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. 2022 Oct 28;19(21):14071.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph192114071.

Child Welfare Reform: A Scoping Review

Jill R McTavish  1 , Christine McKee  1 , Masako Tanaka  1 , Harriet L MacMillan  1   2
Affiliations

Child Welfare Reform: A Scoping Review

Jill R McTavish et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

While there have been ongoing calls to reform child welfare so that it better meets children's and families' needs, to date there have been no comprehensive summaries of child welfare reform strategies. For this systematic scoping review, we summarized authors' recommendations for improving child welfare. We conducted a systematic search (2010 to 2021) and included published reviews that addressed authors' recommendations for improving child welfare for children, youth, and families coming into contact with child welfare in high-income countries. A total of 4758 records was identified by the systematic search, 685 full-text articles were screened for eligibility, and 433 reviews were found to be eligible for this scoping review. Reviews were theoretically divided, with some review authors recommending reform efforts at the macro level (e.g., addressing poverty) and others recommending reform efforts at the practice level (e.g., implementing evidence-based parenting programs). Reform efforts across socioecological levels were summarized in this scoping review. An important next step is to formulate what policy solutions are likely to lead to the greatest improvement in safety and well-being for children and families involved in child welfare.

Keywords: child maltreatment; child protection; child welfare; policy; reform; scoping review.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript; or in the decision to publish the results. The views expressed in this paper do not necessarily represent the views of the Public Health Agency of Canada.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
PRISMA flow diagram.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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