This article presents an evaluation study of a case management method for child protection services, the Delta Method for Family Supervision, in terms of supervision order duration and occurrence and duration of out-of-home placements. Additionally, case and case manager characteristics were examined. Data was collected about 224 cases, 58 case managers and 30 team managers of all 15 offices of the Child and Youth Protection Services in the Netherlands. In all cases the Delta Method was applied. Data were obtained by interviews, questionnaires and case files. Multi-level analysis was performed to study the influence of independent variables on supervision order duration, and the occurrence and duration of out-of-home placements. Case characteristics related to 87% of the differences in the duration of supervision order, case manager characteristics to 13% of the differences. Some case manager characteristics about applying the Delta Method were significantly related to shorter duration of the supervision order and the occurrence and duration of out-of-home placement. Case characteristics also showed strong relations. Together with the more general aspects of case management supported by this study, such as a one family and one worker approach, this contributes to a more effective practice of case management for child protection services.
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Objectives: Current study explores the potential of the safety rating scale in order to determine the surplus value for evidence based practise. This study wants to contribute to this knowledge gape by exploring the safety scale by analysing the change between two safety ratings. First, the absolute change in safety is investigated. Secondly the study explores to what extent family background characteristics and case management characteristics determine the extent of change in perceived safety. Materials and Methods: The study analysed 105 Dutch child protection cases who had registration files with filled out LIRIK checklist, Action Plan and additional baseline safety and end safety measure as perceived by case managers. Results: On average perceived safety increased from an insufficient level to sufficient level. Significant regression coefficients with larger changes for primary school children (6 - 12 years) and lower changes for children within the ‘socio economic problems cluster’. The results reveal significant vulnerability for preschool children and families attending the socio-economic cluster due to limited improvement. Conclusion: According to this study the safety measure can be of value to outcome monitoring. The safety measure is a practical measure that reflects on the current state of safety within a family according to professionals and can be used on several occasions during case management. In addition, on aggregated level pre and post measures can be analysed for quality management purpose. Further exploration of this measure is needed. Publishers article: https://www.ecronicon.com/ecpe/ECPE-10-00873.php
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Following the rationale of the current EU legal framework protecting personal data, children are entitled to the same privacy and data protection rights as adults. However, the child, because of his physical and mental immaturity, needs special safeguards and care, including appropriate legal protection. In the online environment, children are less likely to make any checks or judgments before entering personal information. Therefore, this paper presents an analysis of the extent to which EU regulation can ensure children’s online privacy and data protection.
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Most multi‑problem young adults (18–27 years old) have been exposed to childhood maltreatment and/or have been involved in juvenile delinquency and, therefore, could have had Child Protection Service (CPS) interference during childhood. The extent to which their childhood problems persist and evolve into young adult‑ hood may differ substantially among cases. This might indicate heterogeneous profiles of CPS risk factors. These pro‑ files may identify combinations of closely interrelated childhood problems which may warrant specific approaches for problem recognition and intervention in clinical practice. The aim of this study was to retrospectively identify distinct statistical classes based on CPS data of multi‑problem young adults in The Netherlands and to explore whether these classes were related to current psychological dysfunctioning and delinquent behaviour. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
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Abstract—A survey about radiation protection in pediatric radiology was conducted among 22 general and seven children’s hospitals in the Netherlands. Questions concerned, for example, child protocols used for CT, fluoroscopy and x-ray imaging, number of images and scans made, radiation doses and measures taken to reduce these, special tools used for children, and quality assurance issues. The answers received from 27 hospitals indicate that radiation protection practices differ considerably between general and children’s hospitals but also between the respective general and children’s hospitals. It is recommended that hospitals consult each other to come up with more uniform best practices. Few hospitals were able to supply doses that can be compared to the national Diagnostic Reference Levels (DRLs). The ones that could be compared exceeded the DRLs in one in five cases, which is more than was expected beforehand.
