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

 Topics in this issue include: 

• Special Focus: Revisiting Risk and Resiliency*
• Clinical Practice Issues
• Agency Practice and Evaluation

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*This new collection of articles on resilience 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.

To view all articles, visit the current issue page. Online subscribers can view the complete issue and nonsubscribers can view all abstracts and summaries. Online subscribers and registered users can access the full-text article links below.

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New Articles With Free Access

Using a Risk and Resilience Framework and Feminist Theory to Guide Social Work Interventions With Adolescent Mothers
by Shanti J. Kulkarni, Angie C.Kennedy, & Carol M. Lewis
Adolescent mothers often contend with social stigmatization while struggling with the challenges of complex needs and limited resources. Frequently, practitioners need to bridge racial, ethnic, and cultural differences between themselves and their clients. In this article, the authors use risk and resilience research and feminist theory as empirical and conceptual guideposts for work with adolescent mothers, offering them as a foundation for effective social work intervention, especially when dealing with the common traumas experienced by these young families.
Abstract │ Article PDF (free to registered users)

Common Themes of Resilience Among Latino Immigrant Families: A Systematic Review of the Literature
by Jodi Berger Cardoso & Sanna J. Thompson
The authors identify characteristics of resilience and how these factors uniquely protect Latino immigrant families against stressors related to the migration and assimilation processes. When social work draws on a strengths-based perspective, practitioners can build on the strengths of immigrant families through enhancing their coping skills, assisting them to access programs and services, and locating resources appropriate to their needs.
Abstract │ Article PDF (free to registered users)

Resiliency: The Essence of Survival in Chaos
by Joel M. Carp
This article identifies lessons learned through trauma response work of the Chicago Jewish Community’s Emergency Resiliency Team (J-CERT), a community service intervention strategy based on a resiliency model. If agencies and social work practitioners are to have the capability of responding to tragedies caused by natural disasters, terrorist attacks, and violent or unexpected deaths that can occur in most communities, then changes are needed that include how professionals are educated, the type of training provided on the job, and the kinds of expectations and values instilled in staff.
Abstract │ Article PDF (free to registered users)

Revisioning Cultural Competencies in Clinical Social Work Practice
by Eunjung Lee
Recognizing that social workers have a commitment to advance their sensitivities, knowledge, and skills in multicultural practice, this article reviews how cultural competencies are currently defined and what social workers claim to do in delivering proficient service. It proposes revising the construct of cultural competencies into crosscultural competencies as a way of accurately reflecting relational and dynamic aspects of clinical practice.
Abstract │ Article PDF (free to registered users)

Engaging Men in Clinical Practice: Solution-Focused and Strengths-Based Model
by Robert Blundo
A practice model is detailed for engaging men in clinical work from the perspective of cross-cultural practice, building on the strengths and potentials of the cultural construct—the code of masculinity—men have learned and incorporated into their self identity. Social workers and counselors should consider masculinity as a form of cultural practice, and be sensitive to that cultural code, in order to better engage male clients through their strengths.
Abstract │ Article PDF (free to registered users)

Special Supplement: Aging in Poverty (Available in print and online, 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 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 them.

Preview the Next Issue (October–December 2010; Vol. 91, No. 4)
Topics in the Winter 2010 issue include economic disparity, social justice, supportive relationships and coping, family stressors and risk behaviors, child welfare and placement, and agency management.

• Read the abstracts for the upcoming articles. 

Associate Editors Appointed
Please join Families in Society in recognizing our associate editors from the editorial advisory board. These associates will collaborate with the journal's editor to promote the relevance and rigor of manuscripts that are evaluated within the peer-review selection process.

Sondra J. Fogel, PhD, ACSW, is associate professor of social work at the University of South Florida. Her research interests include interventions in poverty and homelessness, community-building strategies in low-income areas, housing policy, as well as mitigation evidence and its influence in capital punishment decisions. Dr. Fogel is co-editor of the recently published book Using Evidence to Inform Practice for Community and Organizational Change (2010, Lyceum Books). She will be chair of the Association of Community and Social Administration beginning in the Fall of 2010.

Christopher G. Petr, PhD, LCSW, is professor and chair of the PhD program at the School of Social Welfare at the University of Kansas. His professional interests include policy and practice issues in child mental health and child welfare, family-centered practice, and the professional-consumer relationship. He is the author of the book Social Work with Children and Their Families: Pragmatic Foundations (2003, Oxford University Press). Dr. Petr has been the principal investigator of children's mental health projects for the state of Kansas for over 12 years.

Ellen Bogolub, PhD, ACSW, is associate professor at Adelphi University's School of Social Work, where she has been a full-time faculty member for 18 years. She has published and presented widely, mainly in the areas of families and divorce, and child welfare. Highlights include a book on professional assistance to families experiencing divorce, and recent research about foster children. Dr. Bogolub has a strong practice background and in 2008 received the Suffolk County (NY) National Association of Social Workers Lifetime Achievement Award.
 

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