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Serving families living in poverty: A cross-national exploration of challenges and enabling conditions in child welfare practice.

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Title: Serving families living in poverty: A cross-national exploration of challenges and enabling conditions in child welfare practice.
Authors: Saar-Heiman, Yuval1 (AUTHOR) heiman@bgu.ac.il, Brandon, Marian2 (AUTHOR), Correia, Fátima3 (AUTHOR), Delgado, Paulo3 (AUTHOR), Fernandez, Elizabeth4 (AUTHOR), McNamara, Patricia5 (AUTHOR), Wing-Ka Lo, Julia6 (AUTHOR), Reimer, Daniela7 (AUTHOR), Spath, Robin8 (AUTHOR), Thoburn, June2 (AUTHOR), Lili Xia, Lily9 (AUTHOR), Canali, Cinzia10 (AUTHOR)
Source: Children & Youth Services Review. Jul2026, Vol. 186, pN.PAG-N.PAG. 1p.
Subject Terms: *Child welfare, *Qualitative research, *Families, *Research, Social services, Frontline personnel, Conceptual structures, Poverty, Social stigma
Abstract: This article presents findings from a cross-national qualitative study that examined how frontline practitioners engage with poverty in their everyday work with families with children. Drawing on qualitative responses to four open-ended questions from an international survey (n = 634), the study brought together practitioner accounts from ten countries: Australia, China, Germany/Switzerland, 2 2 Germany and Switzerland were grouped together in the analysis due to the shared language (German) and the significant overlap in the data collection and analysis process, which was conducted by the same researcher. Israel, Italy, Portugal, Spain, the UK, and the US. Using a multi-stage collaborative analytic process, we identified five recurring challenges and five enabling conditions that shape poverty-related practice across diverse welfare contexts. Practitioners consistently described gaps between families' material needs and available resources, alongside bureaucratic and policy constraints that limited timely and relational responses. Poverty was experienced as intensifying complexity, fragmenting support, and complicating trust-building in relationships shaped by stigma and surveillance. At the same time, relational practice, access to concrete resources, professional flexibility, justice-oriented theoretical frameworks, and interagency collaboration were identified as key enabling conditions of effective work. Despite differences in welfare systems, the findings reveal striking cross-national convergence in how poverty structures frontline practice. The study contributes cross-national, practice-based evidence relevant to social service design, professional education, and policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Copyright of Children & Youth Services Review is the property of Pergamon Press - An Imprint of Elsevier Science and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
Database: Education Research Complete
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DbLabel: Education Research Complete
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PubType: Academic Journal
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  Data: Serving families living in poverty: A cross-national exploration of challenges and enabling conditions in child welfare practice.
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  Data: *<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Child+welfare%22">Child welfare</searchLink><br />*<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Qualitative+research%22">Qualitative research</searchLink><br />*<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Families%22">Families</searchLink><br />*<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Research%22">Research</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Social+services%22">Social services</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Frontline+personnel%22">Frontline personnel</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Conceptual+structures%22">Conceptual structures</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Poverty%22">Poverty</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Social+stigma%22">Social stigma</searchLink>
– Name: Abstract
  Label: Abstract
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  Data: This article presents findings from a cross-national qualitative study that examined how frontline practitioners engage with poverty in their everyday work with families with children. Drawing on qualitative responses to four open-ended questions from an international survey (n = 634), the study brought together practitioner accounts from ten countries: Australia, China, Germany/Switzerland, 2 2 Germany and Switzerland were grouped together in the analysis due to the shared language (German) and the significant overlap in the data collection and analysis process, which was conducted by the same researcher. Israel, Italy, Portugal, Spain, the UK, and the US. Using a multi-stage collaborative analytic process, we identified five recurring challenges and five enabling conditions that shape poverty-related practice across diverse welfare contexts. Practitioners consistently described gaps between families' material needs and available resources, alongside bureaucratic and policy constraints that limited timely and relational responses. Poverty was experienced as intensifying complexity, fragmenting support, and complicating trust-building in relationships shaped by stigma and surveillance. At the same time, relational practice, access to concrete resources, professional flexibility, justice-oriented theoretical frameworks, and interagency collaboration were identified as key enabling conditions of effective work. Despite differences in welfare systems, the findings reveal striking cross-national convergence in how poverty structures frontline practice. The study contributes cross-national, practice-based evidence relevant to social service design, professional education, and policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
– Name: AbstractSuppliedCopyright
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  Data: <i>Copyright of Children & Youth Services Review is the property of Pergamon Press - An Imprint of Elsevier Science and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract.</i> (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
PLink https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=ehh&AN=194169840
RecordInfo BibRecord:
  BibEntity:
    Identifiers:
      – Type: doi
        Value: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2026.109021
    Languages:
      – Code: eng
        Text: English
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      Pagination:
        PageCount: 1
        StartPage: N.PAG
    Subjects:
      – SubjectFull: Child welfare
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Qualitative research
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Families
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Research
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Social services
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Frontline personnel
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Conceptual structures
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Poverty
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      – SubjectFull: Social stigma
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      – TitleFull: Serving families living in poverty: A cross-national exploration of challenges and enabling conditions in child welfare practice.
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              Text: Jul2026
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              Y: 2026
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