This unique, multidisciplinary resource incorporates cutting-edge research and best practices in child welfare into a text that aims to teach and refine advanced child welfare skills for aspiring child welfare professionals. Featuring real-life examples and stories from the field, the handbook discusses existing methods and challenges in the field of child welfare practice. Chapters also include materials for instructors to use in classrooms or training settings. Among the topics covered: Overview of child welfare policies and how the child welfare system works Assessment tools and strategies used to identify various types of child abuse and neglect Individual, family, and community-level approaches to preventing child maltreatment and preserving families Promoting stability after foster care placement Effective collaboration while working with special populations Clinical supervision in child welfare practice Strategies for healthy professional development of child welfare practitioners The Handbook on Child Welfare Practice is a valuable resource as both a textbook in child welfare practice courses and a practical reference for child welfare professionals. This book will help develop a more knowledgeable and skilled child welfare workforce prepared to address the significant public health concern of child maltreatment.

This accessible resource coordinates what we know about the intergenerational transmission of child maltreatment (ITCM), with a specific focus on prevention in context. Cutting through facile cause-and-effect constructs, the authors review and critique the recent literature on the complicated nature of the phenomenon and weigh different approaches to its conceptualization. The book identifies child and parental risk factors linked to ITCM as well as protective factors involved in its reduction, while examining complex relationships between family, parenting, and social contexts that can provide keys to understanding and healing traumatized families. This close attention to crucial yet often overlooked details will aid professionals in creating the next wave of salient research projects and effective interventions, and enhance current efforts to break longstanding patterns of abuse and neglect. Among the topics covered: * Theoretical frameworks conceptualizing intergenerational transmission of child maltreatment.* Empirical studies on intergenerational transmission of child maltreatment.* Risk factors associated with ITCM.* Protective factors associated with breaking the cycle of maltreatment.* Methodological challenges in studying ITCM.* Recommendations for evaluation of intervention and prevention strategies. Geared toward novices and veterans alike, Intergenerational Transmission of Child Maltreatment is a solution-focused reference of singular importance to practitioners and research professionals involved in improving children's well-being.

This unique, multidisciplinary resource incorporates cutting-edge research and best practices in child welfare into a text that aims to teach and refine advanced child welfare skills for aspiring child welfare professionals. Featuring real-life examples and stories from the field, the handbook discusses existing methods and challenges in the field of child welfare practice. Chapters also include materials for instructors to use in classrooms or training settings. Among the topics covered: Overview of child welfare policies and how the child welfare system works Assessment tools and strategies used to identify various types of child abuse and neglect Individual, family, and community-level approaches to preventing child maltreatment and preserving families Promoting stability after foster care placement Effective collaboration while working with special populations Clinical supervision in child welfare practice Strategies for healthy professional development of child welfare practitioners The Handbook on Child Welfare Practice is a valuable resource as both a textbook in child welfare practice courses and a practical reference for child welfare professionals. This book will help develop a more knowledgeable and skilled child welfare workforce prepared to address the significant public health concern of child maltreatment.

Some Type of Way: Aging out of Foster Care seeks to address the following questions currently relevant to practitioners, policymakers, and researchers: What are the realities of the lives of youth aging out? Why are they struggling? What are agencies and service providers doing to help them? What should be done to help these youth negotiate the transitions out of care and into adulthood? Based on over 90 interviews and almost 1,000 hours of observation of youth aging out and service providers in a mid-Atlantic county in the United States, the book presents real stories along with relevant research and theories to help understand how youth transition out of foster care and into adulthood. Featuring five youth—Plato, Solana, Titi, Matty, and Jaden—and including poignant examples from many others—the book explores the complex and complicated challenges youth face as well as their creative survival strategies and resilience. The book includes descriptions of service providers' efforts to assist youth aging out and shares service providers' insights. It highlights the limitations of the foster care system and the service delivery system for youth aging out. Schelbe details systematic barriers in society that create obstacle as youth leave care.