Search results for ‘Subject term:"looked after children"’ Sort:
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Perspectives of looked after children on school experience — a study conducted among primary school children in a children’s home in Singapore
- Author:
- CELESTE Yee Soo Chuen
- Journal article citation:
- Children and Society, 25(2), March 2011, pp.139-150.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
This study attempts to understand the educational needs of looked after children through the perspectives of primary school children in a children’s home in Singapore. The study sought produce a descriptive account of the children’s views on what they experienced in school, how they felt about these experiences, and the extent to which their experiences and feelings were related to their background. A mixed-method approach was adopted to gather both quantitative and qualitative data. This involved 3 stages: analysis of documents on the home; structured interviews with 21 primary school children in the home; and a questionnaire survey of all 39 primary school children in the home. The findings reveal that looked after children do encounter greater challenges in school because of their unique background and lack of resources. The implications for the schools and children’s homes are discussed. In particular, the article emphasises the need for the authorities in both the school and the home to provide guidance and support for looked after children to help them achieve better experiences and performance in school.
The moderating effect between strengths and placement on children's needs in out-of-home care: a follow-up study
- Authors:
- SIM Faye, LI Dongdong, CHU Chi Meng
- Journal article citation:
- Children and Youth Services Review, 60, 2015, pp.101-108.
- Publisher:
- Elsevier
The negative impact of childhood maltreatment, which can often extend well into adulthood, consistently appears to be ameliorated if victimised children possess several resiliencies or strengths. However, little is known about how vulnerable children's outcomes are affected by different levels of strengths across different out-of-home placement settings. The aim of this study was to investigate whether: (i) higher levels of strengths were associated with lower levels of needs; and (ii) placement type (i.e., residential vs. non-kin foster care) moderated the relationship between children's strengths and needs. The Child and Adolescent Needs and Strengths (CANS) tool was used to assess the outcomes of 285 children placed in residential homes or foster care in Singapore. Multiple regressions were conducted on CANS domain scores to evaluate whether level of baseline strengths and placement type predicted outcomes at two time-points. Results indicate that relative to residential care, foster care children are reported to be younger, with lower baseline needs, more prior placements, fewer baseline strengths and suffered fewer types of interpersonal trauma. Higher baseline strengths significantly predicted lower baseline needs of children across 3 of 4 CANS domains, regardless of placement settings. However, at reassessment 1 year later, there were significant interactions between strengths and placement type, whereby baseline strengths significantly predicted lower life functioning needs only in foster care. In both residential and foster care, the protective effects of high strengths against child maltreatment were similarly apparent at baseline, despite clear differences in children's profiles across placement types. Over time, these initial benefits appeared to persist somewhat for children in foster care but seemed to diminish in more restrictive, residential settings. Nonetheless, it is clear that the continual development of children's strengths should be prioritised in case planning. (Edited publisher abstract)