ABSTRACT Despite the well‐documented buffering effect of parent–adolescent cohesion on depressive symptoms, relatively little is known about the potential mediating roles of self‐compassion and psychological resilience in this relationship. This present study examined a serial mediation model in which self‐compassion and psychological resilience sequentially account for the association between parent–child cohesion and depressive symptoms among Chinese adolescents. A sample of 389 adolescents ( M age = 14.41 years, SD = 1.68; 53% male) provided self‐report data on parent–adolescent cohesion, self‐compassion, psychological resilience and depressive symptoms during May and June 2022 in China. Results revealed that parent–adolescent cohesion was directly and negatively associated with depressive symptoms. Moreover, self‐compassion and psychological resilience mediated this relationship both individually and serially (i.e., self‐compassion followed by psychological resilience). The indirect effect via self‐compassion alone accounted for 37.89% of the total effect, whereas the effects via resilience alone and via the serial pathway accounted for 6.50% and 6.86%, respectively. These findings highlight the important mediating roles of self‐compassion and resilience in explaining how parent–adolescent cohesion is associated with reduced depressive symptoms, offering valuable insights for interventions aimed at adolescent depression.
ABSTRACT Placement stability is a central objective in out‐of‐home care, yet many children experience repeated re‐placements. While previous research has largely focused on predictors and outcomes of placement instability, children's own experiences of transient care trajectories remain less explored. This article presents an original thematic synthesis of research on children's experiences of placement instability in out‐of‐home care, drawing on a subset of 31 primary studies identified through a broader scoping review of 194 peer ‐ reviewed articles published between 2014 and 2024. The findings show that children experience placement instability as a profound disruption characterized by loss of relationships, emotional distress, feelings of rejection and limited predictability in everyday life. Repeated moves undermine trust, belonging and relational continuity. Limited access to information and minimal involvement in decision‐making emerged as recurring concerns. Conversely, stable relationships with at least one consistent and supportive adult, alongside meaningful participation, were identified as key protective factors. The findings underline the importance of prioritizing relational continuity, predictable care arrangements and genuine child participation in social work practice aimed at reducing the harmful effects of placement instability.
ABSTRACT Honour‐based violence (HBV) is a serious social problem with significant health and social consequences for affected children. Despite growing policy attention, little is known about how child protection services address HBV in practice. This study examines how child protection investigations categorized as HBV are handled by a specialized child protection unit in a large Swedish municipality. A quantitative content analysis of all investigations ( N = 138) in 2023 was conducted. The analytical procedure comprised descriptive statistics and group comparisons. The findings show detailed documentation of physical violence (20%) and social control (32%), particularly affecting girls. Specific honour‐based expressions of control were frequently recorded. However, there was no documentation about sexual violence, forced virginity testing or conversion practices targeting LBGTQI youth. The child protection investigations frequently resulted in a formal decision to initiate an intervention, particularly in cases where physical violence had been identified. The article discusses the nuanced ways in which HBV is documented, the interventions proposed in comparison with child protection cases not related to HBV and how different conceptualisations of HBV may shape assessment practices. The study highlights both strengths and gaps in child protection responses and calls for longitudinal and comparative research.
ABSTRACT The present study aims to explore interpersonal conflicts involving adolescents living in residential children's homes and group homes through caregivers' interpretations, with particular attention to the psychological meaning and relational functions of conflict. The study adopts a qualitative design and employs reflexive thematic analysis. Semi‐structured interviews were conducted with 12 caregivers (9 women, 3 men) working in nine different residential group homes. The analysis identified three overarching themes. Caring Through Understanding (Theme 1) captures how conflicts are understood through the impact of the past and the relational regulation enacted through emotional involvement. Navigating Caregiving Ambivalence (Theme 2) highlights how conflict situations simultaneously evoke a sense of professional competence, experiencing failure in the absence of effective tools and ongoing role strain, positioning conflict as a site where caregiving identity is continuously negotiated. Conflict as a Relational Language (Theme 3) encompasses subthemes that reflect the re‐enactment of relational scripts, the self‐protective function of aggression and seeking connection through conflict. The findings suggest that conflicts are not merely behavioural problems but relational processes that simultaneously serve adolescents' emotion regulation and relational strivings while also revealing caregivers' emotional–professional ambivalence within conflict contexts.
