Practice and Policy Focus Newsletter
The upcoming journal supplement will focus on developing opportunities for organizational change. Check your e-mail soon for the publication announcement.

Past editions of this newsletter highlight articles related to a particular topic of interest for social workers and other social service practitioners and clinicians. Click on the article hyperlinks in the newsletter PDFs to open the article abstracts on the Web. Additionally, subscribers can open the full-text articles from those abstract links.

• Opportunities in Organizational Change
  (2008, Issue 1) [COMING SOON]
• Art of Social Work Practice
  (2007, Issue 4) [PDF /517KB]
• Working Poor Families
  (2007, Issue 3) [PDF /800KB]
• Fathering and Fatherhood
  (2007, Issue 2) [PDF /135KB]
• Social Work With At-Risk Youth
  (2007, Issue 1) [PDF /200KB]
• Best Practices in Foster Care and Adoption
  (2006, Issue 2) [PDF /240KB]
• Ethics and Risk Management in Social Work
  (2006, Issue 1) [PDF /155KB]

Society for Social Work Research (SSWR) 12th Annual Conference
Families in Society associate editor, Sondra Fogel, recently attended the SSWR conference in Washington, D.C. With the theme, "Research that Matters," the conference offered a scientific program that reflects a broad range of research interests, from workshops on the latest quantitative and qualitative research methodologies to symposia featuring studies in a variety of critical issues. Thank you to all those who visited our exhibit booth. Please contact us if you would like a complimentary CD-ROM conference handout. We'll see you in November 2008 for the next CSWE Annual Program Meeting in Philadelphia.

Online Continuing Education
CE4Alliance, the online continuing education program provided by Families in Society: The Journal of Contemporary Social Services and its publisher, the Alliance for Children and Families, features over 130 courses arranged in 20 topic categories. Visit the site, or download the course catalog.

New courses developed from articles in the current issue are now available:

• Social Work Ethics: Risks, Error Management, and Dual Relationships
  Course #101319 (2-article course)
  
  Article 1: Social Workers’ Management of Error: Ethical and Risk Management Issues
  by Frederic G. Reamer (Vol. 89, No. 1) │ Abstract
  In their efforts to assist individuals, families, couples, and other clients, social workers may inadvertently overlook critically important assessment information, provide services in a flawed manner, or mishandle ethical dilemmas. Ideally, social workers would acknowledge their errors forthrightly, convey their regrets to injured parties, and engage in constructive steps to prevent any recurrence. However, social workers face significant disincentives to acknowledge their errors openly and candidly. This article explores the nature and forms of social work error and provides possible constructive responses to (a) protect clients, (b) minimize risk to social workers, (c) prevent future error, and (d) adhere to prevailing ethical standards in the profession.
  
  Article 2: The Ethics of Dual Relationships: Beliefs and Behaviors of Clinical Practitioners
  by Robin Ringstad (Vol. 89, No. 1) │Abstract
  Most helping professionals agree that nonsexual dual relationships (those arrangements that are incidental, social, or business and occur outside of the therapeutic setting) are unethical, yet are not as easily identified and often fall into a gray area. Analyzing a survey of therapists and clinicians in which they were asked to rate their ethical beliefs, typical behaviors, and opinions of harm, this article shows that little consensus exists about these arrangements. Benefiting professional vigilance is a high degree of awareness about ethics, risk management, law, regulation, and policy in this area.
   
• Fostering Creativity in Clinical Social Work Practice
  by Mo Yee Lee (Vol. 89, No. 1)
  Course #101318 │Abstract
  By facilitating acts of creativity in clients and families, practitioners can create a context for them to begin reconnecting with the natural creative state of mind that they might have lost after years of struggles and adversities. This article explores the implications of a naturalistic view of creativity for clinical practice and examines treatment processes that are employed via therapeutic conversations with clients. These processes help to move them beyond rigidity and detrimental behaviors/ emotions to self and others so that they can reframe and develop new ways to handle various problems of living.
   
• Care Plans for Families Affected by Parental Mental Illness
  by Andrea E. Reupert, Kirsten T. Green, & Darryl J. Maybery (Vol. 89, No. 1)
  Course #101317 │Abstract
  Mental illness affects not only the individual, but also their families. For families with underage children in which the parent has a mental illness, they often experience social isolation, financial hardship, and marital discord. While other intervention models focus solely on the individual, this article suggests using family care plans—different from crisis planning—that enhance existing social supports for the whole family and involves pre-negotiating and coordinating agency supports for each family member. These plans are an important way for children’s needs to be acknowledged and addressed more generally and not just in crisis times.
   

Hot Topic Webinars

Families in Society and its publisher, the Alliance for Children and Families, present the Hot Topic Webinar and teleconference series. Interactive presentations with nationally recognized experts focus on topics relating to practice, education, and policy within social services.
 

