90th Anniversary Volume in 2009

"What are you thinking?" With that earnest query, the publication now titled Families in Society: The Journal of Contemporary Social Services was launched nine decades ago to gauge existing conditions in the burgeoning field of social work while tracking trends that would direct its future.

The journal’s mission remains unchanged 90 years later. Originally published as The Family, the journal will celebrate its 90th anniversary throughout the 2009 volume and is seeking contributions from our valued readers, authors, and reviewers to mark the occasion.

Readers like you have molded and shaped this publication throughout its esteemed history in the pages of The Family, Social Casework, and Families in Society. Now help us celebrate nearly a century of excellence in social work scholarship. Visit the 90th Anniversary Volume Web page for more information on submissions and opportunities to further support the journal's nonprofit mission.

Call for Papers: Revisiting Risk and Resilience

For this special focus, Families in Society is soliciting manuscripts, essays, and case studies on the topic of risk and resilience. In particular, contributions from the field are sought that address whether or not changes are needed in the current practice paradigm.

Can we benefit from bringing knowledge from other fields and folding it into our own work? Have the basic assumptions of client risk and resiliency practice changed, and, if not, is it necessary to revisit those tenets and make our thoughts more sophisticated? Are there more subtle internal and external factors and resources that influence the level of resilience in clients?

Papers based on research, practice, or theory are welcome, and should clearly address the practical applications of the information they provide. For more information, including manuscript guidelines and submission deadline, visit the Call for Papers: Resilience Web page.

Coming to the CSWE 2008 Annual Program Meeting?

Families in Society publisher Alliance for Children and Families will be located in booth 220 at the exhibit hall of the Council on Social Work Education APM in Philadelphia (October 30–November 3). Journal editors, authors, and peer reviewers will be on hand to visit with conference attendees at the booth and at an on-site open house  (date/time TBA).

Staff and participants of the New Age of Aging (NAA) project will also be available to talk about their five-year project of the Alliance for Children and Families. Through this initiative, Alliance member agencies and their workforce will be supported to prepare for the needs of older adults. With more than 360 organizations, the Alliance membership represents a significant force in the human services sector with a cumulative operating budget of $3.6 billion; almost 53,000 FTEs; 7,000 board members; 58,000 volunteers; and service to over 8,000 communities in 2,700 locations. In all, over 3.4 million clients participate in Alliance member services annually.

Practice & Policy Focus Newsletter:
Psychiatric and Clinical Social Work

Family in Society’s new edition of Practice & Policy Focus looks at current research and best practices in psychiatric and clinical social work, among them providing recommendations on defining and measuring program effectiveness.

It also includes suggestions on motivating persons with dual disorders, incorporating recovery-focused precepts into practice with individuals who have severe mental illnesses, and working with children who have biologically-based mental disorders.

In the e-version of Practice & Policy Focus, readers can click on article titles within the document to access additional information. Links to more than 30 related articles from the journal’s extensive archive are included in the newsletter. 

To access the full text of the archive articles online, subscribers should log in to their subscription account. If you’re not a subscriber, you can order here.

Past editions of this newsletter highlight articles related to a particular topic of interest for social workers and other social service practitioners and clinicians:

• Kinship Care in Child Welfare
  (2008, Issue 3) [COMING SOON!]
• Psychiatric and Clinical Social Work
  (2008, Issue 2) [PDF /556KB]
• Opportunities in Organizational Change
  (2008, Issue 1) [PDF /512KB]
• 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]

Online Continuing Education
CE4Alliance, the online continuing education program provided by Families in Society 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:

• A Practitioner's Application and Deconstruction of Evidence-Based Practice
  by J. Christopher Hall (Vol. 89, No. 3)
  Course #101436 │Abstract
  Evidence-based practice (EBP) is a clinical decision-making process designed to assist practitioners and clients in jointly choosing from the range of researched treatment approaches, preferably those that have been empirically validated through randomized clinical trials. Concerns are raised regarding the effectiveness of client-oriented practical evidence search (COPES) questions and how the literature review protocol guides the operationalization of problems and clients. Suggestions are offered about additional variables to include in this standardized protocol that may enhance the specificity of EBP. An exploration of the EBP collaborative decision-making process is presented from a practice perspective and a conclusion is drawn about the use of the process in clinical settings.
   
