Child welfare demographics and population characteristics

Child Demographics

CHILD WELFARE IN REVIEW

Financial Status of Children in Welfare - a review conducted in 9 trials on 2,000 participants to determine if financial support to poor families would improve children's health and welfare did not yield sufficient evidence on the financial benefits of intervention (Lucas, 2008). A study on the effectiveness of recent reforms on the chronic problems of the child welfare system in the United States (Westat 2002) found that fiscal reforms did not necessarily produce desirable outcomes nor did fiscal changes eliminate chronic problems in child welfare (Westat). A survey conducted on the child welfare nonprofits in New York, however, showed that the basic problem they encountered was not the lack of skill in managing finances (Marwell et al. 2012). Rather, it revealed that additional public and private investment would enhance the financial stability of these organizations (Marwell et al.). Westat website is a government website, which publishes its own findings. Cochrane Database and the Baruch College School are private websites that conduct independent studies and use scientific method to do so.

Synthesis, Comparison and Contrast -- The Cochrane study explored the effectiveness of directly providing additional money to disadvantaged families in order to improve the health and well-being and educational opportunities of children in these families. It did not find enough evidence to bolster the assumption of effectiveness. Separate studies had negligible effect on household income. The Westat study likewise did not find financial reforms to assert significant outcomes in children's welfare nor will changes in fiscal relationships tend to eliminate ongoing problems. This study covered 23 initiatives in 22 States. On the other hand, nonprofit child welfare organizations lean heavily on government budgets and operate on very tight budgets. They are thus funding child welfare on a thin budget and managing this thin budget is not the basic problem with them. They, in comparison, ask for an increase in budget, which should come from private donations (Marwell et al.). The three sources do not agree. The conclusions of the Cochrane and Westat studies are in harmony. The conclusion of the nonprofits' review on the desirability and assumed impact of effectiveness of additional budget for welfare children is, however, understandable. They, however, seek the additional finances from the private sector, which has been greatly benefiting from them.

Effects of Foster Care -- A comparative study of 3 groups of displaced children showed that those placed in foster care exhibited high levels of behavior problems after their release (Lawrence, 2006). It was suggested that the type of care and baseline adaptation and improved socioeconomic status could modify their condition. The website is the government arm, which publishes findings on health from scientific studies, and is thus, objective and reliable. A study on the language outcomes of 174 young children on foster care showed that age had a lot to do with language development. A child placed at 15 months normally develops expressive and receptive language comparable to other children between 30 and 42 months (Windsor et al. 2011). Placement from 15 to 24 months produced better outcomes. But children placed after 24 months developed comparable language delays as children in institutional care (Lawrence). The website for this study is the same as the earlier article and the findings come from scientific investigations. The findings of a third study are consistent with the first two. It found that children in foster care had higher levels of attention and positive affect as compared with institutionalized children (Ghera et al., 2009). Those in foster care who showed this outcome did at 42 months. The website is the same as the first two earlier studies.

Synthesis, Comparison and Contrast -- The three studies present comparable findings that children placed in foster care tend to develop more favorable behaviors than those placed in institutional care. All three are published in peer-reviewed publications found in the same website operated by the government's health entity. One study focuses on the language learning of child in welfare, which develops better in children placed in foster between 15 months and 24. Language learning, however, becomes severely delayed if they are placed after 24 months. The delay is comparable to those who are in institutionalized care.

The first study compares children placed in foster care with those who remained at home but were maltreated and those who did not experience foster or maltreatment but were had at-risk characteristics. It found that those placed in unfamiliar foster care had greater problems internalizing than children maltreated by caregivers, those in familiar care and those who received positive care giving. Both groups of institutionalized children and those in foster care were evaluated on emotion tasks at 30 and 40 months of age. These studies suggest that children's conditions can improve by varying the type of care in connection with maltreatment history, baseline adaptation and socioeconomic status.

The Most Affected by Domestic Abuse -- a survey of 265 women showed that 63% of them experienced violence as housewives and represented the most affected by domestic violence (Manoudi et al. 2013). These respondents were 25% managers with severe family problems. Of this number, 39% were battered and of which 16.06% were severely physically battered. Family problems were the most important cause, requests for money and imposed sexual relations foremost among these. The second study reveals the effect of domestic violence on children inter-generationally (Volpe, 2012). These children may simply be passive participants but they actively construct their own social world from their experience. The third study (Holt, 2008) relates that more than 3 million children are exposed to parental violence each year. Experts view this as serious public health problems in children, such as shock, terror, guilt, horror, irritability and post traumatic stress disorder. The websites for these three studies are the National Institute of Health, a government entity.