Redefining family relationships following adoption: adoptive parents’ perspectives on the changing nature of kinship between adoptees and birth relatives.

Redefining family relationships following adoption: adoptive parents’ perspectives on the changing nature of kinship between adoptees and birth relatives.
Summary: Draws on data from a series of biographical interviews with 22 parents and adopted children within the UK over a 24 year period, in order to explore post adoption family relationships from the perspective of adoptive parents. Discusses findings in relation to maintaining family ties between adoptees and their birth relatives, sources of fragility within family relationships following adoption, and supporting direct and mediated contact. Concludes that this study highlights the complexities involved in the reshaping of family relationships between adoptees and birth relatives following adoption and points towards a need for more proactive facilitation of post-adoption relationships by adoption support professionals. Recommends that where possible, formal contact arrangements should build on existing family practices if they are to be meaningful to those facing the challenge of ‘redrawing the boundaries of kinship’.
Publication details: British Journal of Social Work Volume 42 Issue 2, 2012 pp 283-299
Authors: Jones, Christine, and Hackett, Simon

Marital conflict, respiratory sinus arrhythmia, and allostatic load: interrelations and associations with the development of children’s externalizing behavior.

Marital conflict, respiratory sinus arrhythmia, and allostatic load: interrelations and associations with the development of children’s externalizing behavior.
Summary: Uses data relating to children’s respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA – the cyclical change in heart rate that occurs in correspondence with breathing rhythm) and their exposure to parental conflict to analyse how their bodies cope with heightened levels of stress. Focuses on two independent samples with repeated measures at ages 8,9,10 and 11. Also looks at the relationship between RSA and children’s externalising behaviour. Finds a negative relationship between boys’ initial resting RSA and externalising symptoms, with results for girls proving more mixed.
Publication details: Development and Psychopathology Volume 23 Issue 3, 2011 pp 815-829
Authors: El-Sheikh, Mona, and Hinnant, J. Benjamin

Childhood maltreatment, adult attachment, and depression as predictors of parental self-efficacy in at-risk mothers.

Childhood maltreatment, adult attachment, and depression as predictors of parental self-efficacy in at-risk mothers.
Summary: Examines the effects of childhood abuse on the attachment styles and mental health of mothers, in particular the relationship with depression. Emotional abuse was found to predict more anxious attachment and maternal depression.
Publication details: Journal of Aggression Maltreatment and Trauma Volume 20 Issue 6, 2011 pp 595-616
Authors: Caldwell, Jon G., et al.

Targeting children of substance-using parents with the community-based group intervention

Targeting children of substance-using parents with the community-based group intervention TRAMPOLINE: a randomised controlled trial – design, evaluation, recruitment issues.
Summary: Describes a protocol to test the effectiveness of TRAMPOLINE, a group programme aimed at children aged 8-12 years with at least one substance-abusing or substance-dependent caregiver delivered in Germany. Includes a literature review of interventions for families where there are substance abusing parents. It hypothesises that the addiction-specific group programme TRAMPOLINE will elicit superior effects in participating children as compared with participants in an addiction-unrelated play group on several relevant indicators such as coping skills or psychological distress. This study is the first in Germany to develop and evaluate a programme for children of substance-abusing parents. Limitations and strengths are discussed with a special focus on recruitment challenges as they appear to be the most potent threat to feasibility in this difficult-to-access target group.
Publication details: BMC Public Health Volume 12 Issue 223, 2012 pp 1-20
Authors: Broning, Sonja, et al.

Victim of and witness to violence: an interactional perspective on mothers’ perceptions of children exposed to intimate partner violence.
Summary: Outlines findings from a study into how mothers felt the effects of domestic violence during pregnancy and children’s exposure to domestic violence. Looks at responses from a sample of 137 help-seeking mothers in Norway. Looks at the relationship between the severity of the intimate partner violence, the age of the child, and the length of the partnership and the risk posed to the child.
Publication details: Violence and Victims Volume 26 Issue 6, 2011 pp 830-852
Authors: Vatnar, Solveig Karin Bo, and Bjorkly, Stal

Examining gender differences in the relationship between dating violence victimization and anger in college students.

Examining gender differences in the relationship between dating violence victimization and anger in college students.
Summary: Reports on a study examining the associations between physical and psychological victimisation experiences and measures of anger in 200 male and female undergraduates in the US. Findings suggest that men’s victimisation was more strongly associated with different forms of anger than women’s victimisation.
Publication details: Violence and Victims Volume 27 Issue 1, 2012 pp 70-77
Authors: Rutter, Lauren A., and Weatherill, Robin P., and Taft, Casey T., and Orazem, Robert J.

An examination of the association between difficulties with emotion regulation and dating violence perpetration.

An examination of the association between difficulties with emotion regulation and dating violence perpetration.
Summary: Discusses the link between the regulation of emotions and dating violence in a sample of college students in the United States, indicating a role for work on emotional skills to prevent aggression and violence in dating relationships.
Publication details: Journal of Aggression Maltreatment and Trauma Volume 20 Issue 8, 2011 pp 870-885
Authors: Shorey, Ryan C., et al.

The enemy within: 4 million reasons to tackle family conflict and family violence.

The enemy within: 4 million reasons to tackle family conflict and family violence.
Summary: Research on the extent of conflict and violence in families in the UK, looking at how violence threatens lives, breaks up families, and has ongoing psychological and physical effects on children. Found that 53% of families with children experience serious or frequent conflict. The report makes recommendations, including widening the definition of domestic violence to fully encapsulate family violence, stretching beyond intimate partners to include parent-on-child violence, adolescent-on-parent violence, extended family violence and domestic violence carried out by perpetrators under 18. It also recommends introduction of a whole family approach to responding to family violence, and moving to an early intervention approach. More detailed findings from the research are also discussed. Looks at the impact of violence on children’s brains and development, and on parents’ ability to parent. Discusses whether Britain is doing enough to respond to family violence and prevent crisis, and highlights gaps in the current approach.
Publication details: London: 4Children, 2012 pp 55
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Health care for disabled children and young people.

Health care for disabled children and young people.
Summary: Looks at how the health care needs of disabled children and young people are met by the commissioners and providers of health care in England. Looks particularly at the availability of specialist health services, assessing the quality of support in a geographical area, and the aspects of the care pathway that are of particular importance to families. Uses views and experiences of both disabled children and their families, as well as survey data from commissioners and acute hospitals about services provided between September 2009 and September 2010. Found various barriers to involvement in and access to services, including waiting too long for access to services or diagnosis. Families felt services did not work well together and did not feel they had been consulted on their care. There was a significant disparity between the experiences of the children and families, which were negative, and the data supplied by the PCTs which showed high levels of access and user-centred care.
Publication details: London: Care Quality Commission, 2012 pp 47
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Corporate authors: Care Quality Commission

Children’s participation in child-protection processes as experienced by foster children and social workers.

Children’s participation in child-protection processes as experienced by foster children and social workers.
Summary: Analyses how foster children participate in the child protection process, looking at both child and social worker perspectives. Bases findings on a series of interviews with children and young people in family foster care and their social workers. Identifies a strong belief in the importance of participation amongst foster children, and a number of obstacles that prevent them from reaching their desired level of involvement.
Publication details: Child Care in Practice Volume 18 Issue 2, 2012 pp 107 – 125
Authors: Polkki, Pirjo, and Vornanen, Riitta, and Pursiainen, Merja, and Riikonen, Marjo