Shedding light on the social and health realities of care-experienced young people in Western Australia: A population-level study.

BACKGROUND: Young people who were in out-of-home care (OHC) face an accelerated transition to independent adulthood. Current evidence on outcomes for Australian care-leavers is scant. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to develop a better understanding of the outcomes for young people leaving care. PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING: A birth cohort of children and young people born in Western Australia (WA) from 1993 to 2008. Three groups were identified and compared: young people with care-experience (OHC Cohort), those with child protection involvement but not care experience (CP Contact Cohort), and peers in the general population (No Contact Cohort). METHODS: This is a retrospective, population-based study utilising de-identified, linked administrative records provided by the WA state government agencies. Data from the three cohorts were compared through descriptive statistics, independent samples t-tests, and logistic regression modelling. RESULTS: The birth cohort contained records for 414,266 individuals. The smallest comparison group in this study was the OHC Cohort (n = 6526), followed by the CP Contact Cohort (n = 78,095), and the No Contact Cohort (n = 329,645). Care-experienced young people in WA fared significantly worse than their peers across the domains of health (physical and mental), disability, education, social housing and criminal justice involvement. CONCLUSIONS: Those who have had child protection involvement, but have not been placed in care, had better outcomes than those who had been in care. However, their outcomes were still poorer than the population cohort with no child protection contact.

From Care to Corrections: A Scoping Review of Pathways from Child Protection to Adult Criminal Justice Systems.

Individuals who have experienced child protection system involvement are over-represented in criminal justice systems. This group faces greater risks of serious offending and justice system entrenchment relative to their peers without child protection system contact. Understanding the pathways from child protection to adult criminal justice system contact is critical for informing crime prevention policy and practice, yet most research on the maltreatment-offending relationship solely focuses on children's pathways from child protection to youth justice systems. This scoping review identified and synthesized evidence from studies examining adult justice system contact among individuals who have experienced child protection system involvement (including placement in out-of-home care [OOHC]). A search of six databases identified 7,599 publications, of which 37 met the inclusion criteria. These primary studies included adult participants with a history of child protection system involvement and adult criminal justice system contact (defined by administrative records or self-reported arrest, conviction, or incarceration). The review identified that many factors associated with increased likelihood of adult criminal justice system contact reflect those identified for youth justice involvement (e.g., male gender, racial minority or Indigenous status, a history of substantiated maltreatment, particularly physical abuse, placement in OOHC, particularly placement in residential care, placement for reasons of problem behavior, initial placement in early adolescence, and placement instability). While youth justice system contact is associated with increased risk, engagement in education or employment (for males), and becoming a parent appear to be associated with decreased risk of criminal justice system contact among adults previously involved in child protection systems.

Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Policies and Interventions that Improve Health, Psychosocial, and Economic Outcomes for Young People Leaving the Out-of-Home Care System.

Young people who transition to adulthood from out-of-home care (OOHC) are more likely to experience a range of poorer outcomes relative to their same-age peers in the community. This systematic review assessed the effectiveness of policies or interventions (hereafter "interventions") aimed at improving housing, health, education, economic, and psychosocial outcomes for youth leaving OOHC (hereafter "care leavers"). Eleven databases of published literature were reviewed along with gray literature. Eligible studies used randomized or quasi-experimental designs and assessed interventions that provided support to care leavers prior to, during, or after they left OOHC. Primary outcomes were housing and homelessness, health and well-being, education, economic and employment, criminal and delinquent behavior, and risky behavior, while secondary outcomes were supportive relationships and life skills. Where possible, results were pooled in a meta-analysis. Certainty of evidence was assessed using Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation. Fourteen studies published in 27 reports were identified that examined independent living programs (ILPs) (n = 5), intensive support services (n = 2), coaching and peer support (C&PSP) (n = 2), transitional housing (n = 1), health information or coaching (n = 2), and extended care (n = 2). All but one study was conducted in the United States. Twenty small meta-analyses were undertaken encompassing ILPs and C&PSP, with two showing results that favored the intervention with certainty. The level of confidence in each meta-analysis was considered very low. A significant risk of bias was identified in each of the included studies. While some interventions showed promise, particularly extended care, the scope and strength of included evidence is insufficient to recommend any included approach.

Where Is the Village? Care Leaver Early Parenting, Social Isolation and Surveillance Bias.

