Current Issue  │ Table of Contents (PDF)  │  Article Summaries (PDF)  │ Editorial (PDF)

Topics in this issue include:

• Spirituality in Social Work

• Service Learning and Education

• Family Violence

• Maternal Economic Sufficiency

• Family Functioning

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New Articles With Free Access

Ethical Issues in the Use of Prayer in Social Work: Implications for Professional Practice and Education
by Michael J. Sheridan
Is prayer an acceptable clinical practice for social work interventions? In a study of prayer-related activities and associated decision making among licensed clinical social workers, over half of the respondents reported praying privately for clients at some point in their practice; one third indicated that they prayed or meditated with clients. While 97.5% of those who prayed with clients sought permission, only 9.7% of those who prayed for clients asked permission. These and other findings raise questions regarding what is driving practice decisions in this area, including how many social workers are relying on their own views or beliefs versus client-centered factors as most important in determining practitioner behavior. This discussion is intended to encourage critical reflection by practitioners concerning the appropriate role of prayer and other spiritual interventions in social work practice.
Abstract │ Article PDF (free to registered users)

Service Learning Collaborations: A Formula for Reciprocity
by Laura A. Lowe & Victoria L. Medina
Service learning offers opportunities for educators and practitioners, and is applicable to a wide range of programs and services that benefit their communities. In this example, a social work program and a hospice agency partnered with a project for students to interact with the agency’s residents. This also served as a means to examine the students’ attitudes toward both older adults and death and dying. After engaging with residents of the hospice and their families, students reported improved attitudes toward older adults, along with personal and professional growth. Residents reported value from time spent with students as a means of reflecting on their lives; agency staff reported benefits of learning new information about residents, reexamining the foundation of their work, and, in some cases, providing a more effective clinical intervention.
Abstract │ Article PDF (free to registered users)

Transitioning Foster Youth to Less Restrictive Settings: Perspectives of Treatment Foster Parents
by Karen Castellanos-Brown & Bethany Lee
This study identifies three key phases in a foster youth’s transition to a family setting: becoming acquainted, settled, and adjusted. Parents identify challenging aspects of the initial transition process of the youth from group residential settings such as being rushed, receiving incomplete information about youth, gaps in schooling, and inadequate preparation of the youth for living in a home environment. Many parents report a lack of adequate support for and communication with the placement agency prior to and during the transition. Their insights help identify best practices for moving youth to lower levels of care and preparing paraprofessionals for their role in caring for a complicated youth population. Among the authors’ recommendations are ongoing training, improved policies, and proactive support of parents by TFC workers.
Abstract │ Article PDF (free to registered users)

Domestic Violence or Elder Abuse? Why It Matters for Older Women
by Teresa Kilbane & Marcia Spira
This article illuminates problems faced by older women who experience intimate partner abuse, focusing on the involvement of adult protective services and domestic violence programs. It explores how the designation of domestic violence or elder abuse is often dependent on which system a woman enters, which can lead to significantly different service options. Aging-related issues complicate access and usability of systems to respond to the needs of older abused women. For example, a lack of centralized reporting mechanisms results in age, more than type of abuse, as the determining factor for referral. The study discusses these issues by highlighting specific concerns of aging that impact the usefulness of services, by exploring critical implications for differences in services, and by offering recommendations for improved responsiveness.
Abstract │ Article PDF (free to registered users)

Away From Home: Paradoxes of Parenting for Mexican Immigrant Adults
by Monica Parsai, Tanya Nieri, & Paula Villar
Using data from the Immigrant Parent Project and in-person qualitative interviews, this article explores parent experiences of raising children in the United States. Findings suggest that parents experience several paradoxes related to parental control, familial roles, and expectations for the future. Parents feel they gain American comfort and opportunities at the expense of their heritage and values, such as family time, language, and strong family ties that buffer against adversity and American norms. Practitioners can use these results to validate Mexican immigrant parents’ experience, acknowledge related difficulties, and guide parents in finding support and understanding, particularly in regards to advocating for themselves and to navigating community systems.
Abstract │ Article PDF (free to registered users)

