Tesi sul tema "Social sciences -> social work -> introduction to social work/welfare"

Aboriginal, and in particular First Nations children, are overrepresented in the child welfare system across Canada. While information about child welfare services provided to First Nations children and families in Québec is sparse, the evidence that does exist supports the national trends of overrepresentation. Understanding how child welfare services are delivered in Québec is essential in comprehending how First Nations peoples receive, and are impacted by, the various methods of child welfare delivery in this province. The first section of this paper presents an overview of First Nations child welfare history, describing colonial and child welfare policies responsible for the removal of tens of thousands of First Nations children from their homes and communities. The next section outlines current socioeconomic, legislative, jurisdictional and funding challenges in the delivery of First Nations child welfare, linking them to the historical development described in the first section. It also presents an overview of the current structure of the First Nations child welfare system in Canada and Québec, examining some of the research regarding the response of Québec's child welfare system to the complex needs of First Nations children and families. Finally, the paper concludes with a discussion of the factors contributing to the overrepresentation of First Nations children in the child welfare system including the impact of historical assimilationist policies, the socioeconomic status of First Nations peoples in Canada and the development of First Nations child welfare services. Implications for practice, policy and future research are also discussed.
Les enfants autochtones, en particulier les enfants des Premières nations, sont surreprésentés dans les services de protection de la jeunesse à travers le Canada. Bien que les données sur les services de protection de la jeunesse offerts aux enfants et familles des Premières nations au Québec soient limitées, celles-ci soutiennent la tendance nationale de surreprésentation. Il est essentiel de comprendre l'offre de services de la protection de la jeunesse l'enfance au Québec afin de saisir comment les Premières nations reçoivent et sont affectées par les divers méthodes d'offre de services de protection de la jeunesse dans cette province. La première partie de ce document présente un survol historique de la protection de la jeunesse chez les Premières nations, décrivant les politiques coloniales et de la protection de la jeunesse responsables du retrait de dizaines de milliers d'enfants des Premières nations de leur famille et de leur communauté. La section suivante donne un aperçu des défis socioéconomiques, législatifs, juridictionnels et de financement de la protection de la jeunesse des Premières nations, les reliant à l'évolution historique telle que décrite dans la première section. Elle présente aussi un portrait de la structure actuelle de l'offre de services de la protection de la jeunesse des Premières nations au Canada et au Québec, en examinant certaines études concernant la réponse du système québécois de la protection de la jeunesse aux besoins complexes des enfants et des familles des Premières nations. Une discussion des facteurs qui contribuent à la surreprésentation des enfants des Premières nations dans le système de la protection de la jeunesse, y compris l'impact des politiques assimilationnistes, la situation socioéconomique des peuples des Premières nations au Canada et l'évolution des services de protection de la jeunesse des Premières nations, conclut ce document. Les implications pour la pratique, les politiques et les recherches ultérieures sont également discutées.

Children placed in foster care are at an increased risk for attachment difficulties due to the maltreatment they may have suffered, the separation from their primary caregivers, as well as the possibility of repeated moves to various foster homes. This raises questions as to the extent to which child welfare workers incorporate attachment theory in planning for children in care. Replicating a study originally conducted by R. K Grigsby (1994) in the United States of America, worker's use of attachment theory was examined through a review of a sample of 30 files belonging to children between the ages of 0 and 3 currently in foster care with Batshaw Youth and Family Centres. The results of the file review indicate that concepts related to attachment are generally included in most files. However, relatively few cases include comprehensive attachment assessments. Practice implications including the need for increased attachment training are also discussed.
Les enfants placés dans les foyers d'accueil courent un risque élevé de difficultés d'attachement affectif dû au mauvais traitement qu'ils peuvent avoir subi antérieurement, à la séparation de leur parent, ainsi qu'à la possibilité de déménagements répétés entre plusieurs différents foyers. Ceci pose la question : dans quelle mesure les travailleurs sociaux incorporent-ils une théorie de l'attachement affectif dans la planification des soins d'un enfant? Reproduisant une étude menée aux États-Unis par R.K. Grigsby (1994), l'utilisation par les travailleurs sociaux d'une théorie de l'attachement a été examinée par moyen de l'analyse d'un échantillon de trente dossiers d'enfants âgés de 0 à 3 ans et présentement dans des foyers d'accueil des Centres de la jeunesse et de la famille Batshaw. Les résultats de l'analyse démontrent que des concepts liés à l'attachement affectif sont généralement contenus dans la majorité des dossiers, mais que peu des cas poursuivent des évaluations complètes de l'attachement. Les incidences sur la pratique, y compris le besoin d'une augmentation de la formation en attachement, sont aussi considérées.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the current kinship initiative within the field of Child Welfare in Ontario by reviewing its history and exploring any obstacles that may be preventing the support of this program. Key themes that were derived from the data include economic, policy and legislative barriers to permanency and workplace culture creating barriers. Recommendations include the support of specialized kinship workers and assessors, increased funding to support this model and kinship service families, centralized government services and a more universal direction from the Ministry regarding service delivery. Implications for social work practice, policy and further research were also discussed and included less frustration with the program, resulting in an increase of referrals and continued growth and sustainability of placements; the end result would be fewer children entering foster care. The possibilities for future research include: evaluating permanency outcomes for children in kinship in-care versus kinship out-of-care, exploring what the long term social and economic impact of skipped-generation parenting will have on kin, and to assess if funding constraints and legal limitations are impacting clinical case planning in Child Welfare.
Le but de cette étude est d'évaluer l'initiative de parenté actuelle dans le domaine de la protection des enfants en Ontario en examinant son histoire et en explorant les obstacles qui peuvent empêcher la prise en charge de ce programme. Les thèmes qui ont été dérivées les données comprennent économique, création des barrières de la culture des obstacles politiques et des lois à la permanence et le lieu de travail. Recommandations comprennent la prise en charge des travailleurs de parenté spécialisés et des assesseurs, augmentés le financement à l'appui de ce modèle parenté service familles, services gouvernementaux centralisée et une direction plus universelle du ministère concernant la prestation de services. Implications pour la pratique du travail social, politique et poursuivre les recherches ont également discutées et inclus les moins frustration avec le programme, ce qui entraîne une augmentation des renvois et a continué de croissance et la durabilité des placements ; le résultat final serait moins d'enfants entrant soins foster. Les possibilités pour de futures recherches incluent : évaluer les résultats de la permanence pour enfants dans la parenté en soins versus parenté out-de-soins, exploration quel le long terme impact social et économique des responsabilités parentales génération ignoré aura sur kin, et d'évaluer si le financement des contraintes et des restrictions juridiques sont perturber une planification cas cliniques dans le bien-être de l'enfant.

Child Welfare Responses to Suspected Cases of Child Sexual Abuse: A Critique It is posited that the incest taboo, and associated horror, constitutes obstacles to clinical intervention with incestuous families. Twenty-eight child welfare workers were sampled through qualitative interviews, demographic questionnaires, and the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ). Interviews explored topics associated with their personal and professional experiences investigating allegations of abuse among incestuous families. Subjects were questioned regarding their understanding of incest, its etiology, existing and ideal public strategies for mediating incest, their clinical experiences with incestuous families, and systemic aspects related to working within child welfare when dealing with incest. The Mental States Rating Scale (MSRS) was exploited to identify emotional reactions to clinically relevant material, complementing qualitative data and providing for quantitative data analysis. Although exploratory, results with this sample population suggest both systemic and individual obstacles to clinical intervention with incestuous families.
L'intervention clinique dans le traitement des abus sexuelles: une critique. Il est généralement reconnu que les sentiments d'horreur et les tabous associés à l'inceste constituent un obstacle pour les professionnels placés en situation d'intervention clinique auprès de familles soupçonnées d'inceste. Vingt-huit intervenants rattachés auprès des services et des sociétés de la protection de la jeunesse ont été invité à se prononcer sur différents sujets tous reliés à leur travail mené auprès des familles soupçonnées de relations incestueuses. Les questions portaient surtout sur leurs expériences personnelles et professionnelles. Le questionnaire couvrait plusieurs points d'intérêts; leur compréhension de l'inceste, son étiologie, les stratégies de médiation existantes et idéales servant à favoriser l'intervention auprès des familles touchées, leurs expériences cliniques et finalement leur rôle professionnel. L'échelle d'évaluation MSRS a été utilisée pour mesurer la mobilisation de mécanismes de défenses ressenties en situation d'interventions cliniques. Le CTQ a été utilisé pour qualifier les histoires d'abus. Ces deux outils se complémentent dans l'analyse des données qualitatives et quantitatives. Le résultat de cette enquête exploratoire auprès de cette population sélective suggère qu'il y a des obstacles systémiques et individuels lorsque les intervenants sociales se trouvent en situation d'intervention clinique auprès des familles en situation incestueuse

