Navigating Family Roles Within An Institutional Framework: An Exploratory Study In One Private Chinese Orphanage

Current research in child development has espoused the benefit of family-like routines in institutional orphanage care. However, the institutional framework evident in large-group orphanage care often hampers the creation of nurturing, family-like environments. This qualitative study is part of a larger case study exploring how one private Chinese orphanage infuses a family-like structure into an institutional setting. Data is examined from an ecocultural viewpoint, looking at how caregivers and directors’ attitudes and behaviors reflect universal caregiving practices and how they reflect the distinct cultural forces within this private Chinese orphanage. Data came from conversation-like interviews with the director, co-director, and two direct caregivers. This information was combined with observations that resulted from me living within the orphanage for a period of ten days. Results indicate the family-like environment was created primarily through the staff’s articulation of and identification with family roles (father, mothers, brothers, sisters rather than director, co-director, caregivers, and children). Family-like roles often involved levels of intimacy not typically found in institutional settings such as the culturally accepted practice of co-sleeping with younger children. Results are presented in textual format followed by implications for institutional frameworks.     

Parents, infants, and day-care teachers: Interrelations and implications for better child care

Many young children are reared today in both family and child-care settings. The relation that exists between these two settings has important implications for child care. Bronfenbrenner's (1979) ecological model is used as a way to view the interrelations among children, families, and child-care programs. Data from a study of infants in day care provide information on the time infants spend in family and day-care contexts, how parents and caregivers view children's behavior in these two settings, and rates of otitis media (ear infections) and other illnesses for these children. Results show that infants spend about twice as many hours per day awake with parents as in day care. Regarding child behaviors, parents and caregivers seem to have similar behaviors they like and dislike, but they each see particular children quite differently with respect to these behaviors. Finally, infants in this sample were diagnosed with illnesses 60% to 70% of the time. Findings are discussed in terms of the ecological model with particular attention given to relations between parents and caregivers.     

Child, Family and Case Characteristics: Links with Service Utilization in Physically Abused Children

We investigated the relationships between child, familial, and case characteristics and mental health and medical health care service utilization by physically abused children. Participants included 26 parents or caregivers of 37 Medicaid-eligible children who had substantiated cases of physical abuse. Children whose female caregivers reported a greater number of stressors were more likely to receive mental health care. Furthermore, children not living with the maltreating caregiver were more likely to receive medical health care services. Results are discussed in terms of factors that may account for these links, and the similarities of these findings with those of service utilization in general and clinical child samples.     

Expanding the concept of birthparent loss to orphans: Exploratory findings from adolescents in institutional care in South Korea

Conservative estimates of the number of orphaned and abandoned children suggest there are approximately 132 million worldwide, of whom the majority reside in Asia followed by Sub-Saharan Africa. Research on alternative care for children in need of parental protection have largely been siloed by care setting (i.e. institutional care, adoption, foster care) without consideration of risk factors across care types. One factor specific to alternative care that occurs for all children across care settings is disruption and disconnection of birth parents as a consequence of out-of-home placement. Thus, the purpose of this cross-sectional study of 170 adolescents in institutional care in South Korea was to explore whether a common risk factor specific to the experience of family removal and placement in alternative care, cognitive appraisal of birth parent loss, was present and was a risk factor for more mental health and behavior problems. Findings affirmed the majority of adolescents in institutional care had thoughts about birth parents, but most did not express negative emotions towards birth parents. A more negative appraisal of birth parent loss was found to be a significant predictor of more depressive symptoms, PTSD symptoms, and internalizing behavior problems, but not more externalizing behavior problems. Findings suggest cognitive appraisal of birth parent loss may be a risk factor for more mental health and internal behavior problems for youth in institutional care and that systems of alternative care need to assist youth in having information about their birth parents regardless of contact.     

CBCL Behavior Problems of Post-Institutionalized International Adoptees

With the increase in international adoptions during the last decade, many researchers have investigated the developmental outcomes of these adoptees, including their extreme behaviors. Collectively, these results have not always appeared consistent across studies, perhaps because studies have used children reared in institutions or not, the institutional environments vary in severity, children spend different lengths of time in the institution and are assessed at different ages, and studies use different outcome measures. In an attempt to discern more order in the literature, this review focuses on 18 studies, each of which used the Child Behavior Checklist, and their outcomes are viewed with respect to these parameters. Results suggest that the major factor contributing to extreme behaviors is age at adoption, with those adopted after 6/18 months having more behavior problems, especially Internalizing, Externalizing, and Attention problems. Generally, samples of post-institutional children have more problems than samples of mixed or non-institutional internationally adopted children, and some problems are more likely to be manifest in adolescence, suggesting the effects of deficient early experiences are not simply the persistence of learned behavior but more general dispositions that become more noticeable or severe during adolescence. Findings are discussed in terms of early deficient social–emotional caregiver–child interactions that characterize most institutional environments as a possible major cause of later difficulties in post-institutionalized children.     

