Preview the Next Issue (July–September 2009; Vol. 90, No. 3)
The Fall 2009 issue of Families in Society will highlight parenting support frameworks, placement and outcomes with youth in out-of-home care, ethical decision-making, organizational change, community practice, and familial relationships of at-risk African American wives and mothers.

• Read the abstracts for the upcoming articles. 

View Our New Book Reviews Online
Families in Society has 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.
 

• Visually Speaking: Art Therapy and the Deaf;
  The Role of Metaphor in Art Therapy: Theory, Method, and Experience
  Collective book review by Holly Matto
  Book Review PDF
   
• Challenging White Privilege: Critical Discourse for Social Work Education
  Reviewed by Sue Steiner
  Book Review PDF
   
• Changing Contours of Work: Jobs and Opportunities in the New Economy
  Reviewed by Loretta Pyles
  Book Review PDF
   
• In Their Parents’ Voices
  Reviewed by Linda Katz
  Book Review PDF
   
• Familial Responses to Alcohol Problems
  Reviewed by Barbra Teater
  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.

Practical Tools and Features

• Hot Topic Webinar and Teleconference Series
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• Practice & Policy Focus E-Supplement
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• Online Continuing Education Courses
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Current Issue  │ Table of Contents  │  Article Summaries  │ Editorial

Topics in this issue include:

• Coping With Violence
• Mental Health Practice
• At-Risk Families
• Advocacy, Empowerment, & Social Justice
• Familial Relationships

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.

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

New Articles with Free Access

Contextual Meanings of the Strengths Perspective for Social Work Practice in Mental Health
by Barbara Probst
As research begins to build a knowledge base about resilience, prevention, and asset-based family and community development (i.e., the strengths perspective in action) a new opportunity may emerge for social work to quantify its unique contributions. Social workers can develop a science of mental wellness, rather than vie for expertise in mental illness, and then apply this knowledge to both policy (through advocacy) and direct practice (through incorporating strengths-based assessment tools and strengths-based treatment strategies). While the strengths movement and evidence-based practice (EBP) share a key feature of being consumer-driven, stressing client choice in selection of both goals and means, the two approaches are quite different. If EBP can be extended—redefining efficacy to include outcomes that have to do with renewal, mobilization of talents, and movement toward self-realization—the two approaches can reinforce each other. It might be most productive to pair the strengths perspective with evidence-based methodology in order to discover which strengths, under what circumstances, at what point in treatment, and at which developmental stages contribute to mental health. Rather than constituting two separate lists, assets and symptoms may have “cross-over” relationships that can shed light on treatment decisions based on knowledge about which strengths are useful for addressing which kinds of problems.
Abstract │ Article PDF (free to registered users)

Distinguishing Maltreating Versus Nonmaltreating At-Risk Families: Implications for Foster Care and Early Childhood Education Interventions
by Stephanie M. Curenton, Lenore M. McWey, & Melissa G. Bolen
Given that low socioeconomic status (SES) and parenting stress are so heavily intertwined, it is important to understand how the degree and severity of SES and psychosocial risk factors, such as parenting stress, relate to incidences of child maltreatment. In this study of maltreating and nonmaltreating parents, SES distinguishers were poverty, parental education, and employment; parenting stress distinguishers were self-reports of a dysfunctional parent–child relationship and difficult child temperament. The authors suggest that integrating early childhood education interventions, such as Head Start, and family therapy interventions may have the potential to lower maltreatment because they provide support in the form of education and employment assistance as well as parenting and child development information. Given the large number of families involved in the child welfare system and the demonstrated effects of high-quality early childhood interventions on preventing maltreatment, implementing a combined intervention system that integrates both tertiary (family therapy services) and secondary (early childhood education) services could be beneficial both fiscally and practically.
Abstract │ Article PDF (free to registered users)

The Practice of Family Mentoring and Advocacy: A Theoretical Investigation of Critical Issues
by Jacob Z. Hess, Simone C. Barr, & Gladys D. Hunt
The range of family interventions specifically attuned to external distress may be categorized into direct attempts to change external conditions and initiatives in order to impact the way individuals relate to these conditions. This article examines key theoretical underpinnings of an advocacy initiative reaching low-income and African American families. Its practical benefits ensue largely from distinct positions of the scope and location of intervention; the source of intervention (who the primary helpers are); and the nature of intervention (how helping occurs). Structurally, the project involves a 15-week collaboration between supervisory mental health professionals, student advocates, citizen mentors, and the participating individuals themselves, all toward fostering the empowerment of families in achieving the goals that they themselves select. As goals are settled upon, advocates subsequently work proactively with the family to accomplish both group and individual aspirations. While the direct support of family goal-striving by advocates may prompt meaningful family change, even greater shifts may occur via a second, more indirect emphasis: the transfer of self-advocacy skills to families. Rather than merely leading in helpful directions, advocates ideally seek ways to reinforce a family’s own agency and capacity for self-direction.
Abstract │ Article PDF (free to registered users)

Justice Implications of the Proposed Federal Family and Work Tax Credits: Applying Justice Theories to Policy Advocacy
by Laura Brierton Granruth
A justice framework for assessing tax policy change may help make the complicated issue of taxation more understandable to direct-practice social workers and may increase the likelihood that they will view the code as a target for intervention. This paper analyzes the implications of the bipartisan Presidential Advisory Panel on Tax Reform proposals to create two new federal income tax credits—a family credit and a work credit—based on three social justice theories and perspectives. The focus here is on the fairness of these two credits to low- and moderate-income earners since many practitioners expend great effort trying to increase the income of these earners to help them meet their families’ basic needs. While aspects of egalitarian theory may appeal more naturally to many social workers, some policy makers are likely to be implicitly or explicitly grounded in other justice frameworks. A more nuanced understanding of justice should enhance policy advocacy efforts by offering social workers the opportunity to “start where the policy maker is” and make justice claims that align with both lawmakers’ and social workers’ philosophies.
Abstract │ Article PDF (free to registered users)

Exposure to Community Violence and the Family: Disruptions in Functioning and Relationships
by Neil J. Vincent
This analysis of case records from a crime victim’s assistance program examines how exposure to community violence affects the relationships and functioning of poor urban African American families. Overall, the families experienced heightened safety concerns, isolation, and loss of financial resources while living in violent neighborhoods. The families became more protective of their members by limiting connection to what they perceived as a more threatening environment. This form of family isolation is potentially problematic because it may prevent them from seeking resources for help. The disparity between need and access to assistance has important implications for how to develop effective practice models. A family systems approach may offer mental health workers a valid framework for understanding the complexities of exposure to community violence. The strength of this framework is that it offers a multigenerational perspective and views the interactions of adults and young family members as reciprocal. Practitioners also must carefully assess the need for advocacy and case management interventions on behalf of families with external systems, particularly employers, landlords, schools, local media, and the criminal justice system.
Abstract │ Article PDF (free to registered users)

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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. 

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