The purpose of this research was to determine the odds for low-income households to become and remain economically self-sufficient as a result of participating in federallyfunded welfare programs. An evaluation in nature, this study assessed the merits and shortcomings of federally-funded welfare programs. Using the public-use version of the 2008 Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) Panel, this quasi-experimental investigation compartmentalized 4,216 low-income households into two groups: an intervention group (n = 2,436) and a comparison group (n = 1,780). Households in the intervention group received one or more federal means-tested welfare benefits for the most part of the 2008-2013 quinquennium. By contrast, those in the comparison group— although eligible for these benefits—did not receive them. Based on the premises of the theory of policy design and social construction, the culture of poverty theory, the racial classification model, and the social control thesis, the following two hypotheses were formulated: (1) Low-income households who receive one or more lower-tier federal means-tested benefits will be less likely to attain and maintain economic self-sufficiency vii than their counterparts who do not participate in federal welfare programs and (2) Lowincome households that enroll in more welfare programs will have worse self-sufficiency outcomes than their counterparts that participate in fewer programs. The survey respondents were measured repeatedly over a 56-month period to assess whether welfare receipt impacts their household income steadily beyond 150 percent of the federal poverty level, after controlling for known predictors. Findings from binomial logistic regression displayed medium effect sizes indicating that participation in public assistance did decrease the likelihood of attainment and maintenance of economic self-sufficiency among low-income American households. These findings were interpreted within the context of pre-existing differences that may have existed between the intervention group and the comparison group which were not accounted for in the multivariate analysis. Macro-implications of these findings for poverty and social welfare stakeholders were discussed.

This study was created with the hope of empowering Naskapi elders and community members to share their reflections and experiences with current and past social welfare policies and practices within the community of Kawawachikamach. Community members participated actively in consultation group sharing sessions where they voiced their personal distresses incurred through encounters with the child welfare system over the years. The original purpose of the study was to explore how family group conferencing and related strength based techniques could be adapted to create a culturally appropriate case planning and decision making model in the First Nations community of Kawawachikamach. However, community members' needs were overwhelming and their search for personal and community healing led to more discussion and sharing for a community vision for health instead of a reflection on the adaptation of models. Community members enjoyed being provided with this information and were hopeful for their community after seeing some adaptations which had been made in other communities. Naskapis believe that one solution is to engage families as much as possible in child welfare practices and that whenever possible solutions would be first looked at within the family and extended family and by services being fully supportive of these entities. This solution is one of several included in a set of recommendations created for the community. The study participants are eager to present these recommendations to their community as well as focus on change by following a detailed action plan created to re-evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the current child and family development services.
Cette étude a été créé pour donner l`opportunité aux membres de la communauté Naskapi de partager leurs réflexions et leurs expériences actuels avec les pratiques de la protection de l'enfance au sein de la communauté de Kawawachikamach. Des membres de la communauté ont participé activement aux séances de consultation du groupe de partage où ils ont exprimé leurs angoisses personnelles engagées par des rencontres avec le système de protection de l'enfance au fil des ans. Le but initial de l'étude était d'explorer comment les conférences du groupe familial et des techniques de base de résistance connexes pourraient être adaptés pour créer un modèle culturel de dans la communauté de Kawawachikamach. Toutefois, les besoins des membres collectifs ont été écrasante et leur recherche pour la guérison personnelle conduit à davantage de discussions et le partage d'une vision communautaire pour la santé au lieu d'une réflexion sur l'adaptation des modèles.

This thesis investigates everyday encounters between benefit recipients and street-level welfare agencies in an era of behavioural conditionality, marketised ‘activation’, and neoliberal paternalism. Central to this thesis is a concern with the relational dynamics that policies of ‘behavioural conditionality’ and ‘mandatory activation’ produce, explored through reflexive analysis of the researcher’s own experiences as a street-level activation worker, and thirty in-depth interviews with former colleagues, other street-level staff, and benefit recipients. Informed by relational and psychosocial theorisations of both the subject and street-level welfare organisations, the thesis looks at the interactions between symbolic/ideological representation, individual agency, and street-level organisation. Arguing that attention to the dynamic, libidinal investments of street-level employees casts familiar street-level practices in a new light, the thesis draws attention to a dynamic of illusio-disillusionment (Bourdieu, 2000) among street-level staff, re-rendering familiar practices of ‘creaming and parking’ in terms of punishment and protection. Similarly, it is argued that specific instances of support, indifference, and/or sanction do not exist as discrete experiences in the life of claimants, but as ongoing possibilities, producing a situation of ever-present surveillance and threat. In this way, conditional activation services come to resemble a protection racket, in which both the threat and means of defence are produced simultaneously. These dynamic materialisations of behavioural conditionality are situated with respect to the ideology of neoliberal paternalism, which at street-level takes the form of magical voluntarism, and the enforcement of an anti-sociological imaginary which, it is argued, results in the denial and effective privatisation of the troubles, difficulties, and needs that bring people to welfare services in the first place.

Uganda är ett av världens fattigaste länder i dag. Med en kraftigt utbredd fattigdom som försvåras av att landet har en bristande demokrati, vilket har lett till utbredd korruption i landet. Vilkoren för att skapa social välfärd och att bedriva socialt arbete är begränsat. Jag har i detta arbete valt att undersöka hur ett antal personer i Uganda med socialt arbete som specialitet, hur de ser på social välfärd i Uganda. Vilka hinder finns och hur ska man kunna bygga upp social välfärd som inkluderar hela befolkningen, var några av frågorna jag ställde mig. Mitt empiriska material består av sex stycken intervjuer av personer i Uganda som har anknytning till socialt arbete. Jag valde att använda mig av en kvalitativ intervjumetod för att på det viset få en djupare inblick i mina informanters svar på mina frågeställningar. För att underbygga min studie har jag också använt mig av teoretiskt material i form av forskning kring social utveckling och social välfärd. Min studie visar på att definitionerna av välfärd tillhör de mer grundläggande basbehoven. Vilkoren och hinderna för att bygga upp social välfärd kantas av korruption, ojämn resursfördelning likväl som tribalism. Trots misstron mot regeringen visar min studie att regeringen faktiskt borde stå för den sociala välfärden men med ett lokalt samarbete mellan befolkningen och regeringen för att på det viset tillgodose befolkningens behov.
Uganda is one of the world`s poorest countries today. With widespread poverty that has been worsen by the absence of democracy and the presence of widespread corruption. The conditions to create a social welfare system and to carry out social work are limited. I have chosen in this paper to find out how a number of people in Uganda who are specialised in social work view social work in Uganda. What obstacle are present and how social welfare, which includes the hole population in Uganda can be achieved are some of the questions are intended to answer. My empirical materials consist of six interviews of persons with connection to social work. I chose a qualitative method of interview because in this way I will get a deeper insight into my informers answer of the questions asked. To support my study I have also used some theoretical materials in the form of research done on social development and social welfare. My study shows that the definitions of welfare are about the most basic needs. The conditions to put in place a social welfare system are being punctuated by corruptions, unequal distribution of the countries recourses and by tribalism. Despite the distrust of government, my study shows that the government should in fact be responsible for the implementation of social welfare but with the collaboration of the local population. In that respect, the government will see to everyone’s need.