Special Focus Issue: Revisiting Risk and Resilience (September 2010)
The September issue will feature a special focus on risk and resilience as it relates to consumers and their communities. This new collection of articles also brings attention to the roles played by the diversity of consumers and the cultural competence of practitioners. Adding to the dialog are the questions of whether or not changes are needed in the current practice paradigm, and if social work can benefit from bringing knowledge from other fields and folding it into current practices.

Contributors provide insight into the basic assumptions of client resiliency, and examine those tenets in an attempt to make social work thought more sophisticated and responsive to consumers and communities. They also provide new research on more subtle internal and external factors and resources that influence the level of resilience in individuals and families.

Special Supplement: Aging in Poverty (September 2010)
There are a myriad of complex issues facing older adults living just above what the federal government considers poverty. For the professionals in social work who address such problems every day, it is increasingly difficult to find ways to help these impoverished seniors. Aging in Poverty: A Call to Action, a collaborative supplement of Families in Society and the Alliance for Children and Families New Age of Aging initiative, provides a forum for social service professionals who want to sound a warning. There is a real need to understand what poverty actually means and who is at greatest risk if we as a society are to create the right strategies to help those in need.

Virtually all the administrators, practitioners, and researchers interviewed for this special supplement see the current financial crisis for seniors as the worst they have ever experienced in the many decades they’ve been working in human services. These professionals all ask the same question: Who else will speak for the elderly who are so proud—and when they are much too reluctant to ask for help themselves?

Preview the Next Issue (July–September 2010; Vol. 91, No. 3)
The Fall 2010 issue of Families in Society will highlight clinical practice issues and agency practice and evaluation. The issue also features a special focus section on risk and resiliency.

• Read the abstracts for the upcoming articles. 

New Editorial Advisory Board Members
Please join Families in Society in welcoming five new members to its editorial advisory board:

G. Brent Angell, professor and director, School of Social Work at University of Windsor, and chair, Canadian Association of Deans and Directors of Schools of Social Work (CADDSSW). Dr. Angell's research interests focus on social justice and antioppressive practice with a particular emphasis on First Nations. He is renowned for his direct practice research and publications with a concentration of critical perspectives on therapy and cross-cultural practice.

Mark J. Brenner, associate professor, Department of Social Work at Bridgewater State College. Dr. Brenner's interests are in the field of contemplative practices, direct clinical practice, and clinical research. He previously was an instructor of psychiatry and a research associate at Commonwealth Research Center, Harvard Medical School. Prior to academic responsibilities, he practiced clinical social work for more than 20 years with adults, adolescents, and children.

Carole B. Cox, professor, Graduate School of Social Service at Fordham University. Dr. Cox's areas of expertise are gerontology and social policy, and she is a fellow of the Gerontological Society of America. The author of more than 50 journal articles and chapters dealing with various aspects of aging and caregiving, she is particularly interested in service utilization and the ways in which ethnicity and culture may impact service use.

Emilia E. Martinez-Brawley, professor and former dean, School of Social Work at Arizona State University. Dr. Martinez-Brawley's writings are prolific and internationally known, having carried out research on rural services in Canada, Latin America, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Spain. Her other areas of expertise include social work education, innovative models of service delivery in public organizations, and diversity issues in service delivery.

Jini L. Roby, associate professor, School of Social Work at Brigham Young University. Having practiced as a court-appointed attorney for abused children and a social service agency director, Ms. Roby's areas of expertise include global and national child welfare policy and practice, as well as the intersection of law and social work. She has also acted as a UNICEF consultant to the Royal Government of Cambodia and a senior specialist with the Fulbright Scholar Program.

Special Discount Rates in 2010 for Online Subscriptions
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