Abstract
The following article reports upon recent research, which explored the perceptions of professionals of the issues that affect the sexual and criminal exploitation of children in care, along ...with a discussion of the effectiveness of current responses to these issues and the challenges that professionals face. The study utilised focus groups and semi-structured interviews to gain the perspectives of thirty-six participants from across a range of agencies involved in children’s social work and youth justice from an area in the north-west of England. The findings echoed previous research by suggesting that for a number of reasons connected to their ‘looked-after’ status and deficiencies within the care system, children are particularly vulnerable to exploitation. Although attempts are being made to develop co-ordinated responses to safeguarding, there is still a long way to go in terms of focusing on vulnerability instead of a prosecution-led approach when offending occurs as a result of exploitation. It is argued how in order to ensure that good, innovative practice becomes ‘standard’ practice; further legislation is required in tandem with a greater degree of education surrounding exploitation and the dynamics inherent in these offences.
Reporting the findings from an English study of practitioners working within multi-agency settings, this article will explore their perceptions of the factors that contribute to the criminalisation ...of children in care. The findings support the contention that children get into trouble as a consequence of a number of system level deficiencies, along with a defensive, risk averse approach to practice which permeates throughout children’s social care and criminal justice agencies. The impact of an under-confident and transient residential care workforce is discussed, along with the privatisation of children’s home provision. Yet while residential care was confirmed as being the more problematic environment, children in foster care were not immune to unnecessary criminalisation. Unchanged, this will continue to produce negative outcomes in terms of criminalisation, the longer term effects of which will impact the life-chances of young people for years to come.
The studies reported here aimed to test the proposal that mind-mindedness is a quality of personal relationships by assessing mind-mindedness in caregiver-child dyads in which the relationship has ...not spanned the child's life or in which the relationship has been judged dysfunctional. Studies 1 and 2 investigated differences in mind-mindedness between adoptive parents (ns = 89, 36) and biological parents from the general population (ns = 54, 114). Both studies found lower mind-mindedness in adoptive compared with biological parents. The results of Study 2 showed that this group difference was independent of parental mental health and could not fully be explained in terms of children's behavioral difficulties. Study 3 investigated differences in mind-mindedness in foster carers (n = 122), parents whose children had been the subject of a child protection plan (n = 172), and a community sample of biological parents (n = 128). The level of mind-mindedness in foster carers and parents who were involved with child protection services was identical and lower than that in the community sample; children's behavioral difficulties could not account for the difference between the 2 groups of biological parents. In all 3 studies, nonbiological carers' tendency to describe their children with reference to preadoption or placement experiences was negatively related to mind-mindedness. These findings are in line with mind-mindedness being a relational construct.
In the UK, post‐adoption contact between adoptive and birth families traditionally includes letterbox and/or face‐to‐face methods of communication. Because of the emphasis in the UK of adoption from ...the public care system, post‐adoption contact is often supported and mediated by social work professionals. The growth in the use of e‐communication, through for example social media, has created concerns regarding the use of such technologies for the purposes of ‘virtual contact’ following adoption. This paper reports the findings of a study of this emerging practice. Semi‐structured interviews were conducted with 11 adoptive parents and six adopted young people. Findings suggest that virtual contact presents both challenges and opportunities for adoptive families. We conclude that virtual contact is complex, but with appropriate boundaries and consideration of different interests, can work well in some cases.
In the UK, post-adoption contact between adoptive and birth families traditionally includes letterbox and/or face-to-face methods of communication. Because of the emphasis in the UK of adoption from ...the public care system, post-adoption contact is often supported and mediated by social work professionals. The growth in the use of e-communication, through for example social media, has created concerns regarding the use of such technologies for the purposes of 'virtual contact' following adoption. This paper reports the findings of a study of this emerging practice. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 11 adoptive parents and six adopted young people. Findings suggest that virtual contact presents both challenges and opportunities for adoptive families. We conclude that virtual contact is complex, but with appropriate boundaries and consideration of different interests, can work well in some cases. Reprinted by permission of Blackwell Publishing
Abstract
In the
UK
, post‐adoption contact between adoptive and birth families traditionally includes letterbox and/or face‐to‐face methods of communication. Because of the emphasis in the
UK
of ...adoption from the public care system, post‐adoption contact is often supported and mediated by social work professionals. The growth in the use of e‐communication, through for example social media, has created concerns regarding the use of such technologies for the purposes of ‘virtual contact’ following adoption. This paper reports the findings of a study of this emerging practice. Semi‐structured interviews were conducted with 11 adoptive parents and six adopted young people. Findings suggest that virtual contact presents both challenges and opportunities for adoptive families. We conclude that virtual contact is complex, but with appropriate boundaries and consideration of different interests, can work well in some cases.
