This dedicated issue grew out of a symposium entitled Perceptions of safety in child welfare: Contrasting child and adult perspectives at the European Scientific Association on Residential & Family Care for Children and Adolescents (EuSARF) in Porto, Portugal, October-2018. The symposium organizers recognized that a child’s perception of safety and how that perception differs from an adult’s perspective has relevance to professional practice throughout the spectrum of child welfare interventions. Caseworkers assess safety and risk at the time of protective inquiries, removals from parental or foster homes, and placements in residential agencies. Safety assessments persist through a child’s care history to terminations from the child welfare system. Some literature indicates that adults may be guarding against their personal and age-related perceptions of risk and safety, rather than guarding children and youth against the age-appropriate persons, places, and interactions that children perceive (or should perceive) as unsafe. Tim Moore states it is “imperative to understand how children and young people (in care) understand safety, what they believe their safety needs are, and how their understanding influences what they do in situations when they are unsafe” (Moore & McArthur, 2016, p. 1). In some cases, we may be ill-equipping children with little or no teaching and guidance on how to cope with and overcome that fear. The symposium addressed five perspectives from researchers in Australia, Canada, and the United States who have examined children’s perceptions of safety while contrasting their attitudes with those adults who care for them. The implications are critical for children in out-of-home placements but are especially crucial for those children placed in therapeutic residential care since their perception of safety is a requirement for attachment and future developmental relationships. Due to their history of unstable attachment, many youths in out-of-home placements develop maladaptive belief systems for approaching relationships, making them less able to establish and maintain essential bonds with supportive adults. A symposium goal was to build a community of practice from the EUSARF symposium presenters and the audience who have a continued interest in examining children’s safety and its complex perceptual, developmental, situational, ethical, and methodological issues. The co-editors’ wish that this compendium will lead to a community of practice that prompts a vigorous research agenda, as well as practice changes.

中文翻译：

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前言

这个专门的问题源于2018年10月在葡萄牙波尔图举行的欧洲儿童和青少年寄养与家庭照护科学协会（EuSARF）举行的题为《儿童福利中的安全感：对比儿童和成人观点》的研讨会上。座谈会的组织者认识到，儿童的安全感以及与成年人的视角有何不同，在整个儿童福利干预措施中都与专业实践有关。案例工作者在进行保护性询问，从父母或寄养家庭搬走以及安置在居住机构时评估安全性和风险。安全评估会一直持续到儿童的护理历史，直至终止儿童福利系统。一些文献表明，成年人可能是在保护自己和与年龄有关的风险和安全感，而不是在儿童和青年中防止年龄和年龄相关的儿童，儿童认为（或应该认为）不安全的人，场所和互动。蒂姆·摩尔（Tim Moore）表示，“必须了解（照料中的）儿童和年轻人如何理解安全，他们认为他们的安全需求是什么，以及他们的理解如何影响他们在不安全情况下的工作”（Moore＆McArthur，2016年） ，第1页）。在某些情况下，我们可能无法为儿童配备足够的设备，而他们却很少或根本没有有关如何应对和克服这种恐惧的教导和指导。研讨会讨论了来自澳大利亚，加拿大，以及在审查儿童对成人安全感的同时，将他们的态度与照顾他们的成年人进行对比的美国。这对于在户外安置的儿童至关重要，但对于那些在疗养院护理的儿童尤其重要，因为他们对安全的认识是依恋和未来发展关系的要求。由于他们依恋不稳定的历史，许多在户外活动的年轻人发展了适应关系的适应不良的信念系统，使他们与支持成年人建立和维持基本纽带的能力下降。研讨会的目标是建立一个由EUSARF研讨会的演讲者和观众建立的实践社区，他们对研究儿童的安全及其复杂的感知，发育，情境，道德和方法问题。共同编辑希望本纲要能促成一个实践社区，从而促进有力的研究议程以及实践的改变。