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.

Download editorial suggestions for submissions, or visit the 90th Anniversary Volume Web page for more information on submissions and opportunities to further support the journal's nonprofit mission.
 

Preview the Next Issue (April–June 2009; Vol. 90, No. 2)
The April–June 2009 issue of Families in Society will highlight practice with custodial grandparents, social justice in social work practice and education, family mentoring and advocacy, working with clients exposed to violence, and familial perspectives on religious conversion. Read the abstracts for the upcoming articles. 
 

Hot Topic Webinar and Teleconference: Social Work Ethics and Genomics
The 2009 Webinar Series will kick off on February 4 with No Gain, No Pain: Ethics and the Genomic Revolution, a discussion on social work ethics and advances in genetic knowledge. Register now for this presentation.
 

Practice & Policy Focus: Kinship Care in Child Welfare
The new edition of Practice & Policy Focus discusses kinship care outcomes for children receiving out-of-home care with relatives. Included are suggestions on:

-identifying kinship ties as a resource of social capital;
-determining quality care in kinship homes;
-supporting grandparents in enriching the education of special needs grandchildren; and
-assessing the best permanency option.

In the e-version of Practice & Policy Focus, readers can click on the article titles within the document to access additional information. Links to over 30 related articles from the journal’s extensive archive are also included in the newsletter. To access the full text of the archive articles online, subscribers should log in to their subscription account.
 

Portable Learning: Podcasts and Social Media
Families in Society now offers podcasts as an additional learning tool for social service professionals. New episodes feature the abstracts of articles found in current and future journal issues and allow for easy downloading and listening on the go. This new option to browse issues allows readers to identify articles of interest quickly, and directs them to the Families in Society Web site database to read or download the selected articles. 

Future podcasts will feature author interviews and research updates. These episodes will compliment the journal’s existing Hot Topic Webinar Series—interactive presentations with nationally-recognized experts focusing on topics relating to practice, education, and policy within social services. 
 

Writers at Work (Web-Only Article)
This article series reflects the writing process as it relates to the preparation of material for journals such as Families in Society, and for other professional venues, including dissertation development. Authors are encouraged to share their experiences of cultivating ideas and proposals for themes, engaging the creative process, collaborating with others in the development of editorial content, and disseminating the finished work.

In A Writers’ Circle: Spiraling Into Print, authors Katrina Stratton, Karen Upton-Davis, and Carolyn Johnson describe the efforts of a group of post-graduate students to write for professional publications as part of their continuing career development. The Writers’ Circle was initiated following informal discussions among the group concerning the challenges of progressing from writing for their theses to writing for publication. The intent of the Circle was to create a strategic plan with associated deadlines and structure for writing, build skills and knowledge in writing for publication, provide collegial support and early feedback, and, most importantly, shift the experience of writing from a solitary endeavor to a collegial activity.
 

New Articles with Online Continuing Education Courses
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 coming soon for articles in the January–March 2009 issue:

• The Experiences of Minority Immigrant Families Receiving Child Welfare Services: Seeking to Understand How to Reduce Risk and Increase Protective Factors
  by Sarah Maiter, Carol A. Stalker, & Ramona Alaggia (Vol. 90, No. 1)
  Abstract
  This report on a research study with minority immigrant families, an attempt to understand stressors the families perceived as contributing to child welfare interventions and services they found helpful, used the conservation of resource (COR) theory to highlight the erosion of resources that contributes to their vulnerability. The COR theory suggests child maltreatment in minority immigrant families can be reduced by efforts to prevent the spiral of resource loss and increase opportunities for resource gain. Attention to supporting gains in key resources—language ability and access to appropriate employment—is crucial. Agencies that advocate within their communities for accessible ESL classes and supports for immigrants seeking employment are likely to reduce the number of newcomer family referrals.
   
• Appropriate Bereavement Practice After the Death of a Native American Child
  by Joanne Cacciatore (Vol. 90, No. 1)
  Abstract
  Unique rituals and beliefs affect the way Native American families respond to the deaths of infants and young children who die every year. This guide for social workers and other caregivers examines best practices for culturally competent care and conveying respect for affected families. It is vital to educate, support, and advocate for families of culture in a non-presumptive style that allows reconciliation between cultures. Whereas cultural norms need to be considered after the traumatic death of a child, it is also very important to treat each person as an individual and each family as a culture of its own. By allowing bereaved parents to lead and instruct, the health care provider can give them a sense of control over their situation that may reduce poor
  psychological outcomes.
   