Burnout in the social work field is becoming increasingly common due to the emotional intensity of the client-social worker relationship and job demands. Research has shown that burnout has detrimental effects not only on the social worker themselves but on clients and agencies as well. Limited research exists examining which professional setting of social work experiences the highest level of burnout. This study used secondary data collected by, Dr. Lizano in 2016 from the 4thAnnual California State University, San Bernardino BASW and MSW Field Instructor Training. A quantitative method was used to analyze which setting of social work (child welfare, mental health, medical, and educational) has the highest level of burnout. Findings from this study suggest there is a relationship between mental health social workers experiencing burnout compared to the other fields of social work. Specifically, depersonalization was the only dimension of job burnout that had significant findings among mental health social workers. This study has implications on both the micro and macro level of social work. Being able to identity which setting of social work is suffering the most from burnout is crucial to develop preventative measures for social worker well-being.

The bond between animals and humans is one that has been consistent and unyielding since the beginning of time. Although animals have a long working history in assisting on battlefields and working for the police, it is only within recent decades that they have started expanding their job duties to include disaster relief, educational supports, and trauma care. This movement of training canines for specialty fields to work alongside their human companions comes at a time when the field of social work is also diversifying to a more expansive and accessible profession. This study will use interview style questions to assess the beliefs, experience and attitudes of canine assistance of eight current MSW students throughout Southern California. The research was conducted in face to face interviews which were audio recorded and transcribed word for word to examine common themes. The findings of the study may help to encourage further integration of social work and canine assisted therapies.

The high turnover rate of child welfare social workers has been a chronic issue that society has yet to mitigate. To understand this problem, the researchers looked at contributing factors in comparison to the factors that promote job longevity. The researchers reviewed the multidimensional theory of burnout, to explore the ongoing issue of high turnover rates. Also, organizational support theory was examined to determine if support from organizations contributed to job longevity. The post-positivist approach was used to gather qualitative data from this study as to the potential factors promoting job longevity through individual interviews with seasoned child welfare social workers. The study participants identified potential barriers in the workplace, the skills needed for professional development, and the benefit of having a support system to effectively do their job. In addition, the study participants demonstrated a strong sense of self-awareness and utilization of internal traits that promoted job longevity. It was discovered that child welfare social workers who possess emotional intelligence had the ability to cope with stress better, had less health issues, and were more likely to promote to higher level positions. By understanding the factors that contribute to job longevity, child welfare agencies can implement measures to promote job retention. Furthermore, when agencies invest in child welfare social workers by providing them support, it is reflected in the quality of their work and client engagement.

In this dissertation, the author argues that there is strong evidence that the child welfare workforce continues to be in crisis. While a great deal of research has indicated that supervision is closely linked to the crisis, extremely high rates of turnover have not been notably reduced through the efforts of administrators or academics to change supervisory practices. Therefore, the author makes the case that it is time to employ an alternative methodology—constructivist inquiry. Constructivist inquiry is based on paradigmatic assumptions that make it distinct from the functionalist approach that researchers most commonly use to understand the child welfare workforce crisis and the role of supervision. Consequently, the organization and content of this dissertation follow the conventions of a constructivist process. In order to take advantage of the unique role and opportunity created by the philosophical assumptions of subjectivity, interactivity, and reflexivity, the author incorporates an extensive discussion of her own tacit knowledge and practice wisdom along with the literature review. She then goes on to describe the phased, emergent, and participatory process used to examine the question: How do stakeholders in the local child welfare system value their experience of supervision? Finally, the author uses the data to tell the story in case report form and in a report of her own lessons learned. Through examination of the case report and lessons learned, the author intends for the reader to gain a more complex understanding of child welfare supervision and to evaluate for themselves how this understanding might be of value to their own role in the child welfare system.

This study explored the relationship between mentoring and social workers’ job satisfaction and social workers’ intention to remain employed in child welfare. This study was conducted in Children Family Services (CFS), San Bernardino. Ninety six child welfare workers completed the survey using the JSS‑CW and the IRE‑CW instruments. A quantitative research design was utilized to analyze the data. Specifically, an Independent Sample T‑Test was used to analyze differences between the social workers who had a mentor and those who did not. Additionally, a Pearson R Correlation Test was conducted to analyze the relationship between mentoring and the different factors influencing the dependent variables. The present study revealed no correlation between informal mentoring and social workers’ levels of job satisfaction and their intentions to remain employed in child welfare in San Bernardino County. The study also revealed that although child welfare workers are highly satisfied at their jobs they still intend to leave child welfare if they are presented with a better job opportunity. These findings cannot be generalized because this study was designed specifically for San Bernardino County and the validity and reliability of the JSS‑CW is unknown. Further research on mentorship, more specifically formalized mentoring programs, is recommended.

This thesis reports on the first study into the role of self-conscious emotions, namely pride, shame, guilt, humiliation, and embarrassment, in social work practice. Employing a qualitative case study research design, involving the safeguarding service of one local authority, ethnographic constructionist grounded theory methods were used to develop a conceptual understanding of these emotional experiences in the practice of the social workers involved. Integrating data from 246.5 hours of observations, 99 diary entries, 33 assessments written by the social workers, 19 interviews, and 329 pages of documents relating to the organisation, this study analyses the context for these emotional experiences within the case study site, how they were experienced, and their influence on the social workers’ practice. It argues that these emotional experiences are inherently part of practice, influencing what the social workers did and how they did it, which could be manipulated by others to regulate the social workers’ identities so that they acted in institutionally ‘appropriate’ ways. While some social workers felt proud to act in such a manner in some contexts, often resulting in a difficult experience for the parents, most social workers felt constrained, believing they were no longer doing social work, and in some contexts sought to resist the institutional expectations.

Abstract

The aim in this dissertation is to investigate into the working of the rehabilitation process as to actors involved. A specific focus has been set on the component “Work introduction”. The study shows that the road back to work is a complex matter. Individuals involved have different backgrounds and living situations, which influence this rehabilitation. The empirical basis of the study is built on interviews of four employees and two earlier unemployed persons. The statements of the informants were analyzed through the two concepts: Activation and empowerment. The interviews revealed that the authorities were not entirely content with program “Work introduction”, since the cooperation lacked a coherent view on the common tasks. In some cases the result is that clients fall between the authorities. A main problem of their cooperation nails down to that the authorities apply different definitions. An insight of this study is that 50% get a job and 50% goes back to social insurance office after they had been passing through the program “Work introduction”. This asks for a more differentiated view on clients.

 

 

Key words: unemployed, sick insurance, rehabilitation, work introduction

 

This study examines the development, organization, and implementation process of an intersectoral work insertion program (ISWIP) that is implemented through the collaboration of six stakeholders from different sectors of the community, including health and employment. The research objective is approached by case study methodology whereby the main methods of inquiry are documentation collection, participant observation, and semi-structured interviews. An innovative program logic model is developed that illustrates key components of using an intersectoral approach: leadership, sharing resources, and serving interests. The study demonstrates the relevance of local development to the social integration of individuals with mental illness. It also provides insight into the challenging nature of collaboration; obstacles such as negotiating roles, maintaining interests, and dealing with unforeseen consequences can be sources of frustration and tension among participants. Communication, attitude, and stakeholder involvement, are mediating factors in overcoming conflicts, reducing tension, and promoting successful collaboration.

Canadian health professionals are involved in humanitarian assistance and development work in many regions of the world. They participate in primary health care, immunization campaigns, feeding programs, rehabilitation and hospital-based care. In the course of their work clinicians are frequently exposed to complex ethical issues. This thesis examines how health workers experience ethics in the course of humanitarian assistance and development work. A qualitative study was conducted to consider this question. Five core themes emerged from the data including experiencing a tension between respecting local customs and imposing values, knowing how to respond when basic care is impossible, addressing differing understandings of health and illness, questions of identity for health workers, and issues of trust and distrust. Recommendations are made for standards and organizational strategies that could help aid agencies better support and equip their staff as they respond to ethical issues.

