‐emotional manifestations and confidence are also evident. Therefore, the emotional elements of learning must work in tandem with the academic elements in helping children with dyslexia access the curriculum in full. The roles of attribution, motivational and expectancy theories are explored and how a comprehensive understanding of these theories can help teachers explain and respond to the exhibited behaviours of children with reading difficulties.     

Real books vs reading schemes: a new perspective from instructional psychology

A fiercely contested debate in teaching reading concerns the respective roles and merits of reading schemes and real books. Underpinning the controversy are different philosophies and beliefs about how children learn to read. However, to some extent debates have largely been rhetoric‐driven, rather than research‐driven. This article provides a theoretical perspective derived from instructional psychology and explores the assumptions that have been made about the use of real books and reading schemes, which have tended to polarise arguments about their respective strengths and limitations. It analyses the structures of adult literature, children’s real books, and reading schemes, and examines the demands that they make on children’s sight vocabulary and phonic skills. The critical high‐frequency words and grapheme–phoneme correspondences (GPCs) are identified that will enable children to read the majority of phonically regular and irregular words that they encounter which, perhaps surprisingly, occur more often in real books than structured reading schemes. Learning additional sight words or GPCs is of limited value due to their relatively low occurrence in written English and, thus, potentially minimal impact on children’s reading. Finally, the implications of this research for teaching reading are considered, particularly the complementary roles of real books and teaching methods derived from instructional psychology. In the past they have been viewed as diametrically opposed and mutually exclusive.     

Picture Book Reading at Home: A Comparison of Head Start and Middle-class Preschoolers

This study was designed to assess the impact of taking a high quality picture book home from school daily on the at-home reading behaviors of young children and/or family members from middle and low SES backgrounds. Eighty children representing two study groups (treatment & no-treatment comparison) and two socioeconomic groups (Head Start & middle-class) composed the study sample. Treatment children selected picture books at school daily to take home over a 12-week period. Child and family picture book reading behaviors were assessed by weekly random telephone surveys. Findings indicate that taking a picture book home daily more than doubled the number of books read at home for both middle-class and Head Start treatment children over their no-treatment comparison counterparts and significantly increased the amount of time Head Start treatment children were involved in reading each day. The practicality of making high quality picture books available for preschool children to take home and the implications of increased at-home reading behaviors are discussed.