RP93-395 Liability Insurance and the Family Child Care Provider

Life other small business owners, family child care providers need adequate life, health, and disability insurance to protect their families from the loss of their income. However, child care providers also face unique risks. Perhaps the most important of these risks is the financial loss that would result if the provider were found liable or responsible for the injury or death of a child or a child's parent. If a claim were filed against you as a provider, three different types of financial losses are possible: medical expenses, damages awarded to the victim or his/her family after a lawsuit, and court costs related to your defense. This booklet will help you to: (1) evaluate options for insuring a family child care operation, and (2) evaluate available liability insurance policies.

Intersection of Tradition and Need of Change in Romanian Child Protection System

The reconstruction of the child protection system in the post-communist period so as to meet professional standards while responding to the needs of children is an enormous task. In order to understand the features of the current stage of the development of the Romanian child protection system and to evaluate its trends towards change, Roth-Szamoskozi analysed data from scientific literature and collected statistics to document the evolution of the child-protection structure. Empirical data collection using qualitative methods (content analysis of documents and interviews with staff) were designed to reflect the degree to which child welfare laws correspond to internationally accepted regulations and to analyse the attitudes of those working in the field at different decision-making levels. An experiment with a group of 12 students showed that there have been basic changes in the legal framework of Romanian child welfare. Students could see that the required principles exist in the new Romanian child protection law, but also identified areas which are still inadequately represented. 61 staff members working in child welfare agencies (both state and non-governmental) were also interviewed, using a systematic, circular interview. Using the criteria of competence and the existence of specific social goals, professionalism in solving social problems and respect for social-work values, the 30 non-governmental organisations were divided into three categories. The first (7 organisations) are active in the area, know the law and are fairly professional, the second (5) are motivated in their work with specific problems, but with no great competence. The 18 organisations in the third group have no competence in the social field and in issues concerning children and do only charitable work. The state agencies are still dominated by routine, but there were many staff members who were developing reform and strategic roles and were actively directing the system towards change. Many staff members in both governmental and non-governmental organisations were directing the system towards a stress on intervention in the interests of the child in the context of its family. Roth-Szamoskozi found that staff members felt the need of a more accurate evaluation system which would enable them to show their results more clearly.

Exploring the Benefits of a Parent Partner Mentoring Program in Child Welfare

Parent partner mentoring programs are an innovative strategy for child welfare agencies to engage families in case planning and service delivery. These programs recruit and train parents who have been involved in the system and have successfully resolved identified child abuse or neglect issues to work with families with current open cases in the child welfare system. Parent partner mentors can provide social and emotional support, advocacy, and practical advice for navigating this challenging system. Insofar as parent partners share similar experiences, and cultural and socioeconomic characteristics of families, they may be more successful in engaging families and building trusting supportive relationships. The current study presents qualitative data from interviews and case studies of families who were matched with a parent partner in a large county in a Midwestern state. Interviews with families, parent partner mentors, child welfare agency staff, and community partners and providers suggest that parent partner programs may be just as beneficial for parent partner mentors as they are for families being mentored. These programs can build professional skills, help improve self-esteem, provide an avenue for social support, and may potentially prevent recidivism. Parent Partner programs also provide a mechanism for amplifying family voice at all levels of the agency.

Complexity, conflict and uncertainty: Issues in collaboration between child protection and mental health services

This paper provides an analysis of data from a state-wide survey of statutory child protection workers, adult mental health workers, and child mental health workers. Respondents provided details of their experience of collaboration on cases where a parent had mental health problems and there were serious child protection concerns. The survey was conducted as part of a large mixed-method research project on developing best practice at the intersection of child protection and mental health services. Descriptions of 300 cases were provided by 122 respondents. Analyses revealed that a great deal of collaboration occur-red across a wide range of government and community-based agencies; that collaborative processes were often positive and rewarding for workers; and that collaboration was most difficult when the nature of the parental mental illness or the need for child protection intervention was contested. The difficulties experienced included communication, role clarity, competing primary focus, contested parental mental health needs, contested child protection needs, and resources. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Interagency collaboration between child protection and mental health services: Practices, attitudes and barriers

Objective: The aim of this paper is to examine some of the factors that facilitate and hinder interagency collaboration between child protection services and mental health services in cases where there is a parent with a mental illness and there are protection concerns for the child(ren). The paper reports on agency practices, worker attitudes and experiences, and barriers to effective collaboration. Method: A self-administered, cross-sectional survey was developed and distributed via direct mail or via line supervisors to workers in statutory child protection services, adult mental health services, child and youth mental health services, and Suspected Child Abuse and Neglect (SCAN) Teams. There were 232 completed questionnaires returned, with an overall response rate of 21%. Thirty-eight percent of respondents were statutory child protection workers. 39% were adult mental health workers, 16% were child and youth mental health workers, and 4% were SCAN Team medical officers (with 3% missing data). Results: Analysis revealed that workers were engaging in a moderate amount of interagency contact, but that they were unhappy with the support provided by their agency. Principle components analysis and multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) on items assessing attitudes toward other workers identified four factors, which differed in rates of endorsement: inadequate training, positive regard for child protection workers, positive regard for mental health workers, and mutual mistrust (from highest to lowest level of endorsement). The same procedure identified the relative endorsement of five factors extracted from items about potential barriers: inadequate resources, confidentiality, gaps in interagency processes, unrealistic expectations, and professional knowledge domains and boundaries. Conclusions: Mental health and child protection professionals believe that collaborative practice is necessary; however, their efforts are hindered by a lack of supportive structures and practices at the organizational level. (c) 2005 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Practice challenges at the intersection of child protection and mental health