The purpose of this project was to develop a grant to obtain funding to train two San Luis Obispo County Behavioral Health Department staff as certified instructors for the Mental Health First Aid program. These instructors will train staff in the San Luis Obispo County school districts with the goal of increasing the staffs knowledge, thus enabling them to respond better to the mental health needs of their students. This mental health training program covers: risk factors, symptoms, and the role of stigma in mental health issues, as well as resources and action plans. A literature review was completed on the prevalence of youth mental health issues, the effects of mental illness on youth, current youth mental health treatment, a school settings' role in dealing with these issues, early intervention services, and stigma. Actual submission and funding of the grant was not required for the successful completion of this project.

Maltreated children are at risk for placement disruption, mental health and substance issues, delinquent behaviors, and poverty issues. When children in foster care experience these risks, they decrease the likelihood of leaving foster care successfully. Resiliency is a critical component in increasing positive outcomes for foster children despite these risk factors. The purpose of this action research was to understand the role foster care workers have in developing resiliency in foster children. The theory of attachment and resiliency provided the conceptual framework for the study. Two focus groups were used to collect data from 5 foster care social workers in southern Louisiana. Data were analyzed using thematic coding. Findings from the study showed 6 key themes: adapting and coping, safety needs, protective factors, behavior issues, preparing placement, and resources. The implications of these findings for social change include providing support for the importance of resiliency in the foster care system and increasing positive foster care experiences that lead to positive outcomes for those transitioning out of foster care.

Participation of colorectal cancer survivors (CRC) in the workforce has been described by clinicians, survivors, and researchers as a way to improve mood, quality of life (QOL), and survival. Maintaining self-esteem and financial independence have also been attributed to continued employment of the CRC survivor. The purpose of this cross-sectional survey was to describe patterns of employment of the CRC survivor and to examine the individual, disease, and work-related factors that influence presenteeism and perceived adequacy of sick pay (ASP) policy. The Conceptual Model of Nursing and Health Policy and the Pathways to Work Life Recovery guided the design, selection of variables, and specification of the relationship between variables. The study included 97 CRC survivors who were employed at the time of diagnosis and who had completed treatment ≥6 months and < 7 years to survey. Among working subjects, at-work limitations ("presenteeism") were measured by the Work Limitations Questionnaire (WLQ) consisting of four scales: Time Management, Physical Tasks, Mental-Interpersonal Tasks, and Output Tasks scales. The EORTC QLQ-C30 V3 was used to measure quality of life and the PHQ-9 for depression. The majority of gaps in employment occurred within the first year of diagnosis (21%) and attributed to poor health (56%), having been fired or laid off due to cancer (11%) or retirement (33%). A total of 27% had gaps in employment by 3 years; 13% were intermittent. The unemployment rate for cancer survivors in this study was 18.6% at the time of survey. Slightly over 25% of those who experienced a gap in employment did so involuntarily. Higher education (OR = 0.346, p=.006) was the only variable that significantly associated with a gap in employment. Having insurance (p=.03), QOL (p=.01), and depression (p=.003) significantly contributed to increased presenteeism. Earlier stage (OR=0.330, p=.050) and professional occupation (OR=3.281, p=.040) significantly contributed to perceptions of having an ASP policy. The importance of measuring continued employment of CRC survivors is supported in this study. The provision of an ASP policy may avoid disruption of work and create an easier transition for continued employment of the CRC survivor.

This paper examines the effects of social capital in the lives of low-income single mothers and how it intersects with the goals of the Personal Responsibility Act (PRA). These explicit goals are to decrease reliance on public assistance through work and marriage; the implicit goals are to enhance social capital by increasing the trust, norms, and values that are evidenced by work and marriage. However, low-income single mothers are faced with limited repositories of social capital, which leaves them in a legislated quagmire. Tested here is the hypothesis that social capital impacts marriage, stable employment, and TANF use. The findings indicate that social capital impacts stable employment and economic stability in low-income single mothers, but it does not increase the likelihood of marriage. Further research that examines how social capital intersects with race and class will shed additional light on the efficacy of policy initiatives that focus on social capital reinforcement in low income female-headed families.

This thesis presents the voices of older workers in South Korea through their life stories and experiences in order to interpret how employed older people understand age discrimination in employment, by studying the following four areas: how older workers understand the value of work; theories and concepts of ageing; age discrimination; and South Korea’s policies and programmes for employing older people. In order to interpret in depth the understanding of age discrimination in employment amongst a sample of eighteen employed older Koreans, a biographical method was adopted which generated experiences of age discrimination within each person’s life story. These were analysed using biographical narrative analysis. These employed older people enjoyed working and chose to work both because they wanted to and because this was the only way of meeting their various needs. Others believed that they were people who liked to work and be active and yet others believed that it was their destiny to work, even though they felt more tired as they grew older. They strongly believed that their work performance was still good enough to be competitive. In terms of age discrimination, they revealed the dilemma between their hope of working and the consideration that younger people were currently unemployed. Nevertheless, they did not accept the effect on their working lives of age discrimination which disregarded their capacity to work. In this sense, some interviewees hope that the government will provide an environment and opportunity for older workers to show their ability to work.

The aim of this study is to examine social workers' and social work students' attitudes towards people living with hiv in Sweden. I will also examine if there is a connection between knowledge and attitudes. The questions at issue are how social workers' and social work students' attitudes can assume to influence on their professional practice and what causes can affect their attitudes towards people living with hiv. The study is based on a qualitative method. The methods have been: conversational interviews with five social workers, who work with family issues and integration, and a focused group interview with four social work students. Both forms of interviews were combined with the vignette method. The theoretical framework of this study is symbolic interactionism. The result of the study indicates that both the social work students and the social workers lack adequate knowledge about hiv, however, the respondents are capable of reflecting and are able to put themselves into others' situations and therefore they will not discriminate their clients because of their disease. Results of the study also indicate that there is a great ambiguity among all of the respondents because of the lack of knowledge and adequate education.

The purpose of this study was to develop and test the Experience of Supervision Scale, which measures the experience of supervisory behaviors from the perspective of child welfare workers. Child welfare supervision is gaining increased attention as states struggle to improve performance measures of their child welfare systems. However, the lack of a standardized instrument which measures supervision through an analysis of supervisory behaviors from the supervisee’s perspective has hindered efforts in these areas. The Experience of Supervision Scale is based on Kadushin’s three function casework supervision model of supervision (administrative, educational, and supportive) which was chosen as the theoretical framework due to this model’s emphasis on public agency clinical case work practice. Scale items were generated through focus groups of child welfare workers and supervisors. Items were reviewed by an expert panel and the scale was then administered to a statewide sample of 165 child welfare workers. The refined Experience of Supervision Scale consists of 32 items. In this study, it demonstrated high internal consistency with a Cronbach’s alpha of .962. Factor analysis yielded a three factor solution consistent with the casework model of supervision’s structure, while also suggesting slight modifications to the model. The three factors derived included: Performance Support, Emotional support/Availability, and Administrative activities. The results of this study suggest that the Experience of Supervision Scale has appropriate psychometric properties for use in complex research in which casework supervision is a variable.

Natural disasters and catastrophic events have devastated hundreds of thousands of individuals worldwide. While governmental and disaster relief agencies attempt to respond as quickly as possible, individuals can be cut off from resources and services for extended periods, increasing stress and health complications. Individuals with mental illnesses are even more vulnerable in the aftermath of a disaster when they are cut off from vital medications and therapeutic services. Disaster preparedness promotes resilience and empowers individuals to take personal responsibility for their safety. The purpose of this project was to identify potential funding sources and write a grant proposal that funds the development and implementation of disaster preparedness classes for individuals living in the community with mental illnesses. Actual submission and/or funding of this grant was not a requirement for the successful completion of this project.