Working Poor and Social Justice Initiatives was presented Friday, February 1, 2008. This Webinar by Dr. Sondra Fogel provided participants with an overview on the condition and status of the working poor. There is increasing attention to the growing numbers of individuals and families across the life-span who are working, but yet remain in or near poverty levels. These income levels provide minimal opportunities for governmental assistance, leaving this group of individuals and families to face the realities of daily life without much support. Assisting those working but poor is a new challenge facing social service providers, clinicians, and program directors.

• A CD-ROM with the audio/visual presentation is available for purchase; click here for ordering details.
   
• An online continuing education course is now available for this Webinar. Learn more about this opportunity to earn credits on the CE4Alliance Web site: www.ce4alliance.com/course/101316.
   

Preview the Next Issue (April-June 2008; Vol. 89, No. 2)
Volume 89, Number 2 will highlight topics related to welfare, poverty and the working poor; psychiatric social work; parenting and spirituality; parenting and substance abuse; nonprofit umbrella organizations; and practitioner issues. Read the abstracts for the upcoming articles.
 

Celebrate National Professional Social Work Month 2008
Since 1984, the month of March marks a time to reflect on social work as an art and a profession, and to advocate for issues that affect social workers and their clients.

This year's theme, Building on Strengths: Help Starts Here, focuses on the important strengths inherent in each individual, family and community. Understanding and utilizing these strengths are essential to improving the emotional health and well-being of society.

Families in Society: The Journal of Contemporary Social Services is proud to serve as a valuable resource for social workers in the areas of direct practice, management, supervision, education, research, and policy and planning. For over 89 years, the information found in this Alliance for Children and Families' publication furthers strength-based practice and research that can be used by helping professionals to improve the lives of those in need.

Listed below are just a few articles Families in Society has to offer on the strengths perspective:

Joe the King: A Study of Strengths and Morality (Abstract)
by Howard Goldstein, Editor Emeritus–Families in Society

A Solution-Focused Approach to Cross-Cultural Clinical Social Work Practice:
Utilizing Cultural Strengths (Abstract)
by Mo Yee Lee

Ending Social Work’s Grudge Match: Problems Versus Strengths (Abstract │ CE Course)
by J. Curtis McMillen, Lisa Morris, & Michael Sherraden

The Language of Empowerment and Strengths in Clinical Social Work:
A Constructivist Perspective (Abstract │ CE Course)
by Gilbert Greene, Mo Yee Lee, & Susan Hoffpauir

Reports, Surveys, and White Papers

The Impact of Neuroscience Advances on Nonprofit Behavioral Health Care:
Financial Modeling of Neuroimaging Utilization
Advancements in biotechnology, bioengineering, neuroscience, genetics and other medical specialties have dramatically altered the way people are diagnosed and treated for injury or disease. This discussion explores how recent discoveries in neuroscience related technology—particularly neuroimaging—might be used in child and family behavioral health care, and what the costs of such an approach may entail.

Published by the Alliance for Children and Families with a grant from the Pioneer Group of The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, this white paper is a preliminary attempt to examine the current use and potential of imaging technology as a behavioral health care intervention, and to quantify the costs of doing so. Click here to read the report.

The New Age of Aging: Building Competency and Capacity in Human Services
A comprehensive overview is available for the Alliance for Children and Families’ five-year project to help its membership of family service agencies and their workforce prepare for the needs of older adults.

Underwritten by a $2.6 million grant from The Atlantic Philanthropies, the New Age of Aging and its partners will work to bridge the gap between the human services community and the dynamics associated with an aging population.

Through this unique project, the Alliance and its members will develop new ideas to address the challenges and plan for the physical, social, and emotional needs of the new generation of older adults. Click here for more information on this grant.

Book Reviews

• War on the Family: Mothers in Prison and the Families They Leave Behind; by Renny Golden
  Reviewed by Patricia O’Brien │ Article PDF (free to registered users)
   
• Ending Intimate Abuse: Practical Guidance and Survival Strategies; by Albert R. Roberts & Beverly Schenkman Roberts
  Reviewed by Diana Green │ Article PDF (free to registered users)
   
• Family Interventions in Domestic Violence: A Handbook of Gender-Inclusive Theory and Treatment; edited by John Hamel and Tonia L. Nicholls
  Reviewed by Marian S. Harris │ Article PDF (free to registered users)
   
• Message in a Bottle: The Making of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome; by Janet Lynne Golden
  Reviewed by Tonya Orlando Kinnaman & Y. Evie Garcia │ Article PDF (free to registered users)

Current Issue  │ Table of Contents  │  Article Summaries  │ Editorial

Topics in this issue include:

• Evolving and Improving Care
• Families and Mental Illness
• Ethical Issues
• Child Support and Income Barriers
• Perspectives on Foster Care Youth
• International Practice
• Book Reviews

Online subscribers and registered users can access the full-text article links below. Sign in now, subscribe, or register for a free account.