Family Formation and Returning to Institutional Religion in Young Adulthood

Institutional religious involvement wanes during young adulthood, but evidence suggests life‐course factors such as family formation bring people back to religion. Using the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Waves 1, 3, and 4), we examine how often young adults who were involved in institutional religion as adolescents return—measured by religious service attendance and religious affiliation—after leaving in emerging adulthood, and how this return is patterned by family formation. The majority of young adults who leave do not return to regular religious service attendance, regardless of their family formation. But single parents, married parents, and childless married individuals are more likely, and childless cohabiting couples less likely, to return to religious communities than those who are both single and childless. Only married parents are more likely than childless singles to reaffiliate, though there is marginal evidence that childless married adults may also be more likely. Thus, the institutions of religion and family are still linked, even though overall levels of religious return are not as high as expected.     

Linking Formal Child Care Characteristics to Children’s Socioemotional Well-Being: A Comparative Perspective

Most research on formal child care and children’s outcomes has focused on single countries. We, however, contend that policy context may moderate the association between formal child care characteristics and children’s socioemotional well-being. We examined this by comparing the Netherlands, Finland and the UK; three countries that differ regarding family policies. Of these three countries, Finland was recently ranked highest (ranked 1st) with regards to quality of child care in a recent analysis by the Economist, followed by the UK (ranked 3rd) and then the Netherlands (ranked 7th). We hypothesized that children who attend child-care settings in countries with higher-quality formal child-care provision would generally show better socioemotional outcomes. Data from the comparative ‘Families 24/7’ survey were used, including 990 parents with children aged 0–12. We distinguished between two age groups in our analysis. Results indicated that, compared to the UK, longer hours in formal care were less beneficial in the Netherlands. Furthermore, spending time in formal care during nonstandard hours was more harmful for children in Finland compared to the UK. Lastly, receiving care from multiple caregivers was more disruptive for British children than for Dutch children. No differences were found between Finland and the Netherlands.     

Cultivating Resilience in Families Who Foster: Understanding How Families Cope and Adapt Over Time

Families who foster offer essential care for children and youth when their own parents are unable to provide for their safety and well‐being. Foster caregivers face many challenges including increased workload, emotional distress, and the difficulties associated with health and mental health problems that are more common in children in foster care. Despite these stressors, many families are able to sustain fostering while maintaining or enhancing functioning of their unit. This qualitative study applied an adaptational process model of family resilience that emerged in previous studies to examine narratives of persistent, long‐term, and multiple fostering experiences. Data corroborated previous research in two ways. Family resilience was again described as a transactional process of coping and adaptation that evolves over time. This process was cultivated through the activation of 10 family strengths that are important in different ways, during varied phases.     

Decoupling Marriage and Parenting

This article argues for separating the institutions of marriage and parenting, conceptually and legally. Marriage is neither necessary nor adequate for fostering cooperative and stable co‐parenting. Because promoting marriage fails to protect all children, the state should develop a more suitable formal mechanism whereby co‐parents can commit to cooperate in good faith in order to best serve the interests of their children. Like civil marriage, many of the terms of these contracts are aspirational and not enforceable, though they can guide arrangements for custody and financial support. Co‐parenting agreements need not be limited to two parents, nor need they be limited to legal parents, but can include de facto parents, such as stepparents, foster parents, and other support parents. One important aim of these agreements is to recognise and support the valuable work that married or unmarried co‐parents perform, and to protect the parental rights of caregivers in different kinds of situations.     

Infant care from infants' viewpoint: the views of some professionals

Debate about infant care tends to focus on still unresolved questions about whether or not day care is harmful, while research studies often confine care options to an unrealistic axis of choice between group care and mother care. Research that delineates constituents of day care quality in relation to measurable outcomes for different groups of children is urgently needed and should be based on a broader view of infant care options. A postal opinion survey sought the confidential views of members of an international organization of infant mental health professionals as to the kinds of care they considered likely to be best for infants from birth to 36 months, assuming that all types of care were of equally high quality and availability. Surprisingly lengthy periods of care by mothers were consistently endorsed; fathers were almost entirely disregarded as principal or joint caregivers; all forms of family care were endorsed over all forms of purchased care, but all forms of individual care were preferred to full-day group care for all age groups and to half-day group care up to the age of 2. The patterns of care judged by these respondents as likely to be best for infants are very different from those which most infants experience now, and from those which policy- and opinion-makers, practitioners and parents aspire, publicly at least, to provide for infants in the future. ©1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Parents of Adults with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IDD) and Compound Caregiving Responsibilities

