Child Welfare: Connecting Research, Policy, and Practice

492 Pages·2003·2.053 MB·English

by  Kathleen Kufeldt, Brad McKenzie

Child Welfare
Connecting Research, Policy, and Practice
Edited by Kathleen Kufeldt and Brad McKenzie
We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the
Book Publishing Industry Development Program for our publishing activities. Finan-
cial support for this publication was provided by the Social Development Partnerships
Division, Human Resources Development Canada, and Bell Canada.
National Library of Canada Cataloguing in Publication Data
Child welfare : connecting research, policy, and practice.
Edited by Kathleen Kufeldt and Brad McKenzie.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 0-88920-392-X
1. Child welfare—Canada. 2. Child welfare—Research—Canada.
I. Kufeldt, Kathleen. II. McKenzie, B. D. (Bradley Douglas).
HV745.A6C48 2003 362.7’0971 C2003-902096-7
© 2003 Wilfrid Laurier University Press
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2L 3C5
www.wlupress.wlu.ca
Cover design and photo collage by P. J. Woodland based on photographs by
James R. Page©. Text design by P. J. Woodland and C. Bonas-Taylor.
Every reasonable effort has been made to acquire permission for copyright material
used in this text, and to acknowledge all such indebtedness accurately. Any errors and
omissions called to the publisher’s attention will be corrected in future printings.
Printed in Canada
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Contents
FOREWORD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix
Jean Lafrance
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi
INTRODUCTION
Child Welfare Research and Development in a National Context . . . . 1
Evariste Thériault
1 Incidence and Characteristics of Child Maltreatment 11
CHAPTER 1
The Canadian Incidence Study of Reported Child Abuse
and Neglect: Methodology and Major Findings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Nico Trocmé, Gordon Phaneuf, Sandra Scarth,
Barbara Fallon, and Bruce MacLaurin
CHAPTER 2
Characteristics of Investigated Children and Families
Referred for Out-of-Home Placement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Bruce MacLaurin, Nico Trocmé, and Barbara Fallon
CHAPTER 3
A National Profile of Child Protection Workers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Barbara Fallon, Bruce MacLaurin, Nico Trocmé, and Caroline Felstiner
CHAPTER 4
Psychological Maltreatment of Children Reported to Youth
Protection Services: Initial Results from the Quebec
Incidence Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Claire Chamberland, Lise Laporte, Chantal Lavergne, Claire Malo,
Marc Tourigny, Micheline Mayer, and Sonia Hélie
CHAPTER 5
Child Maltreatment: Themes and Implications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Brad McKenzie and Nico Trocmé
Contents
2 The Continuum of Care 77
Prevention and Support
CHAPTER 6
Promoting Positive Child and Family Welfare . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Gary Cameron
CHAPTER 7
Expanding the Frontiers in Family Wellness and Prevention . . . . . . . 101
Leslea Peirson, Geoffrey Nelson, and Isaac Prilleltensky
CHAPTER 8
Promoting Wellness in Families and Children through
Community-Based Interventions: The Highfield
Community Enrichment Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Mark Pancer, Geoffrey Nelson, Barbara Dearing, Sara Dearing,
Karen Hayward, and Ray De V. Peters
CHAPTER 9
Evaluating Miracles: Challenges in Evaluating the Aboriginal
Head Start Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
Richard Budgell and Lynne Robertson
CHAPTER 10
A Meta-Analytic Review of Programs for the Promotion of
Family Wellness and the Prevention of Child Maltreatment . . . . . . . . 133
Jennifer MacLeod and Geoffrey Nelson
Out-of-Home Care
CHAPTER 11
Grandparents Raising Their Grandchildren . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Deena Shorkey and Barbara Mitchell
CHAPTER 12
Adopting Special Needs Children: Parents’ Perception
of Their Role Quality and Social Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
Mélanie Audet and Alice Home
CHAPTER 13
Monitoring and Improving Outcomes for Children
in Out-of-Home Care. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
Harriet Ward, Ian Macdonald, Mike Pinnock, and Tricia Skuse
iv
Contents
CHAPTER 14
The Looking After Children in CanadaProject:
Educational Outcomes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
Kathleen Kufeldt, Marie Simard, Rosonna Tite, and Jacques Vachon
CHAPTER 15
Staffed Group Homes for Youth: Toward a Framework
for Understanding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
James Anglin
CHAPTER 16
Graduates of Guardianship Care: Outcomes in Early Adulthood. . . . 203
Kathleen Kufeldt
Youth Transitions
CHAPTER 17
The Transition to Independent Living: Preliminary Findings
from the Experiences of Youth in Care . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
Varda Mann-Feder and Trish White
CHAPTER 18
Supporting Young People’s Transitions from Government Care . . . . . 227
Deborah Rutman, April Barlow, Daniela Alusik,
