2
How is the Concept of Resilience Operationalised in Practice with
Vulnerable Children?
Daniel, B., Vincent, S., Farrall, E., & Arney, F.
Abstract
Increasing emphasis is being placed on the concept of resilience in
policy and practice relating to vulnerable children and their families
yet little is known about how, and to what extent, the concept is
actually being operationalised in child and family services. This
article presents the findings from a study which aimed to analyse the
ways in which `resilience' as a concept is shaping practice in settings
that explicitly espouse a resilience-led framework. The study included a
UKbased and an Australian component, to allow for international
comparisons and contrasts in the use of resilience as a concept in
practice. The findings from a survey of 201 practitioners (108 in the
UK; 93 in Australia) and 32 case studies (18 in the UK; 14 in Australia)
are presented and considered in the light of the existing resilience
literature in order to gauge the extent of congruence between practice
as described and the principles indicated by the existing literature.
22
Characteristics and Sociolabour Insertion of Young People after
Residential Care
Roca,J.S., Biarnes, A.V., Garcia, M.1., & Rodriguez, M.
Abstract
This study aims to determine the situation of young people after
residential care. The directors of 36 finalist residences that care for
young people who will come of age in the same center were interviewed.
Residence directors gave information about 143 young people who left the
center between 2 and 5 years earlier when they came of age, and who had
not been diagnosed with mental deficiency. Most of the young people
entered the residence after they were 12 years old due to family
negligence. The young people scored highest for autonomy and lowest for
emotional regulation. Competences were found to be related to the cause
of protection. Half of the sample were emotionally unstable and had not
graduated from high school. After leaving the foster residence, a third
of the young people went to live with their family, and another third
went to live in assisted flats. Girls tend to live with their partners
more than boys; and boys tend to live with their family more than girls.
65.7% of the young people received work training but only 59.9% worked,
most of them in jobs that don't need qualifications. 30.4% of girls
became mothers at a young age. The implications of the data are
discussed in the article.
35
How do New Mothers who were exposed to Child Maltreatment Parent? A
Canadian Feasibility Study
Bennett, L.M., Hall, G.B.C., Schmidt, L.A., Steiner, M., &
MacMillan, H.L.
Abstract
The primary objective of this study was to identify challenges in the
identification of the sample, enlistment and recruitment of
participants, and the feasibility of measures examining parenting in new
mothers with a history of maltreatment in childhood. Participants were
thirty first-time mothers, unselected for maltreatment history, and
their three-month-old infants. We examined mothers' own history of child
maltreatment in relation to emotional well-being, maternal warmth and
sensitivity, and neuroendocrine activity in both mother and child.
Mothers who reported experiencing maltreatment in childhood scored
higher on self-reported Eysenckian psychoticism and rated their infants
higher on distress to limitations than did mothers who did not report
maltreatment in childhood. Mothers higher on emotional well-being
exhibited greater decrease in salivary cortisol and reported more
smiling and laughter in their infants. Feasibility issues are examined
that stand to inform the design of future studies on a larger scale.