ABSTRACT As youth develop physically, socially and cognitively, parent–child interactions increasingly centre on children's emotional and instrumental support, reflecting a shift from practical caregiving to shared experiences and emotional communication. Building on this developmental shift, the present study surveyed 919 elementary and middle school children to identify distinct profiles of parent–child relationship quality and to examine their associations with children's emotional adjustment. Additionally, a multi‐categorical mediating model was employed to explore the potential role of unsociability in these associations. The results revealed the following: (1) parent–child relationship quality was best characterized by four latent profiles: the Disengaged Profile (14.7%), the Moderate‐Low Profile (32.4%), the Differential Parenting Profile (6.5%) and the Harmonious‐High Support Profile (46.4%); (2) children in the Disengaged Profile and the Differential Parenting Profile reported the highest levels of emotional maladjustment, whereas children in the Harmonious‐High Support Profile reported the lowest level and the Moderate‐Low Profile showed the average level; (3) Unsociability mediated the differences in the Chinese children's emotional adjustment between the Disengaged , Moderate‐Low , Differential Parenting and Harmonious‐High Support Profile . These findings highlight the importance of positive relationships with both parents and their links to children's emotional well‐being.
ABSTRACT This study examines the association between family reunification and parental labour market attachment (LMA) (i.e., core workforce, student, insecure workforce or ‘Not in Education, Employment or Training’ [NEET]) among parents whose children experienced out‐of‐home care (OHC) in Sweden. Using data from the population‐based Swedish Families of the 1990s (SWIFT90) cohort ( N = 11 907), we examined parental labour market outcomes 3 years before and 3 years after their child's first OHC placement episode. Descriptive analysis and conditional transition probabilities between LMA states were presented. Multinomial logistic regression models and the corresponding predictive probabilities were used to estimate the association between reunification status and LMA 3 years after the child's placement. Overall stability in LMA was observed pre‐ and post‐placement, with NEET status showing persistent disadvantage. Findings indicate the most vulnerable LMA among parents not reunified with their children. Non‐reunified parents had a higher relative risk ratio (RRR) of being NEET than those in the core workforce, compared with reunified parents (RRR = 1.24; 95% CI 1.02–1.52), after adjusting for key factors. This study extends the current knowledge by showing that the parents of these children are themselves part of a socially excluded population. Strengthening parental outcomes may require integrating employment‐focused support within child welfare services to address the structural barriers that persist beyond reunification.
ABSTRACT Although the cycle of violence is well‐established in general contexts, limited research has explored it within school‐related gender‐based violence (SRGBV)—violence rooted in sex, sexual orientation or gender expression. Guided by the general aggression model, this study examines how two forms of SRGBV—gender‐based bullying and sexual harassment—relate to adolescents' bullying perpetration. It further investigates the mediating roles of boys‐specific and girls‐specific gender stereotypes and the moderating role of gender, drawing on the gender‐stereotype fit hypothesis. Utilizing data from 37 332 adolescents (mean age = 15.75) across 13 countries on three continents from the 2023 Study on Social and Emotional Skills (SSES), structural equation modelling was conducted. The results indicate that both gender‐based bullying and sexual harassment are significantly associated with increased levels of bullying perpetration among adolescents. Additionally, boys‐specific and girls‐specific gender stereotypes mediate these relationships. When gender was examined as a moderating variable, the associations between same‐gender stereotypes (boys−/girls‐specific stereotypes held by boys/girls) and bullying perpetration were significantly stronger than those involving cross‐gender stereotypes (girls‐/boys‐specific stereotypes held by boys/girls). The findings highlight the importance of developing social policies and intervention programmes aimed at interrupting the SRGBV cycle by directly addressing gender stereotypes—particularly those aligned with adolescents' own gender.