• Cultural Pride Reinforcement as a Dimension of Racial Socialization Protective of Urban African American Child Anxiety
  by William M. Bannon, Jr., Mary M. McKay, Anil Chacko, James A. Rodriguez,
  & Mary Cavaleri (Vol. 90, No. 1)
  Abstract
  Findings in this study suggest among African American families, child anxiety is directly linked to parental endorsement of messages related to efforts to educate children about their culture and its history, instill a positive racial identity, and teach strategies to cope with negative race-related messages and inequity faced by people of color. Also, in the presence of high child exposure to mental health risk factors, the children of parents who endorsed high levels of reinforcement messages had significantly lower levels of child anxiety relative to children of parents who endorsed low levels. The finding may be especially important for African American children residing within inner-city environments. Through identifying, examining, and enhancing such naturally occurring factors within these families, child socioemotional outcomes may be enhanced in spite of the low likelihood these children will ever receive mental health care in response to their exposure to mental health risk factors.
   
• Creating a System of Care for Children’s Mental Health in a Native American Community
  by Gail Werrbach, Marjorie Withers, & Elizabeth Neptune (Vol. 90, No. 1)
  Abstract
  This article describes the creation of a system of care in children’s mental health by the Passamaquoddy Tribe with attention paid to the tribe’s history; impact of oppression; barriers to providing culturally competent services; and contemporary inequities in health, education, and finances. Anecdotal stories illustrate successes related to listening to community voices, creating community-based culturally competent services, designing training and education for tribal staff, and recognizing community resilience. The tribe’s Kmihqitahasultipon system of care shows great promise for improving aspects of child, family, and community well-being, but it is important to note these success stories cannot adequately capture the crucial perseverance needed by staff.
   

View Our New Book Reviews Online
Families in Society has just expanded its reviews of publications written for social workers and other professionals in the fields of human services, psychology, behavioral health, and medical care. Dozens of newly published and archive reviews are available for free to registered Web users.

All book reviews can be accessed by becoming a registered user on the journal Web site:
Visit www.FamiliesInSociety.org/BookReviews.asp.
 

• Finding My Way: A Teen’s Guide to Living with a Parent Who Has Experienced Trauma;
  I’m Not Alone: A Teen’s Guide to Living with a Parent Who Has a Mental Illness
  Collective book review by Judith C. Baer
  Book Review PDF
   
• Suburban Sweatshops: The Fight for Immigrant Rights
  Reviewed by Christine Lowery
  Book Review PDF
   
• Social Group Work With Cardiac Patients
  Reviewed by G. Victoria Jackson
  Book Review PDF
   
• Social Work Dialogues: Transforming the Canon in Inquiry, Practice and Education
  Reviewed by Emilia E. Martinez-Brawley
  Book Review PDF
   
• The Healthy Families America Initiative: Integrating Research, Theory and Practice
  Reviewed by Julie Cooper Altman
  Book Review PDF
   
• Adolescent Girls in Crisis: Intervention and Hope
  Reviewed by Deborah H. Siegel
  Book Review PDF
   
• Relational Theory and the Practice of Psychotherapy
  Reviewed by Joan Berzoff
  Book Review PDF
   
• Loss of Sadness: How Psychiatry Transformed Normal Sorrow Into Depressive Disorder
  Reviewed by Diane L. Green
  Book Review PDF
   
• Thoughts for Therapists: Reflections on the Art of Healing
  Student Book Review by Sarah Krauss
  Book Review PDF
   

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.

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.

2009 Subscription Renewal—Don't Forget!

Have you renewed your subscription for 2009? Don't miss out on a new volume of research trends and practical recommendations for the social work field.

Do you use Families in Society with your students? Contact your library to make sure there's no interruption to this important resource.

