Standards For Foster Family Service

This brief examines the U.S. foster care system and seeks to explain why the foster care system functions as it does and how it can be improved to serve the best interest of children. It defines and evaluates key challenges that undermine child safety and well-being in the current foster care system. Chapters highlight the competing values and priorities of the system as well as the pros and cons for the use of foster care. In addition, chapters assess whether the performance objectives in which states are evaluated by the federal government are sufficient to achieve positive health and well-being outcomes for children who experience foster care. Finally, it offers recommendations for improving the system and maximizing positive outcomes. Topics featured in this brief include: Legal aspects of removal and placement of children in foster care. The effectiveness of prior efforts to reform foster care. The regulation and quality of foster homes. Support for youth aging out of the foster care system. Racial and ethnic disparities in the foster care system. Foster Care and the Best Interests of the Child is a must-have resource for policy makers and related professionals, graduate students, and researchers in child and school psychology, family studies, public health, social work, law/criminal justice, and sociology.

Since the inception of its program of Standards development, CWLA has formulated a series of Standards based on current knowledge, the developmental needs of children, and tested ways of meeting these needs effectively. The preparation of Standards involves an examination of current practices and the assumptions on which they are based; a survey of professional literature and standards developed by other groups; and a study of the most recent scientific findings of social work and related fields, such as child development, education, mental health, psychology, medicine, psychiatry, and sociology, as they bear on child welfare practice. The final formulation of each Standards volume follows extended discussion of principles and issues by committees of experts in each service, the drafting of a preliminary statement, and a critical review by CWLA member agencies and representatives of related professions and other national organizations. The format of each volume is similar: each Standard is numbered, with subsumed elaboration, and is also cross-referenced and indexed. Standards volumes are three-hole punched, with their own cover/divider and identifying tab, and are packaged individually. Binders are available for purchase separately.