• An Integrative Model for Social Work Practice: A Multi-Systemic,
  Multi-Theoretical Approach
  by Marta Lundy (Vol. 89, No. 3)
  Course #101433 │Abstract
  Attempts at integration of various theories in practice are rife with acrimony and intellectual conflict among the various paradigms. The author provides a brief history of theoretical integration and describes a multi-systemic, multi-theoretical integrative model (IM) for practice, using these concepts as grounding for the model: (a) the therapeutic relationship or holding environment, (b) client self-determination, (c) the bio-psycho-social perspective, and (d) the person-in-situation. Examples of the application of the model are included along with a discussion of the advantages and limitations of such a model for social work practice.
   
• Critical Consciousness and Cross-Cultural/Intersectional Social Work Practice:
  A Case Analysis
  by Zulema E. Suarez, Peter A. Newman, & Beth Glover Reed (Vol. 89, No. 3)
  Course #101435 │Abstract
  Social workers have an ethical responsibility to attend to the dynamics and consequences of oppression and to issues of social justice, given the close association between poverty, race, and ethnicity in the United States. Working across social identities—such as ethnicity, race, gender, sexual orientation, and socioeconomic status—can be daunting for social workers and clients. It requires expanding comfort zones, owning power and privilege, and engaging in active self-reflection to interrogate what is held to be true, vital components of “critical consciousness” and critical approaches to practice. The authors present the complex case example of a refugee Muslim family to articulate processes workers can use to deepen critical consciousness when working with clients within challenging agency and environmental contexts.
   
• What Works in Treating Reactive Attachment Disorder: Parents’ Perspectives
  by James W. Drisko & Karen Zilberstein (Vol. 89, No. 3)
  Course #101434 │Abstract
  Reactive attachment disorder (RAD), a recent diagnosis, draws attention to the effects of early pathogenic caregiving. According to the DSM-IV, RAD behavior stems from “pathogenic care” before age 5 that includes (a) persistent disregard for a child’s emotional needs, (b) disregard of basic physical needs, or (c) repeated changes of caregivers that prevent formation of a stable attachment. Two treatment approaches, relationship-based attachment therapy and holding therapy, are widely mentioned in the literature. This study seeks to identify a treatment package based on the views of parents whose children with RAD made and sustained considerable progress. In the views of the parents, parental commitment and availability, ability to find strengths, strong environmental structure, and emotional attunement are key sources of change. Findings also indicate children can make and sustain progress without the extended holding that is part of a therapeutic intervention.
   

Preview the Next Issue (October–December 2008; Vol. 89, No. 4)
Volume 89, Number 4 will highlight topics related to child welfare and foster care, adoption practices, ethics, practice approaches, and cultural perspectives.

Read the abstracts for the upcoming articles.  Coming Soon! Podcasts of abstracts for newly published and upcoming articles.

Call for Book Reviewers
Love new books about social work and related fields? Become a book reviewer and add titles to your personal library, publish reviews in Families in Society, and contribute to peer knowledge-building.

• Click here for a list of current titles available to be reviewed. 

Interested in being a reviewer? Complete a book reviewer profile online* or download the form and e-mail to Reviews@FamiliesInSociety.org. 

*To submit the form online, you must have Flash installed on your Internet browser and the free Adobe Reader for PDF files.

Project Reports, Surveys, and White Papers

Senate to Consider Child Welfare Legislation
Child welfare legislation that would create a new kinship care program and provide services for children aging out of foster care was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives in late June and was sent by the Senate for consideration by its finance committee.

The Fostering Connections to Success Act (HR 6307), if enacted, would be one of the most significant pieces of child welfare legislation passed in years, according to Patrick Lester, senior vice president for public policy at the Alliance for Children and Families. Under its kinship care provision, the act would allow states to provide assistance to relatives who become legal guardians of children in foster care equal to foster care maintenance payments or equal to applicable adoption assistance payments. The act also would provide new money for training private child welfare providers, and provide for the educational stability and health care needs of children in the child welfare system.  Read the Alliance’s full summary and analysis here.

Child Care Follow-Up Study Shows Benefits
A follow-up look at a study of the Massachusetts child care voucher system shows that a recommendation to extend the certification period to one year (from less than six months) is having the intended beneficial impact for children, families, and providers of early education programs.

The original analysis, A Study of the Massachusetts Child Care Voucher System: Impact on Children, Families, Providers, and Resource and Referral Agencies, appeared in Families in Society Volume 89, No. 2 (April-June 2008). It was authored by Valora Washington, executive director of Schott Fellowship in Early Care and Education, and Mary Reed, president of the Bessie Tartt Wilson Children’s Foundation.