Young people transitioning from out-of-home care (termed care leavers) are known to be a relatively vulnerable group. One example is their over-representation in early pregnancy and parenting. This paper presents findings from a study of care leaver early parenting in the Australian state of Victoria. Sixteen service provider staff working with care leavers who had become young parents were asked, via focus groups and interviews, for their perspectives on the factors that influence the high prevalence of early parenting amongst care leavers, and the key support services that are available and necessary to assist both care leavers and their children. Service providers raised multiple issues common to the existing leaving care literature concerning the lack of support provided to young people being exited from state care as potentially leading to both early parenting and parenting challenges. Service providers also expressed concern about what many studies of care leaver early parenting have termed 'surveillance bias'. There was a clear consensus that young people transitioning from care face unique challenges and social isolation due to their difficult experiences pre-care, in-care and post-care. Those experiences place them at risk of disadvantages that impede their ability to demonstrate the practical, physical and financial means to safely raise children. At the same time, they are under greater scrutiny than other parents by being known to child protection already. Service providers argued in favour of greater support for young care leaver parents to prevent their children's engagement with child protection systems.

Research protocol of a multifaceted prospective mixed-method longitudinal study: Navigating Through Life - Western Australian study of transitions from out-of-home care.

BACKGROUND: Developing robust evidence is a challenge for researchers working with disadvantaged or vulnerable populations. For example, research shows that young people who have transitioned from out-of-home care (OOHC) to independent adulthood often experience poor long-term outcomes. However, evidence for the aetiology of those outcomes is weak due to methodological limitations such as small sample sizes and a lack of longitudinal data. This paper details the protocol for Navigating Through Life, a study that utilises novel research methods to better understand the pathways and outcomes of young people as they leave OOHC in Western Australia (WA). METHODS: Navigating Through Life is a longitudinal, mixed methods, population-based study. A prospective longitudinal study of young people aged 15-25 years will follow participants' experiences and outcomes over a two-year period. Quantitative and qualitative data is being collected from participants five times over 2 years, using standardised outcome measures and individual interviews. Outcome measures focus on key dimensions of young people's lives (e.g., social inclusion, well-being, resilience, self-determination). Interviews examine important influences and the variable contexts into which young people have transitioned from care. In addition, retrospective population-level data for young people transitioning from OOHC will be obtained from linked Western Australian government administrative records. Using a multitude of data sources, analysis will map pathways and outcomes of young people with care experience, and comparisons will be made with other population groups within WA. DISCUSSION: Navigating Through Life exemplifies a novel utilisation of multiple data sources to research outcomes for vulnerable and difficult to reach populations, and offers insights for other complex mixed-methods longitudinal studies. Results will provide new and more comprehensive data about specific pathways that may be influential to a range of post-care outcomes. Findings will extend evidence to inform better service-delivery models that improve outcomes and reduce disparities for vulnerable young people.

How Do Jewish Communities Respond to Manifestations of Institutional Child Sexual Abuse? A Case Study of Malka Leifer and Adass Israel in Melbourne, Australia.

The recent Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse provided some insight into manifestations of child sexual abuse within an ultra-orthodox Jewish community. This paper extends the analysis by the Royal Commission (RC) to another Australian ultra-orthodox community that of Adass Israel, whereby a former school headmistress allegedly abused multiple students and then fled to the State of Israel in 2008. That case is unusual given that both the perpetrator and victims were female. Attention is drawn to a number of components similar to the RC findings pertaining to the particular vulnerability of children within ultra-orthodox communities given the absence of sex education and entrenched patriarchal authority, the reluctance of such communities to report child sexual abuse (CSA) allegations to secular authorities and associated cultural and religious factors, the failure of community leaders within or beyond Australia to support or compensate CSA survivors, and the absence of formal child protection protocols. Additionally, some conclusions are drawn about the key role played by advocacy groups such as Jewish Community Watch in exposing the global travel of child sex offenders, and the problematic legal protection provided to many such offenders by the State of Israel's Law of Return.

Transfusion medicine technology transfer: traps to avoid.

Technology transfer is the process of commercializing technology and taking it from the laboratory to the marketplace. At some stage in the technology transfer process, a due diligence will be undertaken. A due diligence is an enquiry into the technology and, in particular, its ownership. Research organizations including hospitals, universities, and blood banks need to own the intellectual property that they seek to commercialize. They own the intellectual property created by their staff in the course of employment. But volunteers, students, and collaborators, not being members of staff, will own the intellectual property that they create. This gives rise to due diligence and ownership defects, when intellectual property may in fact be owned by someone other than the research organization that seeks to commercialize it. Joint ownership can sometimes prevent commercialization. An assignment of intellectual property from a volunteer or student may sometimes be required. Such an assignment, if it inadequately deals with all relevant issues, may be void pursuant to laws throughout the world. A void deed of assignment may expose the research organization to legal liabilities. The categories of technology transfer traps to be explored are (1) ownership issues arising from the participation of students and volunteers in research, (2) ownership issues arising from collaborative research relationships, (3) ownership issues arising from the participation in research of visitors from another research organization, and (4) ownership issues arising from inventions made by employees. Each of these is considered in the context of the legal and regulatory framework in Australia, Canada, the United States of America, and the United Kingdom.