ABSTRACT Child and parent participation is fundamental to effective child welfare practice. Legislative imperatives assert the right to participate, but in a child welfare context, participation is complex and risks becoming rhetorical. This paper, based on a conceptual synthesis built from second person action research and a narrative review, explores child and parent participation from a UNCRC rights‐based perspective, adopting a critical reflexive approach to explore challenges and begin to disrupt entrenched and dichotomized child–parent participation practices. Our synthesis positions context and relationships as central to meaningful participation in child welfare, embeds participatory acts in the everyday mindsets and practices of professionals and positions participation as a skilled communication process. Psychoanalytic concepts and the Pragmatics of Human Communication are introduced as generative conceptual frames, offering an innovative reconceptualization of participation that is more inclusive, contextual, relational, embedded and pragmatic. We conclude with a call for participatory research involving children and parents that might offer new insights and mobilize practitioners into more attuned and epistemically and socially just participatory practices.
ABSTRACT An increasing number of young adults in Ghana begin adulthood from residential care. Many face challenges after leaving care, partly because they are unprepared for independent adult life. This study examines the level of preparedness and the factors influencing it among young people in residential care in Ghana. A mixed‐methods approach was employed to collect survey data from 264 young individuals and in‐depth semistructured interviews with 20 young people and 10 key informants working in residential facilities. The survey and interview data were analysed using SPSS and a thematic framework, respectively. The quantitative data revealed that young people felt most prepared to maintain relationships and confident in managing money and finding housing but least prepared to continue their education and secure employment. Educational preparation, formal and informal support, emotional maturity and independent living skills are factors that influence readiness. These findings underscore the necessity for policies and practices to bridge gaps in young people's preparation for adulthood. Practitioners should ensure that young people leaving care in Ghana have comprehensive preparation plans that assess their readiness, with particular focus on their educational status, support systems and interdependent living skills. Residential care facilities should also establish aftercare programmes providing housing and assistance to be implemented alongside policies extending the care‐leaving age to 21.
ABSTRACT This study examines how social workers form knowledge about risk factors related to high‐conflict parental separations from a child's perspective. The data consist of vignette‐based interviews with 46 Finnish social workers working in child protection and child and family social work. Our research question was: How do social workers form knowledge about the risk factors presented in vignettes from a child's perspective? The aim was to deepen the understanding of how risk‐related knowledge is formed in high‐conflict parental separations with the goal of improving support for children in these situations. The main themes that were constructed by using a qualitative thematic analysis show that social workers form knowledge by the following: (1) identifying emerging risks in the child's and family's life situation, (2) acknowledging immediate risk factors for the child and (3) anticipating future risks for the child. The findings underline that knowledge formation on risk factors is contextual, relational and socially constructed, encompassing pre‐existing, here‐and‐now and future risk factors from the child's perspective. Child‐centred knowledge formation concerning risk factors requires social workers' professional experience and expertise to navigate the complex knowledge and dynamics of high‐conflict parental separations.
ABSTRACT Children of incarcerated parents are frequently overlooked despite the effects of parental incarceration on their well‐being, relational security, social inclusion and participation. This article examines the conditions under which digital social work can support relational and institutional trust among these children. Trust is conceptualized as a child's expectation that significant adults, professionals and institutions can be relied upon in situations of uncertainty and vulnerability. Relational trust refers to children's experiences of significant adults as available, responsive and communicative, whereas institutional trust concerns expectations that services will handle information, communication and participation responsively. Drawing on the capability approach, attachment theory, and digital social work, the article presents a secondary thematic analysis of data from the Parenting Behind Bars study (2020–2023) and develops a framework of digitally supported trust. The findings suggest that digital support becomes trustworthy only when it is comprehensible, voluntary, relationally sensitive, ethically grounded and linked to clear professional responsibility.
