Examining Foster Care Outcomes for American Indian Children in the Context of the Indian Child Welfare Act.

The history of the child welfare system and related institutions with American Indian children and families has been marked by numerous atrocities, including unnecessary separations, assimilation, and trauma. The Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) was enacted in 1978 to promote the stability and security of American Indian tribes and families. For children involved in the child welfare system, ICWA prioritizes the placement of American Indian children with family or tribal members. This paper examines placement outcomes for American Indian children using recent national data over 3 years from the Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System. Multivariate regression analyses showed that American Indian children were significantly less likely to be placed with same-race/ethnicity caretakers than their non-American Indian counterparts. In addition, American Indian children were not more likely to be placed with relatives or have trial home placement compared to non-American Indian children. These findings suggest that ICWA is not reaching its intended objectives regarding placement goals specified in the law regarding American Indian children. These policy shortcomings have significant implications for American Indian children, families, and tribes in terms of well-being, family connection, and cultural loss.

Improving Parenting Competency and Permanency Awareness for Kinship Foster Parents Through In-Service Licensure Training.

Child welfare jurisdictions increasingly place foster children with kinship foster parents as a means of meeting their need for stability, family connection, and behavioral and emotional support. However, the lack of financial and educational assistance provided to kin by child welfare authorities often undermines these caregivers' ability to provide effective and lasting care for the children in their homes. This study uses a mixed-methods approach to understand how formal training and licensure processes can aid kinship foster parents in facilitating positive outcomes for children and youth in the foster care system. Specifically, we investigated the barriers experienced by kinship foster parents while trying to access existing licensure-based training and supports, as well as the initial outcomes of a kin-tailored licensure training curriculum alternatingly administered in in-person and virtual delivery formats. Participants reported that incomplete or inaccurate communication about licensing processes, practical difficulties in attending training, irrelevant session content, and stringent licensing requirements acted as barriers to accessing these resources. However, participants in the kin-specific licensure training administered in this study reported high levels of learning related to key parenting competencies and increased awareness of kinship permanency supports, although these outcomes appeared to be less pronounced among those receiving the training in a virtual format. These findings suggest that researchers and policymakers should consider developing, implementing, and evaluating further initiatives to provide accessible and tailored supports to kinship foster parents as a means of improving outcomes for the children in their care.

Jail administrators' perceptions of the use of psychiatric advance directives in jails.

OBJECTIVE: Individuals with serious mental illnesses are at high risk of incarceration. Jails are often unable to obtain information needed to provide appropriate care. Psychiatric advance directives may be useful tools to communicate treatment information to jails. This study explored their use as a novel intervention for individuals with mental illnesses in jails. METHODS: Eighty jail administrators in North Carolina were surveyed to determine their support for psychiatric advance directives in jails. Relationships between respondents' job type (jail administrator or medical administrator) or jail census and support for the directives were examined by using chi square tests. Open-ended responses were analyzed using qualitative methods. RESULTS: Seventy-three percent of respondents indicated they supported psychiatric advance directives. Respondents from jails at or below a median census of 120 were significantly more likely to support psychiatric advance directives than those from larger jails. CONCLUSIONS: Psychiatric advance directives' informational function may prove valuable in jail settings. Additional research assessing directives as interventions for individuals with mental illnesses at risk of incarceration is needed.