“Typically, research findings and  policy changes are reported—but nobody ever follows up to find out exactly what happened as a result of the work,” Washington writes. “Well, we did.” The authors report that among the follow-up findings are that voucher certification periods are indeed longer, thereby promoting continuity of care for the 53,104 children who received child care vouchers in 2007. Read the complete update here.

Web-Only Articles

Hope or Despair in the New Millennium: An Action Research Project With Suburban Youth
by Andrew Malekoff & Neala S. Schwartzberg
What is action research? It may puzzle those readers coming from a strictly traditional, quantitative background. Action research is simply research that culminates in action. Its purpose is to raise consciousness, stimulate dialogue, and motivate change. It is a different, even unique form of research, and a descendent of the early twentieth century social surveys of the settlement house movement. It could be called participatory research, the kind in which the people touched by a topic come together to get a sense of the situation, through a research project, to hear one another and decide how to move forward.
Abstract │ Article PDF (free to registered users)

View Our New Book Reviews Online

New book reviews have been published in the current online issue with topics on divorce, practice issues in assisted living, and grief. Book titles, reviewer information, and links are provided below.

Readers can also access the newly expanded book review section on the Families in Society Web site. Dozens of newly published and archive reviews are available at no cost to registered Web users.

Divorce
Review by Helen Crohn:
Working with Divorcing Spouses: How to Help Clients Navigate the Emotional and Legal Minefield
   by Sam Margulies
Book Review Abstract

Collective review by Geoffrey L. Greif:
Parenting after Divorce: Resolving Conflicts and Meeting Your Children’s Needs
   by Philip Stahl
Divorce: Causes and Consequences
   by Alison Clarke-Stewart and Cornelia Brentano
Warring Parents, Wounded Children and the Wretched World of Child Custody: Cautionary Tales
   by Joseph Helmreich & Paul Marcus
Book Review Abstract

Practice Issues in Assisted Living
Review by Rosalie Schofield:
Old Age in a New Age: The Promise of Transformative Nursing Homes
   by Beth Baker
Book Review Abstract

Review by Carol Dorr:
Social Work Practice with Ethnically and Racially Diverse Nursing Home Residents and Their Families
   edited by Patricia Kolb
Book Review Abstract

Review by Lynne Fineman:
Home-Visiting Strategies: A Case-Management Guide for Caregivers
   by Terry Eisenberg Carrilio
Book Review Abstract

Loss and Grief
Collective review by Ameda A. Manetta:
Autism and Loss
   by Rachel Forrester-Jones & Sarah Broadhurst
Silent Grief
   by Christopher Lukas & Henry M. Seiden
Children Also Grieve
   by Linda Goldman
Book Review Abstract

Current Issue  │ Table of Contents  │  Article Summaries  │ Editorial

Topics in this issue include:

• Child Welfare and Foster Care
• Adoption Policies
• Practice Approaches
• Paths From Poverty
• Reactive Attachment Disorder
• Book Reviews

Online subscribers and registered Web 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:

Matched Comparison of Children in Kinship Care and Foster Care on Child Welfare Outcomes
by Marc A. Winokur, Graig A. Crawford, Ralph C. Longobardi, & Deborah P. Valentine
During the past 15 years, child welfare professionals have witnessed a rapid increase in the number of children placed with relatives due to a shortage of foster care homes and shift in federal policy toward treating kin as appropriate caregivers. This study compares the permanency, safety, and stability outcomes for a matched group of children placed in kinship care and foster care. After controlling for demographic and placement characteristics, children in kinship care had significantly fewer placements than did children in foster care. They also were less likely to still be in care, to have a new allegation of institutional abuse or neglect, and to be involved with the juvenile justice system. The findings call for a greater commitment by child welfare professionals, policy makers, and researchers to make kinship care a viable out-of-home placement option.
Abstract │ Article PDF (free to registered users)

Pre-Adoptive Genetic Testing: Is the Current Policy Too Restrictive?
by Patricia G. Taylor
Developments in genetic technologies have made it possible to test for a variety of genetic disorders in children. The increased availability of genetic testing has put pressure on adoption agencies to provide genetic testing of pre-adoptive children. This paper examines the current policy on pre-adoptive genetic testing of children and proposed changes in the policy raised by key policy makers on medical genetics. These policy makers call for substantial restrictions on pre-adoptive genetic testing of all children available for adoption and ignore the potential positive outcomes that such testing could make in finding suitable adoptive families for hard-to-place children. It is recommended that pre-adoptive genetic testing be expanded to include children with special needs.
Abstract │ Article PDF (free to registered users)