To view all articles, visit the current issue page. Online subscribers can view the complete issue and non-subscribers can view all abstracts and summaries.

Highlighted Articles:

Making Your Agency Outcome Informed: A Guide to Overcoming Human Resistance to Change
Joseph Yeager & Michael L. Saggese
Mental health care providers are under increasing scrutiny to demonstrate the effectiveness of their services. A significant piece of any such effort is the integration of outcome management—the art and science of determining whether or not an organization is actually achieving its desired level of effectiveness. The single most important aspect of implementing an outcome management system pivots around the thinking of the planners. Those in charge of the planned change must search for common political denominators that serve the various vested interests of the organization, leadership, and operators. In this article, program “payoffs”, sample checklists, and plan contingencies are detailed to demonstrate how to bring key stakeholders into supporting positions.
Abstract │  Article PDF (free to registered users)

The Rise of Cyberactivism: Implications for the Future of Advocacy in the Human Services
John G. McNutt & Goutham M. Menon
The development of new advocacy technologies, such as those based on the Internet, represents a dramatic shift in the evolution of methods available to those who struggle for social change and to protect human services. This article reviews the role of new technology in advocacy and activism, discusses some of the methods and techniques, examines recent notable applications of technology to progressive politics, and looks at some of the barriers to this type of practice. Social work advocates cannot ignore the promise that cyberspace and technology offers. However, not all of these technologies will be useful in all social work advocacy situations.
Abstract │  Article PDF (free to registered users)

Ethical Dilemmas for Mental Health Practitioners: Navigating Mandated Child Maltreatment Reporting Decisions
Melinda Gushwa & Toni Chance
Maintaining a good therapeutic alliance with clients can often be difficult when issues of child abuse, maltreatment, or neglect arise. In situations like this, child maltreatment reporting is mandated in all U.S. states— thereby breaching confidentiality—and this could cause issues of distrust, fear, and suspicion in clients. Although ethical standards do exist to guide social workers when working with individuals and families, the wording is often ambiguous and open to interpretation; non-compliance and failure to report child abuse and neglect can result. The authors provide recommendations for this ethical dilemma, including creating a more open and tolerant collaboration between mental health practitioners and child welfare services.
Abstract │  Article PDF (free to registered users)

Assessing the Needs of Low-Income Parents Who Owe Child Support: Where Can the Social Workers Make a Difference?
Kimberly A. Pukstas & Dennis K. Albrecht
Research has found that low-income noncustodial parents who do not pay child support often have educational deficits and health problems. These conditions often lead to additional difficulties in providing other types of support to the custodial family and children, such as visitation or emotional support. A number of barriers exist for noncustodial parents to comply with their current child support obligations and many fathers who fail to make payments are disadvantaged, rather than “deadbeats”. The authors identify opportunities for intervention with low income parents such as employment training and job assistance; greater involvement in the establishment of child support orders; and improved communication with the child support system.
Abstract │  Article PDF (free to registered users)

Practitioners and educators find value in FIS ...

"We are in the process of creating an educational kit about collaborative and strengths-based practice to distribute to child welfare teams around the province of British Columbia. The article 'Ending Social Work's Grudge Match' will make a valuable addition to our training and discussion efforts as we support a shift to increased use of collaborative practices."  ● Read the article abstract

Nadine Kainz, Analyst
Integrated Policy & Legislation Team
Ministry of Children and Family Development
British Columbia, Canada
 

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"My organization provides training to child protective and other protective services staff with the state agency Texas Department of Family and Protective Services. The article on parents with mental illness provides an excellent summary of issues and recommendations that will be incorporated into our project training."
● Read the article abstract

Jason McCrory (MSSW), Project Coordinator
Protective Services Training Institute of Texas
School of Social Work, University of Texas at Austin
 

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"I have worked for over 30 years as a school psychologist in Milwaukee Public Schools and read FIS because fresh ideas, revolutionary concepts, and new perceptions often arrive from those who have a different filter; it has been particularly helpful to look through social worker eyes via FIS.

Joan Wessel, Ph.D.
Office of Psychological Services
Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS)
Milwaukee, WI

We want to hear from you...
FIS is a forum for social workers, practitioners, and educators to explore and share new ideas and concepts in the fields of social work and human services.  Let your voice be heard through Letters to the Editor, Field Notes, or Op-Ed pieces.  See www.familiesinsociety.org/writing.asp for more information. 

Is there something missing you’d like featured in an FIS E-Alert? Send an email with your idea: alerts@familiesinsociety.org