In the study, the researchers explored parent partners’ perceptions on reunification celebration events and the impact the event has on fostering reunified parents’ use of positive parenting skills. A qualitative design was completed using convenience sampling. The researchers studied previous research that focused on the reunification process and the general importance of celebrations in child welfare as a precursor to their study. The researchers conducted face-to-face interviews with nine parent partners from one child welfare agency in Southern California. Our findings revealed four major themes of the study. First, we learned of the importance of recognizing reunified parents’ for their successful family reunification efforts. Second, we learned of the participants’ perceptions of reunified parents being nominated and or honored. Third, we found the participants selection criteria for nominating reunified parents’ for the event and their perceptions of the reunified parents’ parental growth. Finally, we learned of the participants suggestions for future reunification celebration events. The researchers discussed limitations found in this study such as a small sample size of nine participants. Another limitation included the study’s focus on the parent partners’ perception of the event; and lacked the perspective of reunified parents’ who were honored at the reunification celebration. Lastly, the researchers provided recommendations for social work practice and research including increased social worker involvement in the reunification celebration and adoption of this event in other child welfare agencies. The researchers recommend that further research be conducted to obtain insight from the perspective of reunified parents’ who were honored at this event.

The Hague Convention on the Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption was agreed upon in 1993 at the Hague Conference on Private International Law to address growing allegations of abduction, sale, and trafficking of children around the world. The Hague Convention guides countries to attend to the “best interest of the child” in making decisions on intercountry adoptions, and to apply the “principle of subsidiarity,” which calls for the consideration of family and kinship placement and national adoption prior to the consideration of intercountry adoption. This dissertation research focused on the experience of Guatemalan mothers reporting the abduction of their children for intercountry adoption. It examines implications for human rights and the child welfare system. In countries where child abduction allegations have been widespread, illegal adoption has been found to be a common practice and is the result of international child trafficking. Large financial gains are implicated in this type of organized crime, which appears to promote baby selling. In countries enacting the Hague Convention, the continuation of these allegations points to the governments’ inability to prosecute and penalize those responsible. Illegal adoptions pose significant threats to the ethical standards set by the Central Authorities established to implement the Hague Convention. Child abduction has been found to complicate and delay the determination of adoptability, and to undermine due process for legitimate intercountry adoptions. Child abduction has profound effects on grieving mothers and their families after the loss of their children with no resolution in sight. This constructivist research documents the story of three Guatemalan women who reported to public authorities the separate and unrelated abduction of their respective daughters in 2006. The case study report is a “thick description” of the lived experience of these mothers before, during, and after the child theft. The narration comprises an interpretation of their experience, or the participants’ meaning-making of such experience. Based on the mothers’ accounts, their victimization at the hands of child traffickers was followed by victimization by public authorities, who did not exercise due diligence in these child abduction cases. After these survivors exhausted their individual searches for their children, they approached the Fundación Sobrevivientes, who provided them with legal representation and psychosocial support. Together with other mothers, these women publicly advocated for their rights and the rights of their children. Their collective response to this form of violence was critical to accessing the case files in which they identified their abducted children. By engaging in individual legal claims, the participating mothers have sought nullification of each intercountry adoption and the prosecution of those involved in the corresponding illegal and corrupt activities. To conduct this constructivist inquiry, the researcher spent a year in Guatemala, completing prior ethnography for the emerging design and carrying out the interviews. This involved engaging participants with the researcher in a “dialectic hermeneutic process” through multiple “waves” of interviews (at the personal, practice, and policy levels), concluding with two phases of “member checking” or participants’ review of the research findings. To enhance rigor, besides analyzing the relevant literature, the process involved peer and translation reviewers and consultations with national and international scholars with relevant knowledge and expertise, including dissertation committee members. The four elements of the working definition of child abduction developed from the literature review (child theft, deceptive, coercion, and fraud) and other hypothesis on child abduction were confirmed in the mothers’ stories and by the research participants. The tentative findings or lessons identified in this constructivist inquiry should not be considered generalizable, but as “joint constructions” or co-creations between the research participants and the researcher. Based on general guidelines, the readers are encouraged to make their own assessment of the case report, and decide on whether the findings are relevant or may be replicable in other contexts.

This study focused on the reason that close to 500,000 children were in the foster care system in 2009 in the United States, and the average length of care was over 26 months. The primary focus was why foster parents are unable to form a bond with the children placed in their home and the effects of not forming any attachment to the children. The results can be extremely negative for the children for many reasons including the foster parents not being invested in the child and providing only minimal standards of care. Moreover, the child does not receive the nurturance or guidance so desperately needed. The child’s wellbeing was not the primary focus of the foster parent. The child is unable to learn the core value of caring, nor form healthy relationships and unfortunately cannot develop or express other healthy emotions. This compromises the child’s ability to function in society as a healthy productive member. Further examined was the perspective of the child as to what the children’s social worker could do differently.

"...empowering text for human services students that covers the skills and behaviors essential for leaders to manage themselves, their teams, and the organization. Using a unique coaching voice, author Deborah Harley-McClaskey follows a Reflection–Diagnosis–Prescription approach for leadership development with exercises built into the dialogue. The final chapter, Prognosis, offers a workbook-style exercise to help students make a personal change." --Amazon
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The purpose of this project was to identify and create a program that would meet the needs of a target population, identify potential funding sources, and write a grant to fund a program at St. Mary's Hospital in Long Beach, California. An examination of the literature expanded knowledge about the challenges homeless individuals face. Homeless individuals commonly receive inadequate medical care and often access more costly acute care services due to limited resources, discrimination, and cost. Housing and case management services after discharge from a hospital setting can help improve health care outcomes and reduce costly services.

The program was designed to provide specialized discharge planning services to homeless individuals being discharged from St. Mary's Hospital. The California Wellness Foundation was chosen for this grant based on the program areas of the funder. The actual submission and/or funding of this proposal was not a requirement for completion of this project.

There were no studies found in the literature that primarily focused on threatened harm as type of maltreatment. This study utilized Florida's child welfare administrative data to explore threatened harm as a type of maltreatment, particularly as a predictor of recurrence of maltreatment within six and 12 months for children who had a verified report of maltreatment in FY2005-2006. Threatened harm was examined in three ways; when it was reported as the only maltreatment, the initial maltreatment, and in situations where there was a prior report. The most prevalent acts of threatened harm were examined separately. It was examined as a predictor of recurrence of any maltreatment and also as a predictor of recurrence of a different type of maltreatment. The results of bivariate and multivariate Cox regression analysis indicated that children who experienced threatened harm were at increased odds for recurrence of maltreatment overall. The odds were found to be greater within 12 months, for children who had a prior report and for children who experienced a substance related threatened harm. Children with a prior report were also found to be more likely to experience recurrence of a different type of maltreatment. Implications of these findings are discussed.

This study examined the perceptions that Board Members of human service organizations have of the leadership competencies of professionally trained social workers to lead such organizations. Participants of this study were comprised of 51 executive leaders of nonprofit human service organizations who were selected using non-probability convenience sampling among the target population. The findings of this study indicated that a majority (78.0%) believed that professional social workers are seen as welfare workers. Most respondents (65.3%) disagreed that the media's portrayal of social issues has influenced perceptions of the leadership abilities of social work professionals. The majority of the respondents (78.4%) agreed that nonprofit human service organizations are required to be more accountable today and as a result all leaders of these organizations should possess training and experience similar to those of professionals in business, legal, or public administration arenas.

The 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act (PRWORA) significantly affected many families by changing public assistance from an entitlement program to a work program for recipients and imposing a 60 month maximum period for receiving assistance. Unanticipated outcomes created deleterious results for many single parents. This multiple case study explored the experiences of four African American single mothers in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States receiving assistance regarding welfare reform, the welfare system and their perceptions of welfare advocacy. Black feminist and empowerment theories framed the study to examine how welfare policy changes affected African American women's families and their abilities to advocate. Data were collected from narrative interviews and artifacts provided by 4 participants and analyzed using thematic content analysis. The key findings demonstrate recipients who had no prior interest in Temporary Assistance to Needy Families advocacy found their voices when invited; offering insights about system challenges and successes as well as strategies for improvement This study will impact social change by informing policymakers, think-tank researchers, community program developers, and public assistance caseworkers for policy discussions regarding PRWORA. Women may also learn strategies for advocacy and organizing from the analysis.

