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Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons™
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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
Ethnic/Racial Matching Of Clients And Social Workers In Public Child Welfare, Robin Perry, Gordon E. Limb
Ethnic/Racial Matching Of Clients And Social Workers In Public Child Welfare, Robin Perry, Gordon E. Limb
Faculty Publications
Although considerable debate exists throughout the human-service literature regarding the potential benefits and limitations associated with ethnic/racial matching of clients and workers, there are few studies that examine the prevalence of this practice with large representative samples. This study utilizes a secondary analysis of data collected from 4813 public-child-welfare workers throughout California. Using census data to control for county-specific population demographics, American-Indian, Hispanic/Latino(a), Caucasian, and Asian-American child-welfare workers are more than two times more likely to have caseloads with a high percentage of clients who match their race/ethnicity than workers self-identified as another race/ethnicity. African-American workers are 1.28 times more …
Ending Social Work's Grudge Match: Problems Versus Strengths, J. Curtis Mcmillen, Lisa A. Morris Phd, Michael Sherraden
Ending Social Work's Grudge Match: Problems Versus Strengths, J. Curtis Mcmillen, Lisa A. Morris Phd, Michael Sherraden
Faculty Publications
Some in social work have called for a paradigm shift away from a focus on problems to a focus on strengths, empowerment, and capacity building. This call sets up an unnatural dichotomy, asking social workers to identify with one side or another. In this article, we review social work history to argue that the best social work practice has always maintained a dual focus on both problems and capacity building. Throughout our history, those who championed a problem-oriented practice also emphasized strengths and growing client capacity, and today's strength-based, capacity-oriented practitioners typically advocate for the solving of consumer's presenting problems.