When children are placed in foster care, social work professionals decide whether they should and can be placed with their siblings. In England, this has become an important discussion within social work, as research has highlighted both the value of sibling co-placement and the extent to which it often does not happen. We suggest that at the root of this decision lies a critical question that is rarely addressed: Who is a sibling? This study explored how social work professionals define siblings for children in care, how this reflects children's relationships and how recognition and recording of sibling relationships may be improved. Drawing on sociological concepts of family, a thematic analysis of interviews illustrated that views of siblinghood reflected contemporary diversity in familial relationships and the importance of the subjective salience of a sibling relationship for a specific child. However, operationalising these is challenging both conceptually and logistically; as a result, biological ties are more often reflected in case file data and tend to operate as the default in decision-making. We highlight implications of these findings both for social work professionals' practice and children's experience of foster care placement.
ABSTRACT Digitally mediated participation is increasingly promoted within child welfare practice as a means of enhancing children's participation in decisions affecting their lives. This systematic review synthesises seven qualitative and mixed‐methods studies published between 2015 and 2024 to examine how digital participation functions within contemporary child welfare. Thematic synthesis identified four interconnected relational mechanisms. Digitally mediated participation restructures the temporal organisation of participation by embedding relational support into everyday life through ongoing, child‐initiated microinteractions. It redistributes interactional power by enabling children to regulate the form, timing and intensity of engagement. It functions as a relational buffer that moderates emotional exposure and supports sustained and more organic engagement. Finally, it stabilises children's evolving self‐understanding by enabling the externalisation, revisiting and refinement of personal narratives over time. It thereby supports children's self‐awareness of their own interest and assists services in reasoning and decision‐making in the child's best interests. These mechanisms position digitally mediated participation as a qualitatively distinct relational infrastructure that reshapes the enactment of children's agency within child welfare practice.
In Quebec, Canada, looked-after children deemed at high risk of discontinuity and instability can be placed with foster-to-adopt parents. This allows them to remain in the same family if and when they are legally freed for adoption. Uncertainty regarding the finalization of adoption and mandatory pre-adoption contact with birth family members may affect the foster-to-adopt parents' attitudes towards the child's birth family. This article documents foster-to-adopt parents' level of openness towards child birth family members. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 16 foster-to-adopt families and 23 caseworkers during the first year following placement. A second interview was conducted 18 months later with 15 of the 16 families. Using thematic analysis, three different profiles of openness were identified: forced openness/closed attitude; limited openness/passive attitude; strongly affirmed openness/proactive attitude. This paper highlights the main characteristics of each profile as well as the evolution of openness between both interviews. The influence of caseworkers' practices and attitudes toward openness on the foster-to-adopt parents' perceptions of the birth family is discussed.
Exposure to domestic violence is a significant risk factor for adolescent mental health, yet its association with situational anxiety, particularly test anxiety, remains underexplored. This study examined the serial mediation of neuroticism and maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies in the link between witnessing domestic violence and test anxiety. Using structural equation modelling (SEM), this study analysed data from 612 junior high school students (47.1% male, M age = 12.90 +/- 0.75 years) who completed self-report questionnaires. Additionally, network analysis was conducted to investigate interrelationships between neuroticism and maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies at the item level. Results showed that witnessing domestic violence was positively associated with test anxiety, and neuroticism and maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies sequentially mediated this relationship. Network analysis further revealed that 'worthlessness' and 'self-blame' served as central bridge nodes linking the two constructs. This study identified a serial mediated mechanism connecting witnessing domestic violence to adolescent test anxiety via neuroticism and maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies, highlighting the importance of attending to family functioning and emotion regulation in preventive interventions.
This study explores how young people who have lived in out-of-home care in Finland experience their relationships with caregivers and how these experiences can be interpreted through the lens of care ethics. The focus is on everyday practices in out-of-home care, where relational care and professional responsibilities intersect. The research is grounded in a hermeneutic-phenomenological approach, and the data were analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA). Ten young adults who experienced out-of-home care participated in the research. The findings identify five elements of ethical care: relational continuity, consistency, attentiveness, responsibility and relationality, which reveal both enabling and vulnerable aspects of care. A model of ethical care in out-of-home care was developed based on this to define the moral and relational principles required for ethical out-of-home care. The model offers practical guidance for developing relationally grounded practices that strengthen the ethical quality of care work in out-of-home care.