The purpose of this project was to locate a potential funding source and write a grant to support funding for the Emergency Response Team (ERT) program. The ERT will use solution-based practices within the Mendocino County Health and Human Services Agency to support family stabilization. An ERT would enable children and families to access multidisciplinary team services, including mental health and alcohol/drug services, immediately after a referral to Child Protective Services. This approach will allow families to address their needs for stabilization and ensure streamlined support, thus reducing the potential for children to be removed from the home or shorten the duration of the removal. Ultimately, this approach will ensure families access to appropriate levels of mental health and alcohol or drug service supports to enhance the well being of children, families, and the community. The actual submission and/or funding of this grant were not a requirement for the successful completion of this project.

Citizenship/immigration status, high poverty rates and gender specific issues, present a significant problem, when addressing the mental health needs of Latino adolescents. This study utilized data from the 2009 California Health Interview Survey (CHIS). The independent variables for the study were citizenship/immigration status, socioeconomic status, and gender. The dependent variable was mental health. To examine the relationship between the independent and dependent variables, a frequency and regression analysis was performed. The results of the study indicate that citizenship/immigration status and gender are significant predictors of mental health among Latino adolescents. The results of the study suggest that social workers, community leaders, community members, and mental health providers, should explore selecting effective interventions with optimal outcomes for the mental health of this population.

Syftet med den här studien är att undersöka hur diakoner ser på och arbetar med ekonomiskt stöd i Svenska kyrkan. Frågeställningarna som besvaras är: Vad anser diakoner att kyrkan borde ha för roll gällande ekonomiskt stöd? Hur resonerar diakoner i arbetet med ekonomiskt stöd och vilka krav ställs? Vilka svårigheter stöter diakoner på i detta arbete?Undersökningen är genomförd med en kvalitativ metod där fem personer som arbetar eller har arbetat med ekonomiskt stöd i Svenska kyrkans diakonala arbete intervjuats. Det insamlade materialet har sedan analyserats utifrån Gøsta Esping-Andersens teori om välfärdsstater samt dokumentet ”Vägledning för diakoni” framtaget av Svenska kyrkan. Resultatet visar att några informanter önskar att kyrkan inte skulle behöva göra så mycket som de gör, medan andra tycker det är bra som det är men anser att det skulle behövas mer resurser. Informanterna resonerar på olika sätt när de beslutar om ekonomiskt stöd men verkar alla ha sin grund i diakonins teologi som handlar om att vara barmhärtig och full av nåd.Slutsatsen är att det är svårt att säga vilken välfärdsmodell Sverige tillhör idag men att Svenska kyrkans ekonomiska stöd främst har en kompletterande funktion. Det är svårt att leva upp till den teologiska grunden för diakoni och samtidigt ställa krav på dem som söker hjälp. Informanterna arbetar väldigt olika vilket överensstämmer med att diakoni ska vara kontextuellt.
The aim of this essay was to study how deacons view and work with financial support in the Church of Sweden. The questions answered were: What role do deacons consider the church should have in the welfare society concerning financial support? How does a deacon assess when it comes to decisions about financial support and what requirements are being made for the aid? What challenges do deacons face when working with distribution of financial support?The study was made with a qualitative method where five people that work or have worked with financial support in the Church of Sweden were interviewed. The gathered material was then analysed using Gøsta Esping-Andersens theory on welfare states together with a document about guidance for diaconal work produced by the Church of Sweden. The results showed that some informants wished that the church shouldn’t have to be as involved as it is today, while others thought that it was good the way it was but wished for more resources. When it came to making decisions on financial support the informants reasoned in different ways but all seemed to have a base in the theology for diaconal work about being merciful and showing grace.In the end I found that it was hard to say which welfare model Sweden belongs in but that the financial support from the Church of Sweden mainly had a complementary function. It was hard to live up to the theological foundation for diaconal work and at the same time make demands for people looking for help. The informants worked very differently which corresponds to diaconal work being contextually.

The purpose of the study was to explore the perceptions of university students with disabilities and the factors that contribute to or deter them from accessing Disabled Student Services. The sample was based on availability and convenience and consisted of 36 students. A self-administered survey was used.

The results indicated that students tended to seek services to access accommodations and to learn more about services that can help them succeed. They tended to delay seeking services in order to have a fresh start in college and due to their fear of stigma. Individuals with mental health disabilities were less likely than other students to report self-determination and support and more likely to experience stigma.

Social workers can play a vital role in assisting students with disabilities in identifying their specific barriers and in assisting them to access programs and services in a postsecondary education setting.

The aim of our study is to examine experience of the quality of life for elderly people with assisted living from their own, and caretakers, perspectives. We also aim to examine how elderly people in assisted living, and caretakers, experiences that they could affect the elderly people´s quality of life.   The study is based on a qualitative method and the data is collected by interviews with four recipient of care and three care takers.   The result shows that there are many factors that have an importance when it comes to quality of life for the recipient of care. It has shown in the study that the recipient of care and the caretakers put emphasize in the same factors. These factors are health, the affect of assisted living, happiness, relationships and self-determination. The result has shown that the assisted living has a major importance when it comes to the quality of life for the recipient of cares.

This study explored the separation of twins in foster care and examined how their lived experiences relate to their interpersonal relationships as adults. Many researchers have studied the long-term impact of nontwin sibling separation in foster care, but little is known about the separation of twins, leaving a significant gap in existing literature. The purpose of this study was to examine the lived experiences twins who were separated in foster care as relates to their interpersonal relationships during adulthood. A qualitative, narrative approach was used to gather the lived experiences of one set of twins. The research questions examined how one specific set of adult fraternal twin sisters interpreted their personal experiences of being separated from each other while in foster care and whether this experience had an impact on their interpersonal relationships. The study relied on the theoretical foundations of attachment theory and family systems theory to support the use of existing literature and to integrate the research findings into current child welfare practice. Through personal interviews, each twin was asked to recall experiences from foster care and comment on the impact of being separated from their twin. Thematic analysis of the interview data and observations of the interview process helped to identify four themes: forming successful attachments, mental health issues, trauma history, and number and type of placements experienced. To encourage social change these results can inform the child welfare system, add to the body of existing research, and influence future placement decisions regarding twins in foster care.

This project employed a descriptive case study methodology guided by rational choice theory to examine the financial feasibility of marriage for low income women. By modeling the income and expenses of eight different low income family types in six states (Arizona, California, New York, Oklahoma, Virginia, and Wisconsin) this study illustrates the financial situation of various low income families. The family types under investigation include: a single parent family, a family receiving TANF, cohabiting couple with two wage earners, cohabiting couple with one wage earner, a married family with two wage earners, a married couple with one wage earner, a unmarried couple with an infant (unmarried fragile family), and a married couple with an infant (married fragile family). The income of each family type was calculated at two different wage levels (minimum and low wage for each state under investigation). Income included the welfare benefits and subsidies each of the family's is likely to receive (including child care subsidies and tax credits). The expenses of each family were calculated based on the size of the family and the cost of expenses such as housing and food expenditures. This study found that of the models presented here married families are not always financially better off when compared to single parent and cohabiting families. These findings demonstrate that if policy makers wish to support marriage among low income families they should first make marriage financially feasible for unmarried couples (particularly cohabiting couples) and create greater economic stability for couples that are already married. By providing consistent work supports (e.g. child care and health insurance), expanding programs that help low income families (such as the Earned Income Tax Credit), creating poverty measures that accurately reflect the real situation of low income families, and increasing the wages of low income workers, policy makers will create an environment where it is financially feasible for low income couples to marry and remain married.

As of 2018, approximately 442,995 children are in the foster care system in the United States according to the federal statistics from the Children’s Bureau. Entry into the foster system involves the removal of children from their home, making it a traumatic experience. The purpose of this study was to examine social workers’ perceptions of what trauma informed practice means and what it looks like in child welfare removals. The study also clarifies what trauma informed practice (TIP) is and how it can be applied in child welfare’s organizational structure. This was a qualitative study in which child welfare social workers from southern California agencies were interviewed. Interviews with experienced child welfare workers revealed many themes including the complexities of workers’ experiences during removals, the impact of removals on workers, social workers’ perceptions on TIP and suggestions on how to make removals more trauma informed for children. The findings from this project identified ways trauma may be minimized during detainment procedures in child welfare. All participants voiced that they felt the trauma informed removal (TIR) PowerPoint guide was beneficial to their learning and practice and that a training with this guide would be ideal for their agencies. Additionally, the findings shed light on the need for future research on creating a more trauma informed child welfare system and the need for policy implementation and or change.

