We have observed that as the theoretical landscape in behavioral science continues to proliferate and diversify, it is not uncommon that distance between subspecialties emerge, artificially accentuating differences between camps. This may occur at the risk of losing sight of the common ground, and worsening communication between subspecialties. In…

This article presents the novel Child Attachment Relationship (CAR) Guide for social workers in child protection and fostering. The Guide was created to promote social workers' understandings of children's attachment relationship and to identify the means through which those understandings might be enhanced towards their practice. The research and…

Each year, over 600 youth under the age of 25 experience literal homelessness in Austin, Texas. Of these youth, 76% have a history of involvement with foster care or the juvenile justice system--far exceeding the rates of system involvement observed among homeless youth in other large communities in the United States (approximately 54%; Voices of…

Economic development and globalisation have had both positive and negative consequences for many people in Botswana. The changing economic situation has affected their social, economic, spiritual, health, and psychological status. The population most at risk is children. Children face several challenges such as malnutrition, sexual and other forms…

It is widely acknowledged that, across the United Kingdom and the USA, childcare practitioners often struggle with cases of child neglect, because of the difficulties involved in attempting to define the problem at hand, and balancing these cases with others in the caseload that may appear more pressing, such as physical abuse. Consequently, in an…

The Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008 ("Fostering Connections Act") fundamentally changed the nature of federal support for young people in state care by extending entitlement funding under Title IV-E of the Social Security Act to age 21 beginning in FY2011. While the Fostering Connections Act provides…

It is generally accepted (for example, Stein and Wade) that those young people who are able to establish positive relationships with their family in care and/or when transitioning from care are more likely to have a positive self-identity and self-confidence, and overall better outcomes. Conversely, poor or non-existent family links may contribute…

This article explores the idea of community as it relates to the concept of resilience. It focuses on community both as context (local environments providing a set of risk and protective factors that have an influence on the well-being of community members) and as collective actors that can exhibit resilience in themselves by organizing and acting…

This paper highlights the main issues that are present in the field of child and adolescent mental health services with regard to strategic development. It identifies the major themes that have emerged concerning the commissioning and delivery of services, and also highlights the difficulties faced by particular groups of children. The authors…

This article talks about a conference organised by the National Children's Bureau (NCB) Northern Ireland, which brought together a number of experts in young people's emotional health. The event reflected the growing interest in young people's emotional well-being and delegates attended from across Northern Ireland and the Republic. The NCB is a…

This article reflects on a number of key concepts and planning tools that have been developed or adapted through the inter-agency planning of services for children and young people in Northern Ireland (Children's Services Planning). These conceptual models have been developed between 1999 and 2005 and illustrate the key contribution of Children's…

This paper provides an account of the design, development and implementation of a postvention model of responding to the needs of families within a community following the aftermath of a tragic event, including suicide. This model was developed for a specific disadvantaged urban community. The paper includes the context of the need for such an…

The translation of research into practice in social care is long on theory and short on practical examples. We describe a pilot project, which identified an important practice issue--the promotion of positive attachment in early infancy--explored the evidence base, summarised the findings, and devised an implementation process. The site of the…

This article summarizes an original conference, organised by the Child Care Research Forum (http://www.qub.ac.uk/sites/ccrf/), which brought together experts from all over Northern Ireland to showcase some of the wealth of research with children and young people that is going on in the country today. Developed around the six high-level outcomes of…