Although family reintegration of street-connected youth has become the main objective of many governmental and civil society organizations, achieving this remains a complex task. This article explores what contributes to successful and sustainable change in work with street-connected young people and their families based on descriptions provided by the youth and family members themselves and the professionals who work with them. The study draws on ethnographic data created in two civil society organizations and one governmental institution in urban Northeast Brazil. The results illustrate the desired change: weakening young people's connection to the street and its related lifestyle and strengthening their family and community ties and, as a result, achieving family reintegration. In addition, they discuss work approaches that can successfully and sustainably contribute to this change: relationship-building, awareness-raising and enhancing strengths. The article argues that these approaches are fundamentally rights-based and can offer successful and sustainable change in these young people's situations and those of their families by valuing them as subjects of rights instead of stigmatizing or victimizing them. It further argues that such approaches should, therefore, be acknowledged in both practice and policy within a relational perspective that involves both young people and their families.
Social work clients often face complex financial difficulties. To address this, we developed FinSoc, a financial social work intervention designed to improve financial literacy, strengthen economic self-efficacy and reduce financial anxiety among parents in Finland. This pilot randomized controlled trial aimed to evaluate the feasibility, acceptability and preliminary effectiveness of the intervention. Altogether, 30 social work clients participated in the study and were randomly assigned to either the intervention or a waitlist control group. Data were collected at three time points: before the intervention, immediately after and at a 3-month follow-up. Additionally, qualitative interviews were conducted with both participants and professionals implementing the intervention. Of the 55 individuals assessed for eligibility, 30 enrolled in the study (54.5%), and 80% completed the 3-month follow-up. Acceptability was high: 13 of the 14 clients (92.9%) who completed all sessions rated the intervention as useful, and professionals viewed it as beneficial in supporting clients' financial capabilities. Although the group & times; time interactions for financial literacy, financial anxiety and economic self-efficacy did not reach statistical significance, the findings may nevertheless suggest some potential for effectiveness. The study was prospectively registered (ISRCTN 38586825).
ABSTRACT This scoping review explores the motivations of individuals and families from industrialized Western countries who foster or adopt a non‐biological child living with a disability. It addresses the global challenge of a shortage of foster carers, particularly for the overrepresented population of children with disabilities. Understanding these motivations is crucial for enhancing foster carer recruitment, support and retention within the child welfare system. A scoping review methodology was used, involving a comprehensive search of key databases for peer‐reviewed articles in English, published between 2000 and 2025. The focus was on non‐biological carers in formal and informal arrangements caring for children meeting the United Nations' definition of disability. Twelve articles met the final inclusion criteria, and their analysis revealed key themes regarding the motivations of these carers. The themes identified were as follows: (1) altruistic concern for vulnerable children, (2) enduring commitment to disability‐related caregiving, (3) personal values and belief systems and (4) perceived mutual benefit and family enrichment. This review highlights the diverse motivations underpinning the decision to foster or adopt children with disabilities. The findings have implications for tailoring recruitment (e.g., strength‐based messaging) and support strategies (e.g., respite planning) to improve care quality and stability.
ABSTRACT This special issue explores care, emotions and the senses in social work during COVID‐19, drawing on papers from six countries. It reconsiders the pandemic as a moment that reshaped the relational, embodied and affective dimensions of care under conditions of uncertainty, intensified governance and scientisation. The papers examine how care practices, emotional regulation and sensory knowledge were transformed across diverse contexts for practitioners and service users, foregrounding care as a relational, embodied and politically situated practice shaped by inequalities and institutional constraints. The collection highlights both disruption and continuity in relational labour, including practices of intimacy, advocacy and adaptation in crisis conditions, reaffirming the centrality of emotion and the senses to social work and care during lockdown.