Socialt arbete förknippas ofta med myndighetsutövning eller behandling, trots att socialt arbete förekommer i andra verksamheter varav Svenska kyrkan har en lång tradition av socialt arbete. Syftet med denna uppsats var att studera hur det sociala arbetet ser ut som diakonin bedriver i Svenska kyrkan idag samt vad Svenska kyrkans roll som välfärdsaktör betyder för det svenska samhället. Studien har genomförts med hjälp av en kvalitativ metod där texter analyserats. Resultatet av dessa texter har gett en inblick i de verksamheter som diakonin bedriver i Svenska kyrkan. De teman som funnits i resultatet är verksamheter, förhållningssätt, diakonens roll som röstbärare samt utmaningar för det diakonala arbetet utifrån ett organisatoriskt perspektiv. Resultatet har analyserats utifrån dokumentet ”Vägledning för diakoni” som är framtaget av Svenska kyrkan. Resultatet har även analyserats utifrån vad Erik Blennberger (2016) skriver om välfärd, samt kapitlet i Svensson m.fl (2008) om roller och yrkesroller. Slutsatsen blev att diakonin bedriver många olika verksamheter varav några har samarbete med offentlig sektor och några är helt i församlingens egen regi. En annan slutsats är att diakonerna tar på sig många olika roller som socialarbetare i Svenska kyrkan, varav en är röstbärare för de medmänniskor som behöver det. Den tredje och sista slutsatsen blev att det finns en utmaning i de organisatoriska ramarna för diakonin, då diakoner kan känna sig bundna och icke hörda. Detta påverkar diakonernas arbete och det finns en uppmaning om att höja rösterna för en förändring och förbättring för både diakoner som kollegor och för alla medmänniskor.
Social work is often associated through the exercise of public agency/authority or through treatment work, even though social work is also present in many other occupations. One of those occupations being the church of Sweden, which has a long tradition of social work. The purpose of this essay is to study what the social work is that is operated by the deacons of the church of Sweden, and also what the role is for the church of Sweden as a factor in the Swedish welfare society. The study has been made with a qualitative method, where several texts have been analysed. The results of these texts have presented an insight to the activities managed by the deacons of the church of Sweden. The findings of this study have developed into themes, which are the activities, the approach, the deacons role as ”a voice for those who can not speak for themselves”, and also challenges in the work by deacons in the perspective of structure and organisation. The results have been analysed by using a document about guidance for diaconal work produced by the Church of Sweden. The results have also been analysed by what Erik Blennberger (2016) writes about welfare, and the chapter in Svensson m. fl (2008) about roles and profession. The conclusion is that the deacons of the church of Sweden operate many activities wherein some are through the cooperation with the public sector, and some are completely within the management of the parish. Another conclusion is that the deacons take on multiple roles as social workers in the church of Sweden, where one is providing agency as “a voice for those who can not speak for themselves”. The third and last conclusion is that there are many challenges that come within the structure and organisation for the deacons, where they might feel bound and unheard. This affects the deacons and there is an exhortation to raise the voices to change and improve the work for not only the deacons as colleagues, but also for all people.

The social policy defines what is social problems. There is no clear scientific explanation to why children fare badly and unity in what constitutes a bad parenthood that leads to deficiency of care (Sundell&Egelund 2000). The society's values are fickle and influences what to be defined as social problems. In the prevailing period, the discourse produces the social norm (Claezon 2004).

The aim with this study was to examine which children that fare badly and attitudes about it the good and the insufficient parenthood between 1921-1923 and 1997-2007. The survey was a qualitative file study in witch we studied child welfare. Resemblances and differences have also been studied between these two periods.  This in order to get a grasp on what has been changed and what is left of the old times and still influence the modern society in child welfare.

Our theoretical starting point is the power of the discourse.Children that are considered fare badly and the attitude of what defines good parenthood is shaped by the cultural values of society that is made visible in child welfare. Through this theoretical perspectives, children, young people and parents that are defined as deviant with shortcomings and imperfection that is to be corrected by the society’s measures. Fahlgren (1999) claims that discourse vary both historically and cultural in the society and its aim is to create order and truth within different areas and is also based on views about interpretation in the society. This is how norms are created of what is considered to be normal.

The result of our study shows that the social welfare of children is influenced by attitudes within society. The prevailing discourse influence how society defines which children fare badly and that the conception is about good respective insufficient parenthood. This is changed over time and characterized of the society's cultural and historical contexts.

 

Keywords: child welfare, children fare badly, parenthood

The purpose of this paper has been to reach a greater understanding in how moral inflicts social workers way of handling everyday situations. In what way, if in any way, moral comes to play a part in the making of decisions. In order to reach this understanding we have interviewed two different groups of social workers which we also later on came to compare . One of the groups contained six interviewees and the other group contained five interviewees. Both of these groups were in the ages between 27 – 52.To shed some light over this phenomenon did we use two theoretical perspectives, first Kant’s morale theory and second, consequentialistic utilitarism theory. As a result from the interviews we’ve made, we came to an understanding that the meaning of morale and in what way it can be applied in the everyday work differs between these two professional groups. One of the greater conclusions we came to make, is that one key role is the differences between both work environments, both on a social and a structural level.

The purpose of this policy analysis is to critically review the Welfare and Institutions Code§ 369.5, which regulates the authorization of psychotropic medication to treat mental disorders among California's dependent children. While these medications have been proven effective forms of treatment, there is a growing concern about their life threatening side effects.

Research has concluded that children exposed to chronic child abuse and neglect often present with behaviors indicative of trauma. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 5th Edition has included criteria for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (P.T.S.D.) in children. However, the Welfare and Institutions Code§ 369.5 does not mandate psychiatrists and pediatricians to first rule out trauma prior to diagnosing foster children with one or more behavior, mood, or psychotic disorders.

Results support amending child welfare legislation and policies to reflect a shift toward trauma-focused services, thereby reducing the reliance on potentially dangerous pharmaceutical drugs.

The school can be seen as a place that reflects the wider community. Here is a school welfare officer an important representative of the school social work. The main subject of our study is to clarify how the school welfare officers’ talk about documentation in the individual meeting with the pupil. Through individual interviews with five school welfare officers in elementary schools in three municipalities in the southern part ofSweden, we have attempted to explore these main research question. In addition to qualitative interviews we have accomplished a survey study that included 178 school welfare officers throughout the country. The result of our two studies demonstrates the school welfare officers’ free work where the choice to document or not is wide. Even on those occasions when documentation is an obligation, they have an opportunity to choose how much they should expose the pupil. The study also shows on an uncertainty as regard to record in general and where the written words end up in particular. The school welfare officer seems to be comfortable in his/her free role, but still want some sort of guidelines to enhance the pupil’s equal rights. They have an apologetic or justifying way of talking (accounts) about the documentation, which can be due to their free role and the fact that documentation has a tendency to be difficult to interpret in the law.