In some cases, parents caring for an adult child with an intellectual and/or developmental disability (IDD) must balance this with caregiving for another family member. This dual responsibility, referred to as “compound caregiving”, may contribute to increased feelings of distress, or change their perceived ability to care for their child. The current study examined how compound caregivers differ from other parents of adults with IDD, and whether compound caregiving is significantly associated with family distress. Data was available for 199 parents aged 38 to 91 years who were seeking adult services for their son or daughter with IDD. Parents completed a mailed questionnaire and telephone interview in which they indicated compound caregiver responsibilities. Parents identified as compound caregivers were then compared to those who were not in terms of family characteristics, as well as parental perceptions of burden and mastery, and family distress as measured by the Revised Caregiver Appraisal Scale and the Brief Family Distress Scale, respectively. Nearly half of the parents reported being compound caregivers. The demographic profile of these parents was no different from that of the other parents but their children were slightly younger. Compound caregiving was significantly associated with parental perceptions of burden and mastery and family distress. Demands outside of caring for an adult child with IDD can negatively influence family functioning and must be included as part of caregiving assessments.     

FACTS, FANTASIES AND THE FUTURE OF CHILD CARE IN THE UNITED STATES

Psychologists in both family practice and developmental research may be puzzled about the scientific status of research on child care as it affects children, parents, and caregivers. What conclusions can be reached about mothers in the labor force, about the advisability of various child care arrangements, about their short and long-term consequences, and what advice do we as psychologists have to offer in the public interest to parents of infants and young children? In this article, we review research on child care, and discuss its implications for the nation and for psychology as a research enterprise and a helping profession.     

The influence of family skills programmes on violence indicators: Experience from a multi-site project of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime in low and middle income countries

Families can be one of the most protective forces in the lives of children and youth. Family skills interventions have been found to be effective in encouraging safe and nurturing relationships between parents (or caregivers) and children in their early years and as such preventing many problem behaviours including violence. Most of the evidence in this regards is generated from high income countries. In this article UNODC reports on variables associated with violence (including conduct problems, stress management, pro-social behaviours, family aggression and conflict) generated from a multisite project aimed at piloting family skills programmes in low and middle income countries. The countries of concern are Panama, Honduras, Guatemala, Serbia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. The family skills piloted were Strengthening the Families Programme 10-14 (SFP 10-14) and Families And Schools Together (FAST). The data generated indicates high level of replicability with fidelity, affinity and need for such programmes in low and middle income countries with very encouraging in preventing violence. Significant changes at the post-test level, assessed through multi-sources, were recorded across most of the violence indicators assessed related to youth violence and child maltreatment at least on a comparable level to high-income countries.     

Acceptance, avoidance, and ambiguity: conflicting social values about childhood disability

Advances in medical technology now permit children who need ventilator assistance to live at home rather than in hospitals or institutions. What does this ventilator-dependent life mean to children and their families? The impetus for this essay comes from a study of the moral experience of 12 Canadian families--parents, ventilator-dependent child, and well siblings. These families express great love for their children, take on enormous responsibilities for care, live with uncertainty, and attempt to create "normal" home environments. Nevertheless, they experience social isolation, sometimes even from their extended families and health care providers. Their lives are constrained in many ways. The challenges faced by parents of technology-dependent children raise questions of justice within society and within families.     

Taking care of one's own: justice and family caregiving

This paper asks whether adult children have aduty of justice to act as caregivers for theirfrail, elderly parents. I begin (Sections I.and II.) by locating the historical reasons whyrelationships within families were not thoughtto raise issues of justice. I argue that thesereasons are misguided. The paper next presentsspecific examples showing the relevance ofjustice to family relationships. I point outthat in the United States today, the burden ofcaregiving for dependent parents fallsdisproportionately on women (Sections III. andIV.). The paper goes on to use Rawls'theoretical tool of the veil of ignorance toargue that caring for parents should not belinked to a person's sex and more generally,that there is no duty of justice to assume therole of caregiver for dependent parents(Sections V.). Although justice does notprovide the moral foundations for parent care,I show that it nonetheless places importantlimits on the instinct to care. I concludethat the voice of justice should be audible,and is intrinsically present, withinfamilies.     

Joint Physical Custody and Adolescents’ Life Satisfaction in 37 North American and European Countries

Joint physical custody, a parental care arrangement in which a child lives with each parent about equally after separation or divorce, is an increasingly common phenomenon in many Western countries. Although attention from family scholars, practitioners, and law professionals is growing, there are hardly any numbers on the prevalence of joint physical custody (JPC). Moreover, studies using large‐scale representative data on the effects of JPC for children’s well‐being are still rare. The data for this study come from Health Behaviour in School‐Aged Children (HBSC), a representative cross‐national survey of adolescents in 37 European and North American countries that was conducted in 2002, 2006, and 2010 and included information on students at the ages of 11, 13, and 15 years (N = 92,886). First, results revealed that symmetrical JPC after family dissolution is still very rare in the majority of countries (5% or less), but reaches 10–20% in some countries. Second, adolescents’ life satisfaction in nonintact families is higher in symmetric JPC arrangements than in asymmetric care arrangements. However, after controlling for children and family characteristics, the differences disappear. Thus, it is not the symmetric JPC arrangement that induces adolescents’ higher life satisfaction, but rather the children and family characteristics that are associated with the choice of such a custody arrangement by separated or divorced parents.     