Carol Hubberstey, and Erinn Brown
CHAPTER 19
At Care’s End: Child Welfare Grads and Street Youth Services . . . . . . 239
Bruce Leslie and Francis Hare
CHAPTER 20
Undeserving Mothers: Lived Experiences of Young Mothers
in or from Government Care . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249
Marilyn Callahan, Lena Dominelli, Deborah Rutman,
and Susan Strega
CHAPTER 21
Knowing and Naming “Care” in Child Welfare . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261
Fay Martin
CHAPTER 22
Providing Comprehensive Services to Children and
Families at Risk: Themes and Implications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273
Kathleen Kufeldt
v
Contents
3 Connecting Research, Policy, and Practice 283
Selected Practice Issues
CHAPTER 23
Psychological Maltreatment of Preschoolers: Profiles
of Parent-Child Interaction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287
Claire Malo, Jacques Moreau, Claire Chamberland,
and Catherine Roy
CHAPTER 24
Treating Adolescent Girls with Disrupted Family Bonds
in Residential Care through a Life Stories Program. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297
Darlene Sykes and Sally Palmer
CHAPTER 25
Treatment Revisited for Aboriginal Adolescent Solvent Abusers . . . . 309
Wayne Hammond and David Romney
CHAPTER 26
P3M: A Performance Measurement, Monitoring, and Management Sys-
tem for Child Welfare Organizations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319
Robert Flynn, Raymond Lemay, Hayat Ghazal,
and Stéphane Hébert
Selected Policy Issues
CHAPTER 27
First Nations Child and Family Services: Restoring Peace
and Harmony in First Nations Communities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 331
Cindy Blackstock
CHAPTER 28
Community Building through Block Funding in Aboriginal
Child and Family Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343
Brad McKenzie and Elsie Flette
CHAPTER 29
Charter Implications for Proactive Child Welfare Services . . . . . . . . . . 355
Paul Thomas
CHAPTER 30
The Relationship between Research, Policy, and Practice in
Delivering an Outcome-Led Child Welfare Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367
Helen Jones
vi
Contents
CHAPTER 31
Policy Development: Making Research Count . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 377
Carolyn Davies
CHAPTER 32
Policy and Practice: Themes and Implications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 387
Kathleen Kufeldt and Brad McKenzie
4 The Future of Child Welfare 393
CHAPTER 33
Critical Issues in Child Welfare. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 395
Kathleen Kufeldt, David Este, Brad McKenzie, and Brian Wharf
CHAPTER 34
Conclusions and Directions for the Future . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 429
Kathleen Kufeldt and Brad McKenzie
REFERENCES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 439
CONTRIBUTORS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 475
vii
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Foreword
Jean Lafrance
Iwas fortunate to be present at the 1994 Child Welfare Symposium held at
Kananaskis when David Thornton, then director of the former National Wel-
fare Grants program, challenged the researchers and policy-makers in atten-
dance to not only thinkabout and identify what is known about child welfare
and the protection of children, but to acton that knowledge. In a sense, this
book responds to that challenge by presenting some of the progress made in
the last seven years. However it is clear that there are still significant hurdles
to overcome if children at risk of abuse and neglect are to receive the quality
of care that they deserve. Child welfare services continue to be stretched to
their limit in a climate of budget restraint and competition for funding.
While child welfare is the responsibility of the provinces and territories,
the federal government does maintain an interest in all of Canada’s children.
For this reason, Human Resources Development Canada (HRDC) worked in
partnership with the provincial/territorial directors of Child Welfare in the
development of a Child Welfare Research Agenda. That partnership has
proven fruitful, with successful completion of some key research studies. As
part of that agenda, HRDCagreed to sponsor another symposium, the 2000
Child Welfare Symposium, held in Cornwall, Ontario, in October of that year.
Key organizations proposing the symposium were the Bell Canada Research
Centre, the Muriel McQueen Fergusson Centre for Family Violence Research
at the University of New Brunswick, and the Child Welfare League of Canada.
The Bell Canada Research Centre also contributed financially. Together, the
three organizations recruited others to assist in planning the conference, iden-
tifying themes, sending out a call for papers, and reviewing submissions. The
committee members deserve thanks for their commitment and hard work.
In 1995 Joe Hudson and Burt Galaway produced a textbook based prima-
rily on the 1994 symposium proceedings. It has been frequently used as a text
in courses related to child welfare and has had a major impact. Now, Kufeldt
ix