During the economic boom of the late nineties and early noughties, the last Labour government identified paid employment obtained from the competitive labour market as a realistic goal for people disabled by mental illness. Despite the effects of the financial crash of 2008 and the consequent recession, its successors have continued to argue this is the case. One of the foundation stones of the policies they have used to pursue this goal is a biopsychosocial model of health, which sides with medicine in the longstanding dispute about the validity of the concept of mental illness. This model was used by the UK government to identify paid employment obtained from the competitive labour market as evidence of recovery in and recovery from mental illness. It did this by drawing on the belief recovery is an individual journey, the outcomes of disabled people's lives are determined by acts of agency; the language, but not the thinking, used by the disability movement to draw a distinction between disability and impairment; and research arguing people with a history of mental illness want to work and that they can obtain work from the competitive market when they are provided with appropriate support. Another one is neoclassical economics: a static, deductive and utilitarian theory-driven economic model that has dominated UK policy since the late seventies. Like the government's preferred approach to recovery, neoclassical economics prioritises agency over structure. It argues labour market activity is a risk-driven endeavour and that economies have natural rates of unemployment, which can only be reduced by the state dismantling institutions preventing scarce resources such as labour from being distributed via price competition. As with medical thinking about mental distress, the neoclassical idealisation of the labour market has its critics. Amongst them are the old institutional economics, the new institutional economics, stratification economics and the new economic sociology. Different mixtures of empiricism, inductive thinking, theorising and attitudes towards neoclassicism ranging from relative enthusiasm to outright hostility, have for different reasons, led them to conclude to various degrees that institutions are necessary to impose order on uncertainty, unemployment can be a consequence of their influence and the state has to take this on board when taking policy initiatives. The disputes within economics and between economics and sociology about the role of agency, structure and the state in the labour market raise doubts about the efficacy of the UK government's welfare to work policies regarding people disabled by mental illness. Doubts that have been echoed in comments made by the OECD in 2014, which voiced concern about the UK governments marginalisation of structural influences on the labour market. Surprisingly, the literature on disability and employability has not engaged with this dispute. This study starts to address this failure by drawing on the above models mental illness and the labour market activity to analyse how the UK government's welfare to work policies have affected demand from private sector employers in Scotland for labour from jobless people who have been disabled by mental illness. The analysis was conducted in two stages. First, it used evidence about the financial crisis of 2008 and statistics from the Westminster and Holyrood governments to paint a macroeconomic picture of the Scottish labour market for the period between 2008 and 2013. Then it conducted semi-structured interviews with thirty private sector employers about their understanding of mental illness and the labour market. The initial part of the analysis argues rational price competition between private financial organisations caused the flow of money through western economies to dry up and that this caused the global financial crisis of 2008 and the deepest worldwide recession since the 1930's. Then it shows the UK government's adherence to neoclassicism led it to respond to these developments by directing government spending away from redistribution and service provision towards facilitating market competition and that the current tranche of welfare to work policies are part of this response. Finally, it uses figures from the Scottish and UK government for the period between March 2008 and March 2013 to look at the challenges facing these policies. Here it is shown that although the rise in unemployment has been relatively small given the depth of the recession. However it is also shown that there has been a sharp rise in underemployment, a significant drop in the number of vacancies and that private sector demand for labour will have to grow by as much as a third if the Scottish labour market is to successfully absorb those people with a history of mental illness the UK government hopes to move off disability benefits. The second part found employers tend to link mental illness with strange and unpredictable behaviour; hold stigmatising beliefs about people with a history of these conditions; only hire them when information, which has been obtained independently of any vacancy, suggests they possess the technical and social skills necessary to fit in with how they do business; and they can discount the value of their labour. It then goes on to demonstrate five things. The first is that employers think workplace teams are different from the sum of their parts and that this has led them to believe the outcomes of recruitment decisions are always uncertain. The second is they protect themselves against uncertainty by taking a sequential approach to recruitment, one that involves ranking the sources of information they use to make recruitment decisions in terms of cost and reliability. In order of preference, these are personal experience, the experience of people they trust, recruitment agencies and open competition. The third is that their behaviour as they descend this hierarchy initially mirrors the thinking of the new economic sociology and stratification economists, then the new institutional economics until finally, it comes to bear its closest resemblance to neoclassical economics. The fourth is that employers descend the hierarchy for as long as their desire for profit outweighs their fear of harm. The implications of this sequential multifaceted approach to recruitment for the ability of the UK governments welfare to work policies to improve the employability of people disabled by mental illness are identified by drawing on Zelizer's ideas about the role of connected worlds, circuits of commerce and media of exchange in economic activity. These ideas emerged in response to the under and over socialised thinking about the economy such as that offered by the new neoclassical economics, the new institutional economics and the new economic sociology. They form a line of thought that resonates strongly with the heterodox approach to economic analysis of the old institutional economics and stratification economics. They also provide a theoretical framework - that does not automatically blame the jobless for being unemployed - to hang the findings of this study about employers’ multifaceted approach to recruitment; the co-existence of large numbers of vacancies and high rates of unemployment; the peripheral role played by human resources professionals in most recruitment decisions; the ignorance of employers about the UK government's welfare to work policies; and employers’ hostility towards welfare to work contractors. Taken together, the findings of this study indicate the people with a history of mental illness who will benefit most from the UK government's welfare to work policies will be those who inhabit the same social circles as private sector employers or those who have access to them.
They also suggest these policies will be unlikely to increase the demand for their labour to anything like the degree necessary to absorb the numbers of them that will be moving off disability benefits. However, by using Zelizer's thinking about circuits of commerce and connected worlds to frame them, they offer hope welfare to work policies can be developed that recognise the importance of paid employment to recovery without conflating them. A set of policies that acknowledge the influence of impairments, social structures, job-related skills, and competition on employability, which accepts people diagnosed with mental illnesses will often need to be provided with rights and access to resources over and above those that support them to look for work. Realising this possibility will require researchers in disability studies to engage with the economic and sociological debates about the labour market and build relationships with businesses, economists and other branches of sociology that are conducive to investigating how the economic and social lives of employers influence their targeting of pools of labour; clarifying when it is possible to include people with a history of mental illness in these pools, establishing how to go about doing this, determining when it is in their interests to do so and identifying what to do when it is not.

Family preservation services are intended to prevent the out-of-home placement (into foster care or some other alternative arrangement) of children and youth in families at risk of maltreating them. An Ecological Systems perspective of these families might suggest that a family’s context (represented by the variables of poverty, agency services, family history, and individual/caretaker characteristics) must be considered as an over-arching influence in families’ risk and outcomes. The purpose of this cross-sectional secondary data analysis study was to identify layered factors that distinguish family preservation cases in Richmond, VA that experience removal or subsequent abuse or neglect from those that do not, in order to make recommendations about how services can be better directed to support families in caring for their children and youth. Using Hierarchical Discriminant Function Analysis, this research project evaluated the “predictive” values of the external conditions and internal characteristics of family recipients of the Richmond, Virginia Department of Social Services corollary to family preservation services on the outcomes of (a) successful case closure, (b) out-of-home placement during services, and (c) child maltreatment after case closure. Contextual factors (poverty), Agency factors (number of services and ratio of concrete services), Family factors (history of placement, chronicity of maltreatment, abuse risk score, and neglect risk score), and Individual/Caretaker factors (caretaker substance abuse, caretaker mental health, and family structure) were investigated. The findings of this study showed that poverty, agency characteristics, and family characteristics each directly explained substantial amounts of variance among the outcomes and that poverty, provision of concrete services, and a family history of foster care placement best distinguished among families experiencing these different outcomes. These findings highlight the need of family preservation programming to directly address conditions of poverty in abuse and neglect risk, and suggest that the services provided to the families need better targeting to families’ needs. Recommendations based on this study include the development of a theory-based, local-evidence-based model of services for family preservation services at the agency for which the research was conducted.

This ex post facto study (N = 209) examined the relationships between employer job strategies and job retention among organizations participating in Florida welfare-to-work network programs and associated the strategies with job retention data to determine best practices. An internet-based self-report survey battery was administered to a heterogeneous sampling of organizations participating in the Florida welfare-to-work network program. Hypotheses were tested through correlational and hierarchical regression analytic procedures. The partial correlation results linked each of the job retention strategies to job retention. Wages, benefits, training and supervision, communication, job growth, work/life balance, fairness and respect were all significantly related to job retention. Hierarchical regression results indicated that the training and supervision variable was the best predictor of job retention in the regression equation. The size of the organization was also a significant predictor of job retention. Large organizations reported higher job retention rates than small organizations. There was no statistical difference between the types of organizations (profit-making and non-profit) and job retention. The standardized betas ranged from to .26 to .41 in the regression equation. Twenty percent of the variance in job retention was explained by the combination of demographic and job retention strategy predictors, supporting the theoretical, empirical, and practical relevance of understanding the association between employer job strategies and job retention outcomes. Implications for adult education and human resource development theory, research, and practice are highlighted as possible strategic leverage points for creating conditions that facilitate the development of job strategies as a means for improving former welfare workers’ job retention.