This year the Administration on Children, Youth, and Families stated "Children and youth in the child welfare system are increasingly being dosed with psychotropic drugs to manage emotional problems and disruptive behavior that might better be addressed by psychosocial treatments to meet their complex needs." Children with histories of…

This paper will provide information on a recent Breakthrough Series Collaborative (BSC) conducted by the National Child Traumatic Stress Network on Using Trauma-Informed Child Welfare Practice to Improve Foster Care Placement Stability. Information on this particular BSC will be provided, followed by initial findings gathered from an evaluation of…

To measure the outcomes of youth transitioning out of foster care, states are required to administer the national Youth in Transition Database (NYTD) survey to cohorts of youth at ages 17, 19 and 21. The Children's Bureau shares highlights that compare the outcomes reported by youth in the first NYTD cohort at ages 17 and 19. With the second wave…

The impacts of violence for young children and their caregivers are multidimensional. The story of 2-year-old Tyronne, his mother, Josephine, and his father, James, illustrates the use of a relationship-focused treatment, child-parent psychotherapy (CPP), in addressing the traumatic consequences of exposure to violence. This family's story…

The Children's Bureau released highlights from state National Youth in Transition Database (NYTD) data submissions from Federal Fiscal Year (FFY) 2013 (October 1, 2012 to September 30, 2013). In this third year of data collection, states reported information on (1) all youth and young adults who received independent living services during FFY 2013…

Much controversy exists regarding the effectiveness of residential treatment. Recently, emerging research has demonstrated that community-based residential treatment has more positive long-term outcomes for youth. This article describes a community-based program that was implemented at a residential treatment agency serving youth. Targeted…

The process of reporting abuse can be challenging, traumatic, and at times, overwhelming. In order for school counselors to be effective helpers for children, it is essential that they know how to recognize and prevent child abuse and neglect. The purpose of this article is to provide professional school counselors with information they can use to…

Single parenthood as a common psychosocial phenomenon seems to be regarded as one of the most significant issues in the psychological domain and needs to be taken into serious consideration due to emotional, psychological, and social problems created by it. With regard to the rapidly growing population of single parents and their children…

Abuse, neglect, or both often result in removing children from their homes and placing them in foster care. As a result of these experiences, many children learn unhealthy behaviors. These "behavioral challenges" often lead to a cycle of multiple placement disruptions and progressively more restrictive placements. The philosophy,…

This article presents propensity score matching as a method to implement randomized conditions to analyze service effects using nonexperimental data. Most social work research is challenged to implement randomized clinical trials, whereas administrative and survey data are often available and can provide valuable information about services…

Because of changes in legislation and policies regarding child welfare, increasing numbers of older children are being placed for adoption. Many of these children are defined as having "special needs" and include children who are at risk for physical, emotional, or behavioral problems. We use Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems theory as a…

Four years ago, the author assumed the job of Director of Education for a school serving elementary children who had been traumatized by homelessness and associated problems, such as family, domestic, or community violence. The paper relates the struggle of her staff to create a healing school out of a chaotic program that lacked both an effective…

Nonprofit family-run organizations, such as Tennessee Voices for Children (TVC), are providing leadership in advocating for and delivering services to children and families in need. Utilizing a family-driven approach and a staff partially comprised of parent-professionals, TVC's Nashville Connection and Family Connection programs have strengthened…

This brief discusses how living arrangements in general, and cohabitation in particular, affect children's material wellbeing and socioeconomic outcomes, documenting how poverty rates and food insecurity differ across living arrangements using data from the 1999 National Survey of America's Families (NSAF). It examines how other measures of child…

This article focuses on the remarkable story of a deeply disorganized child, Rachel, and her experience in foster care with Janet and Paul Mann, founders of the Children's Ark. Rachel and her mother were referred to the Ark, an innovative intervention center for at-risk families, when Rachel was 10 months old. After 11 months at the Ark, Rachel…