Many young people in out-of-home care (OOHC) encounter difficulties when attempting to access their personal histories in the form of photographs, report cards and other key identity memorabilia. As a result of frequent placement changes, limited continuity of relationships and the administrative nature of case files, the personal narratives of care leavers are often fragmented, impacting their formation of a coherent sense of self. Participatory recordkeeping is an emergent concept that offers a solution to this disconnect. This article explores the current practices around, barriers to and opportunities for the implementation of participatory recordkeeping for a non-government organization that provides OOHC services in Queensland, Australia. Drawing on two focus groups with service design staff and frontline practitioners, the findings use the 'Now, Future, How?' framework to identify both the facilitators and the barriers to participatory recordkeeping. The findings suggest that participatory recordkeeping will only be actualized if it is embedded within an organization's practice and supported by system infrastructure that recognizes the dual administrative and identity-forming functions of records.
Virtual parent training interventions (PTIs) have successfully addressed classic participation barriers for over a decade. Regardless, most limit themselves to deliver the in-person manual and fail to leverage virtual innovation tools like chatbots. This exploratory study examined the experiences of mothers of 11- to 16-year-olds interacting with BRAT (i.e., Boundaries, Resilience and Affection Training), an AI-driven text-based chatbot simulating child and adolescent responses that also provides PLH and CAPAS-based insights for common parenting scenarios. Fifteen Hispanic mothers ((x) over bar = 44.53 years of age, s = 9.45) from Central Texas participated in a virtual session featuring three scenarios: homework resistance, excessive screen time and disrespectful behaviour. They were then interviewed about their experience. Content analysis revealed four themes: (1) scenario realism and response accuracy, (2) insights and self-reflection, (3) potential uses and promising avenues and (4) shortcomings. Mothers described BRAT's responses as accurate, often eliciting emotional reactions through idioms and argumentative styles typical of youth. Insights prompted self-reflection on communication patterns and strategies for supporting youth mental health. Participants viewed BRAT as a promising treatment enhancement tool. Findings underscore BRAT's acceptability and potential to enhance PTIs by reducing burden, tailoring content, increasing engagement and improving scalability.
In an increasingly digitalized social context, digital competences have become a fundamental resource for social participation, access to opportunities and independent living. Accordingly, this study examines the impact of digital competence on the lives of young people residing in child protection residential care centres in Galicia (Spain). The sample consisted of 245 participants (49.8% female) aged 16 years and over (M = 16.71, SD = 0.71) living in residential care. Participants completed the PLANEA Scale, designed to assess independent living skills, and the Youth Digital Skills Indicator, an instrument measuring digital competences. A nonexperimental, quantitative, descriptive and inferential study design was employed. The results indicate that young people in residential care centres demonstrate high levels of digital competence and independent living skills. Furthermore, the findings show that having a high level of digital competence is associated with greater independence in adult life. These results invite reflection on the importance of digital competence for independent living and highlight the need to continue implementing digital literacy strategies within social work interventions with young people, promoting equitable access to technology and reducing digital vulnerability.
ABSTRACT The present study sought to determine whether linguistic patterns used by adoptive parents when discussing their child's adoption related to their ratings of compatibility with the adopted child. Parents' feelings of compatibility have been linked to more positive adjustment outcomes in adoptees. Research on linguistics has shown that it is possible to infer aspects of a speaker's cognitive and emotional state from the linguistic patterns they use. Secondary data analysis was conducted with data from 177 adoptive families who participated in a larger study. Adoptive parent interviews covering topics of adoption were coded using the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count 2015 (LIWC2015) software. Adoptive parents' linguistic patterns of negative emotional tone and perceptions of parent–adolescent incompatibility using the Parenting Stress Index were examined through actor‐partner interdependence models. Greater perceptions of incompatibility were associated with higher rates of negative emotional word usage both for adoptive mothers ( β = 0.18, p = 0.004) and adoptive fathers ( β = 0.24, p = 0.004). This study documents the connection between parental linguistic patterns and underlying feelings of compatibility within the adoptive placement. Mental health providers who treat adoptive families need to be mindful of the linguistic patterns parents use when speaking about their adoption experience, as this can indicate deeper feelings about placement fit, which have been shown to relate to child attachment and wellbeing within their adoptive home.
ABSTRACT This work dwells upon examining the supply and demand of universal childcare services to infants and toddlers (0–3 years old) at the level of China counties, which coincides with the national policy on high‐quality development. Under the guidance of the stimulus‐organism‐response (SOR) model, the study analyses a complex relationship of institutional antecedents, affordability of childcare (AC), perceived safety standards (PSS), perceived staff qualifications (PSQ) and infrastructure quality (IQ) to parental satisfaction with childcare services (PSCS) through two mediators, localized curriculum availability (LCA) and home–school communication quality (HSCQ). The study employed partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS‐SEM) to analyse survey data collected from 600 parents across 60 childcare institutions in six Chinese provinces. The results have shown that each of the institutional stimuli is significant in affecting the mediators, which in turn affects parental satisfaction. It is important to note that PSQ showed the strongest association. The conclusions have theoretical implications regarding the cognition and emotion‐related factors of the satisfaction and practical implications in the policy design to attract inclusive, affordable and culturally sensitive childcare. The findings suggest that policymakers should prioritize staff training, professional certification, curriculum localization and effective home–school communication to improve the quality and accessibility of universal childcare services.