This paper examines the complexity of collaboration between child protection and mental health services, where a parent has a mental illness and there are protection concerns for children. The paper reports on data from focused in-depth interviews with 36 child protection workers, adult mental health workers and child and youth mental health workers. Data were analysed thematically, using NVivo to facilitate data management and analysis. Two dimensions were identified. The first, the process of collaboration, relates to four factors that assisted the collaborative process: communication, knowledge, role clarity and resources. The second dimension considers the challenges presented to collaborative work when a parent has a mental illness and a child is in need of protection, and identifies issues that are inherent in cases of this kind. Two types of challenge were identified. The first related to characteristics of mental illness, and included the episodic and/or unpredictable nature of mental illness, incorporating information from psychiatric and parenting capacity assessments, and the provision of ongoing support. The second type of challenge concerned the tension between the conflicting needs of parents and their children, and how this was viewed from both the adult mental health and the child protection perspective. Implications for policy and practice are identified in relation to the need for service models that provide ongoing, flexible support that can be intensified or held back as needed.

Child parent dyadic treatment for anxiety disorders in youths

There is evidence for the efficacy of treatments for childhood anxiety disorders; however, less is known about whether including parents in the child's treatment enhances child treatment response. There also are few studies that have examined predictors of treatment completion/non-completion and success/failure. In this dissertation, a child focused individual treatment was compared to a dyadic child-parent treatment. In dyadic, parent anxiety symptoms and child-parent relationships were targeted. Based on the Transfer of Control Model proposed by Silverman and Kurtines (1996a, b, 2005), it was hypothesized that treatment changes in parent anxiety symptoms and child-parent relationships would be related to positive child treatment response. ^ Participants were 119 youths (ages 6 to 16 years, M = 9.93 SD = 2.75; 68 girls) and their parents. All youth were born in the U.S. but had various backgrounds; 40 were European American, 73 were Latinos/as, 6 were of other ethnic backgrounds or did not report their ethnicity. Participants signed informed consent (assent for youths) and completed a pretreatment assessment. Participants were randomized to a child individual treatment or dyadic treatment, were assessed immediately after treatment and one year post treatment. Findings showed that treated youths improved across all measures over time. Comparison of treatment conditions across all measures showed no statistically significant differences between the child individual and dyadic treatment. Reductions in parent anxiety symptoms and improvements in child-parent relationships were significantly related to child treatment change at posttreatment and at one year follow-up across treatments. No factors differentiated completers from non-completers and only parent reported child internalizing behavior problems were significantly negatively related to child treatment response. ^ The study findings support a premise of the Transfer of Control Model that changes in parent anxiety symptoms and child-parent relationships are related to child treatment response. The study findings show that children can be successfully treated when parents are included as co-clients in dyadic treatment, thereby supporting the utility of this approach in practice. ^

The U.N. convention on the rights of the child: Relevance and application to pediatric clinical bioethics

This article provides an overview of the relevance and import of the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) to child health practice and pediatric bioethics. We discuss the four general principles of the CRC that apply to the implementation of all rights contained in the document, the right to health articulated in Article 24, and the important position ascribed to parents in fulfilling the rights of their children. We then examine how the CRC is implemented and monitored in law and practice. The CRC and associated principles of child rights provide strategies for rights-based approaches to clinical practice and health systems, as well as to policy design, professional training, and health services research. In light of the relevance of the CRC and principles of child rights to children’s health and child health practice, it follows that there is an intersection between child rights and pediatric bioethics. Pediatric bioethicists and child rights advocates should work together to define this intersection in all domains of pediatric practice.

Child anxiety, resiliency, and the FRIENDS for Life program

Anxiety disorders are the most commonly diagnosed group of mental disorders in children (Kessler et al., 2012). Resiliency, defined as a child’s ability to successfully overcome an adverse event (Newland, 2014) is believed to be comprised of protective factors such as self-esteem and positive coping strategies (Rutter, 1987). These protective factors are related to child anxiety in that their presence or absence may augment or hinder a child’s resiliency towards anxiety-provoking events and situations (Lo Casico, Guzzo, & Pace, 2013; Thorne, Andrews, & Nordstokke, 2013). The FRIENDS for Life (FFL) program is a school-based anxiety prevention program which aims to decrease anxiety and increase resiliency in 8- to 11-year-old children (Barrett & Sonderegger, 2003). Previous studies have shown FFL to be an effective tool in decreasing anxiety and increasing resiliency; however, not all previous studies have utilized control or comparison groups (Brownlee et al., 2013; Neil & Christensen 2007; Stopa, Barrett, & Golingi, 2011). Moreover, existing FRIENDS literature has not previously considered the potential role of parent anxiety in child outcomes. The present study aimed to evaluate child anxiety, resiliency, and parent anxiety in relation to the FFL program while including a no-treatment control group. It was hypothesized that child anxiety would decrease and child resiliency would increase following FFL. Results obtained from a non-identified school-based sample were not entirely consistent with predictions, such that decreases in anxiety and increases in resiliency were observed in both the experimental and control groups.

