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Beyond safety and permanency: Making well-being a focus of policy and practice for children in state care

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 February 2016

Mark E. Courtney
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Abstract

This essay explores some of the reasons why child welfare policy has too often avoided an explicit focus on child well-being. The historical origins of child welfare services contribute to avoidance of child well-being in policy discourse. In addition, program administrators are reluctant to explicitly take responsibility for the well-being of children they serve because of concerns about added liability, the belief that public institutions other than the child welfare system should be held responsible, and the fear that child welfare services will be unable to ameliorate the damage that children often suffer before entering care. Three empirical studies of child welfare populations in the US are used to examine the inextricable links between child safety, permanency and well-being. It is argued that broadening child welfare policy to embrace child well-being as a policy goal will only enhance the likelihood that child welfare agencies will improve child safety and permanency outcomes.

Keywords

foster carechild welfare serviceschild welfare policychild well-beingchild safetypermanency.
Type
Research Article
Information
Children Australia , Volume 34 , Issue 1 , 2009 , pp. 15 - 20
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2009

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