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Lookup NU author(s): Debbie Smart, Dr Simon BarrettORCiD, Hilda Frost, Emma AdamsORCiD, Dr Hayley AldersonORCiD, Professor Eileen KanerORCiD, Professor Ruth McGovernORCiD
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
© The Author(s) 2024.Children in care of the state are amongst the most disadvantaged in society. They have often experienced adverse childhood experiences leading to their care entry including abuse and neglect. Longitudinal data suggests problems children in care of the state experience within adolescence persist into adulthood, showing “a continuing legacy of adversity.” Emerging literature shows that edge of care interventions can bring about benefits. These interventions support families to meet their child’s needs and prevent, or reduce, the likelihood of children going into care. However, it is not clear how or why these interventions work. It is important to develop this understanding to inform the development of effective, theory-informed practice to benefit this population. We reviewed and synthesised published literature to expose mechanisms by which interventions may promote and support family preservation for children at the edge of care. Our synthesis uses a realist approach to examine mechanisms by which interventions, in various contexts, can promote and support family preservation for children at the edge of care. Previous work by the team shaped the initial search strategy and in line with RAMESES realist review guidelines, no restrictions were placed on the types of study to be included in the synthesis. From 7,530 potentially relevant references identified, 61 papers were included in final extraction. Extracted data was themed, prior to developing narrative and formulating programme theories. Effective edge of care service operation seemed to be based on four core programme theories pertaining to the need for family skills training, home-based delivery, dedicated worker, and rapid response to need.
Author(s): Redgate S, Smart D, Barrett S, Barron C, Burns S, Frost H, McGovern W, Peart V, Adams E, Alderson H, Kaner E, McGovern R
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: SAGE Open
Year: 2024
Volume: 14
Issue: 2
Online publication date: 16/06/2024
Acceptance date: 02/04/2018
Date deposited: 24/06/2024
ISSN (print): 2158-2440
ISSN (electronic): 2158-2440
Publisher: SAGE Publications Inc.
URL: https://doi.org/10.1177/21582440241260998
DOI: 10.1177/21582440241260998
Data Access Statement: Data sharing not applicable to this article as no datasets were generated or analyzed during the current study
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