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Few evidence-based methods for case management in child protection and child welfare are available. That is why Youth Protection Amsterdam Area developed a new method, by integrating their best practices: Intensive Family Case Management (IFCM). Because IFCM was developed in practice, clarity about its core elements and behavior acts was lacking. The purpose of this study was to establish a valid operationalization of IFCM used for implementation purposes such as training, clinical supervision and monitoring. A 74-item draft was developed to describe the behavioral acts of IFCM, based on a literature study and analysis of internal documents and training. To ensure content validity, a Delphi study was conducted. Over two rounds, professionals (1) rated the behavioral acts needed in the application of IFCM on a five-point Likert scale and (2) provided their preferred terminology. Items with consensus ratings of 80 % or more were included in the final description. Selected IFCM experts rated the behavior acts over two rounds. The initial list with 74 behavior acts was reduced to 55 acts with a consensus of 80 % or more. Certain behavior acts were combined, others did not lead to consensus. Based on experts’ feedback, the initial terminology of 46 behavior acts was modified. The final 55 acts were categorized in ten core elements. This study explicates the core elements of IFCM and describes the 55 necessary behavior acts in preferred and recognizable terminology. The study describes implications of these findings for the practice and gives recommendations for future research.
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Background Parenting a child with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities has great implications. Parents generally rely heavily on healthcare and social welfare services in caring for the child at home. Previous studies indicated mismatch between what parents need to preserve family and personal wellbeing and what is typically provided by services. This study focused on the role of healthcare and social welfare services in childcare and aims to contribute to understanding how parents perceive their interactions with service providers. Methods We interviewed 25 Dutch parents who cared for their child at home. Data were analysed using Framework Method. Findings Two overarching themes were found: “Being the lifeline” addressed that parents had central roles in fragmented services, and “Losing ownership” highlighted that parents were constrained in living life according to own beliefs and values while interacting with providers. Conclusions Findings illuminated that many parents became overburdened and compromised heavily on agency over family thriving due to functioning of healthcare and social welfare services. Findings supported working with integrated family case managers, creating effective and proactive access to equipment and services, and enacting high quality facilities for help with childcare and respite. These are important conditions to enable parents to construct family life more autonomously and make their further contribution to society. This may also lead to improved connotations of dependence on healthcare and social welfare services.
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The unexpected death of a child is one of the most challenging losses as it fractures survivors’ sense of parenthood and other layers of identity. Given that not all the bereaved parents who have need for support respond well to available treatments and that many have little access to further intervention or follow-up over time, online interventions featuring therapeutic writing and peer support have strong potential. In this article we explore how a group of bereaved mothers experienced the process of participating in an online course in therapeutic writing for the integration of grief. Our research questions were: How do parents who have lost a child experience being part of an online course in therapeutic writing? What are the perceived benefits and challenges of writing in processing their grief? We followed an existential phenomenological approach and analyzed fieldwork notes (n = 13), qualitative data from the application and assessment surveys (n = 35; n = 21), excerpts from the journals of some participants (n = 3), and email correspondence with some participants (n = 5). We categorized the results in three meaning units: (1) where does my story begin? The “both and” of their silent chaos; (2) standing on the middle line: a pregnancy that does not end; (3) closures and openings: “careful optimism” and the need for community support. Participants experienced writing as an opportunity for self-exploration regarding their identities and their emotional world, as well as a means to develop and strengthen a bond with their children. They also experienced a sense of belonging, validation, and acceptance in the online group in a way that helped them make sense of their suffering. Online writing courses could be of benefit for bereaved parents who are grieving the unexpected death of a child, but do not replace other interventions such as psychotherapy. In addition to trauma and attachment informed models of grief, identity informed models with a developmental focus might enhance the impact of both low-threshold community interventions and more intensive clinical ones. Further studies and theoretical development in the area are needed, addressing dialogical notions such as the multivoicedness of the self. Lehmann OV, Neimeyer RA, Thimm J, Hjeltnes A, Lengelle R and Kalstad TG (2022) Experiences of Norwegian Mothers Attending an Online Course of Therapeutic Writing Following the Unexpected Death of a Child. Front. Psychol. 12:809848. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.809848
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