Current Issue  │ Table of Contents  │  Article Summaries  │ Editorial

Topics in this issue include:

• Helping Families in Crisis
• Parents and Parenting
• Community Practice
   
• 1920 Inaugural Issue Editorial by Mary E. Richmond

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:

Family Needs in Child Neglect Cases: A Cluster Analysis
by Ruth M. Chambers & Cathryn C. Potter
The purpose of this study, a review of 160 substantiated child neglect cases from a public child welfare agency, was to see what types of parental, family, and poverty-related needs were present and determine if coherent clusters of needs could be identified. Results revealed three distinct subgroups: those with low needs, history of substance abuse, and an intersection of economic/domestic violence/mental health factors. These findings indicate an integrated focus on providing access to housing, economic services, assistance so caregivers can escape violent relationships, and treatment of mental health symptoms are imperative. Until child welfare services can operate hand in hand with economic supports, in a context in which poverty elimination is a goal, child neglect may be difficult to prevent or treat.
Abstract │ Article PDF (free to registered users)

Families in Crisis: Considerations for the Use of Web-Based Treatment Models in Family Therapy
by So’Nia L. Gilkey, JoAnne Carey, & Shari L. Wade
Web-based interventions can encourage opportunities to acquire knowledge about problems, change attitudes and behaviors of family members, identify and effectively communicate emotions, and learn effective coping and response strategies. This report considers the merits of synchronous videoconferencing (SVC) with families of children with traumatic brain injuries. When using SVC, client readiness to address issues coupled with patience with the technology proved to be important factors. Mental health social work professionals have a unique opportunity to provide nontraditional online therapeutic interventions. However, the challenge will be identifying families for this mode of intervention, training clinicians with skill sets to meet the needs of online processes, and engendering a willingness to engage technology for working with families dealing with crisis.
Abstract │ Article PDF (free to registered users)

“You Gotta Start Thinking Like a Parent”: Hopes, Dreams, and Concerns of Ethnic Minority Adolescent Parents
by Katrina Dornig, Deborah Koniak-Griffin, Janna Lesser, Evelyn González-Figueroa, Margarita Castaneda Luna, Nancy Lois Ruth Anderson, & Blanca Corea-London
This study explored the lived experience of young, primarily Latino parents participants in an HIV prevention program. Narrative accounts from parents were analyzed and focus groups utilized to generate a nuanced understanding of young parenthood. Self-reflective, complex, and multidimensional perspectives on parental protectiveness emerged, including themes about relational factors and socioenvironmental issues. A primary practice focus should be on building a clinical relationship with young mothers and fathers to help them turn their intentions for themselves and their children into sustained behavioral change. Health promotion programs should use a strengths-based and systemic, contextual perspective along with a focus on individual behavior change.
Abstract │ Article PDF (free to registered users)

Family Centers in Rural Communities: Lessons for Policy, Planning, and Practice
by Judy L. Gillespie
Family centers, having emerged as alternatives to highly bureaucratic and residual approaches to child welfare programs and services, are seen as incorporating the best elements of ecological and strengths-based family practice, bringing together professional and community members in a supportive, inclusive, and nonstigmatizing environment. Whereas a range of services are a key feature of the inclusive nature of family centers, this very issue of inclusion may preclude incorporation of certain services within rural family centers, among them child protective services and formal counseling or therapeutic services. Another component is understanding avenues through which family centers and institutions such as churches and schools can complement, rather than compete with, one another in addressing social needs.
Abstract │ Article PDF (free to registered users)

Restorative Justice: A Systematic Review of the Social Work Literature
by Edward J. Gumz & Cynthia L. Grant
Restorative justice, an alternative paradigm for dealing with the effects of crime, seeks to restore and enhance victims, offenders, and communities to fuller functioning. This effort, a review of 80 social work articles dealing with restorative justice, posits social workers are uniquely qualified to assist those affected with the biopsychosocial and spiritual impact of crime and potential for healing by way of offering in-depth, humanistic, and professional exploration of the meaning of wrongdoing. Restorative justice principles—empathy, empowerment, and community involvement—coincide with social work values and the profession’s code of ethics.
Abstract │ Article PDF (free to registered users)

We want to hear from you...
Families in Society 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 e-mail with your idea: Alerts@FamiliesInSociety.org