Science Explorer Back to mapMap
Discussion
Topic · Safety Research

Child Welfare and Adoption

Child Welfare and Adoption is a research topic within Safety Research. Science Explorer counts 19k research works in it since 1950. 10.0% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers focuses on the mental health, developmental trajectories, attachment, and transition to adulthood of children and youths in the foster care and child welfare system. It covers topics such as the impact of institutionalization, effects of early deprivation, behavior problems, intervention strategies, and outcomes for youth aging out of foster care.

  • Foster Care
  • Child Welfare
  • Mental Health
  • Attachment
  • Adoption
  • Institutionalization
  • Behavior Problems
  • Intervention
  • Developmental Trajectories
  • Transition to Adulthood
Research works
19k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
1.9k
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.0%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+1%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
United States
45% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Child Welfare and Adoption

Which countries lead Child Welfare and Adoption research?

By volume, the United States and the United Kingdom publish the most (1.1k and 357 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 United States 1.1k works
  2. 2 United Kingdom 357 works
  3. 3 Brazil 266 works
  4. 4 Australia 205 works
  5. 5 Canada 168 works
  6. 6 Spain 84 works
  7. 7 Germany 73 works
  8. 8 Norway 64 works
  9. 9 China 63 works
  10. 10 Portugal 63 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

United States: 45.3%United Kingdom: 14.5%Brazil: 10.8%Australia: 8.3%6 others listed: 21.0%45%largest
United States1,113 · 45.3%United Kingdom357 · 14.5%Brazil266 · 10.8%Australia205 · 8.3%6 others listed515 · 21.0%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead Child Welfare and Adoption research?

By volume in 2022-now, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill publishes the most Child Welfare and Adoption research, followed by Monash University and University College London.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 University of North Carolina at Chapel HillUnited States 20 works
  2. 2 Monash UniversityAustralia 19 works
  3. 3 University College LondonUnited Kingdom 17 works
  4. 4 The Ohio State UniversityUnited States 16 works
  5. 5 Cardiff UniversityUnited Kingdom 15 works
  6. 6 University of TorontoCanada 15 works
  7. 7 Stockholm UniversitySweden 15 works
  8. 8 University of WashingtonUnited States 15 works
  9. 9 University of JohannesburgSouth Africa 13 works
  10. 10 University of OxfordUnited Kingdom 13 works

Who are the leading researchers in Child Welfare and Adoption?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Child Welfare and Adoption include Ronald C. Kessler, Mika Kivimäki and Victoria Clarke.

  1. 1 Ronald C. Kessler United States 360k citations
  2. 2 Mika Kivimäki United Kingdom 318k citations
  3. 3 Victoria Clarke United Kingdom 285k citations
  4. 4 George Patton Australia 200k citations
  5. 5 Terrie E. Moffitt United Kingdom 195k citations
  6. 6 Dorret Irene Boomsma Netherlands 186k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

What are the most cited papers in Child Welfare and Adoption?

The most cited paper in Child Welfare and Adoption is "Current patterns of parental authority." (Diana Baumrind, 1971), with 5,167 citations. Next come "Initial reliability and validity of a new retrospective measure of child abuse and neglect" (3,606) and "Impact of sexual abuse on children: A review and synthesis of recent empirical studies." (2,498).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Current patterns of parental authority. Diana Baumrind · Developmental Psychology Open access 1971 5,167
2 Initial reliability and validity of a new retrospective measure of child abuse and neglect David P. Bernstein, Ludwig Fink, Leonard Handelsman et al. · American Journal of Psychiatry Aug 1994 3,606
3 Impact of sexual abuse on children: A review and synthesis of recent empirical studies. Kathleen A Kendall-Tackett, Linda M. Williams, David Finkelhor · Psychological Bulletin 1993 2,498
4 The traumatic impact of child sexual abuse: A conceptualization. David Finkelhor, Angela Christine Browne · American Journal of Orthopsychiatry Oct 1985 1,892
5 Age and Sex Differences in Perceptions of Networks of Personal Relationships Wyndol C. Furman, Duane Buhrmester · Child Development Feb 1992 1,653
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Child Welfare and Adoption research done?

The largest centres of Child Welfare and Adoption research in 2022-now are London (United Kingdom), New York (United States), Melbourne (Australia) and São Paulo (Brazil). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Adelaide.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 LondonUnited Kingdom 78 works
  2. 2 New YorkUnited States 46 works
  3. 3 MelbourneAustralia 46 works
  4. 4 São PauloBrazil 41 works
  5. 5 MontrealCanada 30 works
  6. 6 AdelaideAustralia 29 works
  7. 7 TorontoCanada 29 works
  8. 8 SydneyAustralia 29 works
  9. 9 ChicagoUnited States 28 works
  10. 10 BrisbaneAustralia 27 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. AdelaideAU · 29.5 works8.2×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Child Welfare and Adoption than the world average.

See Child Welfare and Adoption on the map

Where is the best place to study Child Welfare and Adoption?

Among universities, judged by research, University College London, Stockholm University and Monash University score highest, combining excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%20%40%mean 23.51%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Monash UniversityUniversity College L…Stockholm UniversityUniversity of Johann…
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the first ten of the table below, at the default weights. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

Excellenceshare of its work in the world top 10%, 2022-now and all time averaged
40%
Specialisationhow much of its work is in this field, counted up to 10× the world share
10%
Sizeits output in this field, on a log scale
30%
Growthoutput growth, counted from -20% to +20%
10%
Internationalshare of its work with a co-author abroad
10%
Each slider sets a weight; the share it gets of the score is beside it.
#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1University College LondonUnited Kingdom 80.224.9%3.7×17 +16.6%
2Stockholm UniversitySweden 79.224.5%15.3×15 +81.5%
3Monash UniversityAustralia 75.627.3%6.6×19 -4.2%
4University of JohannesburgSouth Africa 64.817.2%7.5×14 +113.0%
5University of BirminghamUnited Kingdom 62.632.6%4.9×9 +104.5%
6The University of QueenslandAustralia 61.323.7%4.0×11 +162.6%
7Cardiff UniversityUnited Kingdom 61.213.3%12.0×15 -3.9%
8Pennsylvania State UniversityUnited States 57.630.9%3.9×12 -27.4%
9University of EdinburghUnited Kingdom 55.626.7%4.0×10 -7.3%
10The Ohio State UniversityUnited States 55.114.0%4.4×16 +28.4%

Universities only. The score blends excellence (40%), size (30%), specialisation (10%), growth (10%), international reach (10%), 2022-now; growth compares 2018-21 with 2022-25 and counts up to +20%, since a jump from a small base is mostly noise.

Every institution in Child Welfare and Adoption, country by country

Is Child Welfare and Adoption research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 1% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Child Welfare and Adoption.

still counting19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon: one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Its share of all research

Growing output can still be a shrinking share: all of science grows. This is Child Welfare and Adoption as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.015% in 2024.

still counting0.010%0.020%0.030%Child Welfare and Adoption0.015% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Child Welfare and Adoption over all fractional works that year. How the balance of science has shifted.

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

Year by year.

still counting5%10%15%Child Welfare and Adoption10.2% in 2025200020102020

Of each year's works in it, the share that reached the world's 10% most cited for their field and year. A field is the world for its own topics, so there is no other line to hold it against.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.

Discussion

Ask a question or share a note about Child Welfare and Adoption. Posts are plain text and can be reported.