Family and Community Services Insights Analysis and Research (FACSIAR) will launch The Special Issue on Pathways of Care Longitudinal Study: A study of children in care in NSW at the ACWA 2024 Conference on 5-7 June at ICC Sydney.

The highly-cited international Journal of Child Abuse & Neglect has published a Special Issue on the Pathways of Care Longitudinal Study (POCLS), which is the first large-scale prospective longitudinal study of children and young people aged 0-17 years in out-of-home care in Australia.

The Special Issue contains a collection of ten papers covering a range of topics, including: infant health and development; socio-emotional wellbeing of children; educational outcomes; placement stability and developmental outcomes; the experiences of children with a disability; restoration of Aboriginal children and parents’ experiences; and carer characteristics and well-being. The issue is available on ScienceDirect: Child Abuse & Neglect | Pathways of Care Longitudinal Study: A study of children in care in NSW Australia | ScienceDirect.com by Elsevier

The Special Issue will also be launched at the upcoming 2024 Association of Children’s Welfare Agencies (ACWA) Conference taking place on 5-7 June 2024 at the International Convention Centre,  Sydney. If you are interested in attending, please view event information here

Download the relevant topic papers below.

• Pathways of Care: A longitudinal study of children in care in Australia: Introductory article for special issue on Pathways of Care Longitudinal Study.
• Contact with mothers for children in out-of-home-care: Group-based trajectory modelling. Outcomes for children with disability in out-of-home care. 
• Developmental trajectories of socio-emotional outcomes of children and young people in out-of-home care.
• Exploring the impact of child and placement characteristics, carer resources, perceptions and life stressors on caregiving and well-being.
• Infants entering out-of-home care: Health, developmental needs and service provision.
• Influence of placement stability on developmental outcomes of children and young people in out-of-home care.
• Outcomes for children with disability in out-of-home care.
• Positive reading achievement outcomes in children who experience out-of-home care: Characteristics and predictors
• Restoration from out-of-home care for Aboriginal children: Evidence from the pathways of care longitudinal study and experiences of parents and children  
• Trajectories for children and young people who experience out of home care: Examining the influences of pre-care characteristics on later wellbeing and placement stability.

To learn more about the Pathways of Care Longitudinal Study (POCLS) and ten new Aboriginal-led or partnered analysis projects currently underway to address priority policy questions, visit https://www.facs.nsw.gov.au/resources/research/pathways-of-care/Information-for-data-users.

For any queries and feedback, contact the FACSIAR POCLS team at pathways@dcj.nsw.gov.au