Adoption practice has experienced a shift to ‘openness’ since the 1970s which recognises the importance of the adopted child’s connection to their adoptive and birth families. Traditionally, openness ...includes communication between adopters and their children about adoption and birth family history, and/or direct (face-to-face) or indirect (letterbox) contact between adoptive and birth families with the support and mediation of social workers. However, a new form of technologically mediated contact has emerged that challenges these categories. ‘Virtual contact’ encompasses a range of post-adoption contact activities, including communication through social networking sites (SNS) (such as Facebook), texting and instant messaging via mobile technologies and emailing between adopted children and birth relatives. Given the seeming ubiquity of these modes of communication in today’s society, particularly among young people, there is a feeling of inevitability surrounding virtual contact raising deep concerns for families and adoption practitioners. There is currently little published empirical research addressing this practice issue within adoption. This study explores the impact of communicative technologies on the practice and experience of openness in adoptive families today. An online survey of 101 adoptive parents was conducted, followed by interviews with 10 adoptive parents who had not experienced virtual contact and interviews with 13 adoptive parents and 6 adopted young people who had experienced virtual contact. Survey data revealed a new set of technological practices that are emerging, namely that a large proportion of adoptive parents had searched online themselves for their child’s birth relatives (63%) and a minority (9%) reported virtual contact in their families, with mixed experiences. A mixed thematic and interpretative phenomenological analysis of interviews highlighted that, traditional methods of contact remain an important feature of openness although complexities are evident. Virtual contact offered some families an alternative method of connection with benefits such as fulfilling adoptee identity needs and creating more personal, family relationships. However, risks existed including the unmediated nature of virtual contact and inappropriate behaviour of birth relatives. The experience of virtual contact was influenced by the characteristics of the adoptive family and individuals in it, the existing relationships between the adoptive and birth family, and the existence of additional challenges within the adoptive family. Findings suggest that empirical lessons learned in relation to traditional methods can lay foundations for the development of good practice concerning technological methods.
Adoption practice has experienced a shift to ‘openness’ since the 1970s which recognises the importance of the adopted child’s connection to their adoptive and birth families. Traditionally, openness ...includes communication between adopters and their children about adoption and birth family history, and/or direct (face-to-face) or indirect (letterbox) contact between adoptive and birth families with the support and mediation of social workers. However, a new form of technologically mediated contact has emerged that challenges these categories. ‘Virtual contact’ encompasses a range of post-adoption contact activities, including communication through social networking sites (SNS) (such as Facebook), texting and instant messaging via mobile technologies and emailing between adopted children and birth relatives. Given the seeming ubiquity of these modes of communication in today’s society, particularly among young people, there is a feeling of inevitability surrounding virtual contact raising deep concerns for families and adoption practitioners. There is currently little published empirical research addressing this practice issue within adoption. This study explores the impact of communicative technologies on the practice and experience of openness in adoptive families today. An online survey of 101 adoptive parents was conducted, followed by interviews with 10 adoptive parents who had not experienced virtual contact and interviews with 13 adoptive parents and 6 adopted young people who had experienced virtual contact. Survey data revealed a new set of technological practices that are emerging, namely that a large proportion of adoptive parents had searched online themselves for their child’s birth relatives (63%) and a minority (9%) reported virtual contact in their families, with mixed experiences. A mixed thematic and interpretative phenomenological analysis of interviews highlighted that, traditional methods of contact remain an important feature of openness although complexities are evident. Virtual contact offered some families an alternative method of connection with benefits such as fulfilling adoptee identity needs and creating more personal, family relationships. However, risks existed including the unmediated nature of virtual contact and inappropriate behaviour of birth relatives. The experience of virtual contact was influenced by the characteristics of the adoptive family and individuals in it, the existing relationships between the adoptive and birth family, and the existence of additional challenges within the adoptive family. Findings suggest that empirical lessons learned in relation to traditional methods can lay foundations for the development of good practice concerning technological methods.
Purpose
As higher education moves to formats that are not face-to-face classes in the wake of a global pandemic, educators need research-based guidelines to inform instructional planning and ...implementation. This study aims to provide recommendations for teaching with social media, as a complement and enhancement to traditional online teaching approaches.
Design/methodology/approach
The study draws on reviews of the research literature and the authors’ own experiences in studying and integrating social media into remote teaching and learning in university settings.
Findings
Learning environments that blend asynchronous online elements, where students can go at their own pace, on their own time, have some choice over their learning and are regularly and meaningfully engaging with other students, their teacher and the subject matter are most successful for student learning. Social media, with its affordances for personal profiling, relationship-building, content creation and socializing, when thoughtfully integrated into an online education plan, can help students and teachers stay connected while apart, enhance students’ engagement and make remote learning seem less remote.
Practical implications
The paper includes instructional guidelines for instructors and instructional designers in various post-secondary settings who seek to integrate social media as part of their strategy for remote higher education.
Originality/value
This study fulfills an identified need for pragmatic approaches to online higher education using social media.
PDF