Darcy`s law and the differential equation of motion

This note addresses the relation between the differential equation of motion and Darcy`s law. It is shown that, in different flow conditions, three versions of Darcy`s law can be rigorously derived from the equation of motion.

Popper and his Commentators on the Discovery of Neptune: a close shave for the Law of Gravitation?

Knowledge of residual perturbations in the orbit of Uranus in the early 1840s did not lead to the refutation of Newton's law of gravitation but instead to the discovery of Neptune in 1846. Karl Popper asserts that this case is atypical of science and that the law of gravitation was at least prima facie falsified by these perturbations. I argue that these assertions are the product of a false, a priori methodological position I call, 'Weak Popperian Falsificationism' (WPF). Further, on the evidence the law was not prima facie false and was not generally considered so by astronomers at the time. Many of Popper's commentators (Kuhn, Lakatos, Feyerabend and others) presuppose WPF and their views on this case and its implications for scientific rationality and method suffer from this same defect.

Estimating the cost of contact for non-resident parents: A budget standards approach

Most Western countries have, for some time, provided income support and/or taxation relief to parents with children in their care. The significant amount of research into the costs of children to couple and sole parent households has been important in assessing and developing family support policies. Changing societal expectations about the level of involvement of fathers in child rearing activities has highlighted the need to understand the costs facing usually male non-resident parents in having contact with their children. The budget standards methodology is used in this paper to estimate the costs for non-resident parents exercising regular contact with their children. Costs of contact are found to be high. For contact with one child for 20 per cent of the year, costs of contact represent about 40 per cent of the costs of that same child in an intact couple household with a medium income and more than half of the costs of that child in a household with low income. Household infrastructure and transportation is the reason for high costs. One implication of this finding is that the total cost of children substantially increases when parents separate. The article discusses some policy implications of these findings. This research is of relevance to social security, taxation, family law and child support policies and administration.

Child-Pugh class, nutritional indicators and early liver transplant outcomes

Background/Aims: Patients with chronic liver disease undergoing liver transplantation have reduced body fat and muscle mass. The extent to which nutritional indicators and Child-Pugh class are predictive of postoperative outcome in adults is unclear. The aims of this study were to determine in adult patients undergoing transplant 1) the influence of preoperative Child-Pugh class and nutritional indicators on early transplant outcomes and one-year survival, 2) the relationship between nutritional indicators and Child-Pugh class and disease type. This study included 80 patients (1990-1994). Methodology: The nutritional indicators utilized were grip strength, triceps skinfold thickness and uncorrected mid-arm muscle area. Measured outcomes were ventilator time, intensive care stay, postoperative hospital stay and one-year survival. Results: Early morbidity was determined in survivors. Child-Pugh class C patients required longer ventilation and spent more time in the intensive care unit than Child-Pugh classes A and B. No significant relationships were found length of hospital stay. Relationships between the nutritional indicators (when controlled for Child-Pugh class) and early morbidity could not be determined due;to insufficient data. No relationship was established between one-year survival and Child-Pugh class or the nutritional indicators. Grip strength and mid-arm muscle area were lower in the patients in Child-Pugh:classes B and C. Parenchymal liver disease was associated with lower grip strength and mid-arm muscle area when compared to cholestatic disease. Conclusions: Child-Pugh class C is associated with greater early postoperative morbidity. Advanced Child-Pugh class is also associated with diminished muscle status and parenchymal disease.

Paid employment of mothers and fathers of an adult child with multiple disabilities

Background Paid employment is increasingly undertaken by mothers as their children age, with the majority of women being in employment by the time their offspring are adult. Opportunities to engage in employment appear to be reduced for mothers of children with disabilities; however, little is known about the employment of mothers or fathers of adults with disabilities. Method Data were collected regarding the employment decisions of parents of a young adult with multiple disabilities and contrasted with those of parents whose children were all developing normally. Twenty-five mothers and 12 fathers of a young adult with multiple disabilities were interviewed, as were 25 comparison mothers and 19 comparison fathers. Data collected included hours of work, reasons for employment status, attitudes towards work and child care, and psychological well-being. Results Clear differences were found between the two groups. Mothers and fathers of a child with multiple disabilities showed different engagement patterns with the paid workforce from comparison parents. Hours of work for fathers of a young adult with multiple disabilities showed a bi-modal distribution, with some fathers working fewer hours than usual and others working very long hours. For mothers in both groups, the number of hours in paid employment was negatively associated with reports of psychological problems. Conclusions Increased attention needs to be given to the employment opportunities of parents of children with disabilities since employment appears to play a protective role for mothers, in particular. Services provided to adults with disabilities will need to change if parents are to have the same life chances as parents without adult offspring with a disability.