Entry Into Restrictive Care Settings: Placements of Last Resort?
by Sigrid James, John Landsverk, Laurel K. Leslie, Donald J. Slymen, & Jinjin Zhang
Each day, child welfare caseworkers and other professionals make important decisions about the placement of foster children into the available range of family-based and residential care settings. This study examines the relative risk of first entry into restrictive care settings (RCSs) such as group homes, residential treatment, or inpatient psychiatric care and determines reasons related to the risk of entering such settings. Findings indicate the cumulative hazard of entering restrictive settings is highest during the first 2 to 3 months following entry into care. Behavior-related placement disruptions, behavior problems, and older age are the primary determinants of this finding. Although the majority of children entered an RCS for behavior-related reasons, close to one third entered because of reasons unrelated to behavior. Implications for service delivery to children in out-of-home care are discussed.
Abstract │ Article PDF (free to registered users)

Getting Off TANF: Experiences of Rural Mothers
by Elizabeth Dolan, Bonnie Braun, Mary Jo Katras, & Sharon Seiling
A family economic functioning framework was used to identify pathways and barriers to financial self-sufficiency in this 3-year study that followed 16 rural mothers who left Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). At the end of a third wave of inquiry, most mothers had incomes below 130% of the poverty level—inadequate to support their families financially. This was found to be a result of barriers such as low levels of education, limited employment choices, and transportation problems. Those with higher incomes had access to education or training programs and reliable transportation. For many of the mothers, extended family support was critical for getting off TANF. This framework provides social workers with a tool to help determine the best points of intervention to reduce barriers and optimize key resources for sustaining post-welfare pathways.
Abstract │ Article PDF (free to registered users)

Exercising Power from the Bottom Up: Co-Creating the Conditions for Development
With Youth at an Urban High School
by Nancy Feldman
Young people in poor urban communities often feel powerless in the face of degradation, crumbling buildings, failing school systems, and in the condescending manner in which they are treated that suggest little hope for the future. The experience of powerlessness has been identified as a key risk factor for poor physical and mental health. This article presents Let’s Talk About It (LTAI), a school-based mental health program that provides opportunities for young people to exercise their power. Power in LTAI is understood as the process of collectively creating conditions for development. The methodological underpinnings of LTAI are discussed, followed by practice vignettes and implications for youth-practitioner collaboration in social work practice.
Abstract │ Article PDF (free to registered users)

Practitioners and educators find value in FIS ...

"Our mission is to train Pennsylvania’s public county agency Child Welfare Professionals. In [our] curriculum, we offer an overview of contracting initiatives—one of which is EBP and child welfare service provider contracting. The article Moving Best Practice to Evidence-Based Practice in Child Welfare would be beneficial to our trainees as a resource since it offers excellent information that could assist the Commonwealth’s county agency Fiscal Officers." ● Read the article abstract

Eugene (Gene) L. Detter
Curriculum and Instructional Specialist
The Pennsylvania Child Welfare Training Program
University of Pittsburgh, School of Social Work
Mechanicsburg, PA
 

                                **************************************************************************

We use your [practice with survivors of torture] materials as part of a training for social workers, case managers and others who provide social services support in torture treatment centers. The Center for Victims of Torture (CVT) is a private, non-profit organization founded in 1985 to provide care and rehabilitative services to survivors of politically-motivated torture and members of their families. CVT, the first organization of its kind in the United States, has pioneered a comprehensive assessment and care program. In recent years the Center expanded its work in research, training, and public policy initiatives designed to create new resources for torture survivors worldwide and new allies in the campaign to end the use of torture.
● Read the article abstracts: Article 1 and  Article 2

Ann Lundberg
National Capacity Building Project
Logistics and Communications Coordinator
The Center for Victims of Torture
Minneapolis, MN

 **************************************************************************

"I've been a consumer and contributor to Families in Society and its predecessor, Social Casework, for over twenty years. The journal has been enormously helpful in my careers as a senior executive for a social service agency and as an academic. I appreciate articles geared toward social work and other human service practitioners interested in direct practice, as well as policy and research."

Richard K. Caputo, Ph.D.
Professor of Social Policy & Research
Director, PhD Program in Social Welfare
Wurzweiler School of Social Work
Yeshiva University, New York
 

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