Early Childhood Care Trends and Associations with Child Health Well-being in China: Evidence from the CHNS 1991 to 2011 Data

It has become increasingly common for young children to be taken care of by multiple caregivers in China after the socio-economic reforms. Complex migration patterns and high female labour force participation have led to children receiving care from various individuals in different contexts. However, little is known about how childcare arrangements are associated with child health well-being. This study examines various early childhood caregivers and their influences on children’s physical health in China. Using data from the China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS 1991–2011) with 3,470 children aged 2 to 6, we first identified different types of childcare arrangements in and outside of the household based on who provides the care, where they provide the care, and the intensity of the care. Then we examined the relationship between various childcare arrangements and health outcomes for children. Overall, household members undertook early childhood care tasks in China, with an increase in grandparents as primary caregivers between 1991 and 2011. The proportion of children receiving formal childcare fluctuated around 20% during this period. The findings suggest that: 1) primary caregiver in the household other than parents is not associated with undesirable physical health outcomes; 2) formal childcare outside the household is associated with higher height and lower BMI scores; 3) primary caregivers in the household, particular grandparents, moderate the association between childcare arrangements outside the household and children’s health outcomes. It yields an implication that early childhood care policies incorporating multiple caregivers would benefit children’s well-being in China.

     

Causal attributions during therapy II: Reconstituted families and parental blaming

A powerful route to understanding communication within the family is provided by identifying and coding the causal attributions they make during family therapy sessions. The analysis of attributions of responsibility reported in the first of these linked papers (Stratton, 2003) is here extended to explore the accounts given by biological, step- and adoptive parents about their children. Some 1799 causal attributions offered spontaneously by the family members during therapy were analysed according to the Leeds Attributional Coding System (Stratton et al ., 1988). Attributional styles that previously have been found to relate to abuse were more common when stepfathers talked about their children, although none of the parents were believed to be abusing their children. The adoptive parents' attributions were more explicit about problems with the children but were more likely to be functional. Stepfathers made substantially more attributions in the form of blaming a child, with the dimensions identifying characterological blaming being especially significant. Alternative styles of attributing which would offer a way of avoiding characterological blaming are presented. Possible causes and consequences of the consistencies in problematic attributing, and the implications for therapy, are discussed.     

Validation française du Caregiving Strain Questionnaire sur une population de parents d’enfants avec troubles du spectre de l’autisme

The Caregiving Strain Questionnaire (CGSQ-21) allows the assessment of the burden of family caregivers. The objective of this study is to present a validation of a French translation of this questionnaire (FCGSQ-21) to parents of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). A literature review from 2002 to 2012 highlighted that five scales measured caregivers’ burden regarding children and only one English scale examined parents of children with ASD's burden. The CGSQ-21 was chosen for this study and has been validated with 167 French parents who completed an online survey. Those parents filled out a total of six questionnaires measuring optimism, perceived social support, care satisfaction, anxiety, depression and perceived burden. The factorial and convergent validities as well as the internal consistency of the FCGSQ-21 have been tested with an exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). A three factors model was found to best fit the structure of this scale, those include the objective burden as well as the internalized and externalized subjective burdens. The convergent validity brings to light significant correlations between many scales of the protocol. In the present study, the FCGSQ-21's homogeneity is excellent with a Cronbach's alpha of 0.90. The FCGSQ-21 is a valid and useful tool to measure the burden perceived by parents of children with ASD. This study's objective was to confirm the tool's validity in order to improve clinical practice with children and their parents. This scale evaluates parents’ levels of burden perceived for the purpose of adapting interventions given to the children while taking into account parental well-being's specificities highlighted by the FCGSQ-21.     

Children of parents with unipolar depression: A controlled 1-year follow-up

An earlier cross-sectional study indicated that children's health and adjustment is at risk when their parents are depressed. Here, we report the associated longitudinal changes in children and families when parental depression either remits or continues. Comparisons are made among three groups established at a 1-year follow-up: previously depressed parents whose symptoms have remitted (N = 34 remitted parents), previously depressed parents who continue to be depressed (N = 23 nonremitted parents), and sociodemographically matched control families (N = 95). Although remitted parents and their family social environments improved, their children were still functioning more poorly than children of controls. Both the children and the families of nonremitted parents continued to function more poorly than controls. A social-environmental framework indicates that parents' functioning as well as family stressors and resources are concurrently and predictively linked to children's health.