Social Work Commons^™

Remarital Chances, Choices, And Economic Consequences: Issues Of Social And Personal Welfare, Kevin Shafer, Todd M. Jensen

Kevin Shafer

Many divorced women experience a significant decline in financial, social, physical, and psychological well-being following a divorce. Using data from the NLSY79 (n= 2,520) we compare welfare recipients, mothers, and impoverished women to less marginalized divorcees on remarriage chances. Furthermore, we look at the kinds of men these women marry by focusing on the employment and education of new spouses. Finally, we address how remarriage and spousal quality (as defined by education and employment) impact economic well-being after divorce. Our results show that remarriage has positive economic effects, but that is dependent upon spousal quality. However, such matches are rare …

Wood County Project Connect: Final Report For Event Held October 18, 2017, Melissa Winston Burek 3729542, Mamta U. Ojha, Marisa Hutchinson, Brandon Peebles

Melissa Burek

The Problem Of State Intervention In Post-Abolition Slavery: A Critique Of Consensus, Anthony Talbott, David Watkins

David Watkins

Slavery is now illegal by all states and under international law. Contrary to the hopes of abolitionists, this state of affairs has transformed rather than eradicated slavery as an institution. Furthermore, responses by states to post-abolition forms of slavery have often been less than ideal. This paper begins by comparing two state responses to slavery in the early 20th century: the federal peonage trials in Montgomery, Alabama from 1903-1905, and the federal response to an alleged epidemic of “white slavery” from 1909-1910, culminating in the passage of the White Slave-Traffic Act. Taken together, these responses engender pessimism about the state …

From Placement To Prison Revisited: Do Mental Health Services Disrupt The Delinquency Pipeline Among Latino, African American And Caucasian Youth In The Child Welfare System?, Antonio R. Garcia, Johanna K.P. Greeson, Minseop Kim, Allison E. Thompson, Christina Denard

Johanna K.P. Greeson, PhD, MSS, MLSP

Racial and ethnic disparities in delinquency among child welfare-involved youth are well documented. However, less is known about the mechanisms through which these disparities occur. This study explores the extent to which sets of variables predict the occurrence of juvenile delinquency and whether race/ethnicity moderates the strength of the relationships between (1) social, emotional, and behavioral (SEB) problems and delinquency and (2) mental health service use and delinquency. We used a nationally representative sample of 727 African American, Caucasian, and Latino youth between the ages of 12 and 17 who were referred to the child welfare system. Controlling for age, …

It's Good To Know That You Got Somebody That's Not Going Anywhere: Attitudes And Beliefs Of Older Youth In Foster Care About Child Welfare-Based Natural Mentoring, Johanna K.P. Greeson, Allison E. Thompson, Samira Ali, Rebecca Stern Wenger

Johanna K.P. Greeson, PhD, MSS, MLSP

This exploratory study is the first to investigate the attitudes and beliefs of older adolescents in foster care toward the implementation of a child welfare-based natural mentoring intervention designed to promote enduring, growth-fostering relationships between youth at risk of emancipation and caring, supportive nonparental adults from within the youth's existing social network. Six focus groups were conducted with 17 older youth in foster care attending a specialized charter high school for young people in out-of-home care in a large, urban city in the Northeast United States. Focus group data were transcribed and analyzed using a conventional content analysis approach. The …

Parenting In The Face Of Homelessness, Staci M. Perlman, Sandy Sheller, Karen Hudson, C. Leigh Wilson

Staci Perlman

The number of families with children experiencing homelessness increased by over 30% from 2007 to 2011 (U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, 2011). Of the more than 300,000 children within these families, it is estimated that the majority are under age six (National Center on Family Homelessness, 2009). These young children and their families are disproportionately more likely to experience a myriad of structural, economic, social, and health stressors. Left unaddressed, these stress experiences can adversely influence children’s short- and long-term growth, development, and well-being (Shonkoff, 2011). Recent research demonstrates the protective influence that positive parent-child relationships can exert …

Grandparents Raising Grandchildren: A Call To Action, Deborah M. Whitley, Susan J. Kelley

Deborah M. Whitley

The Administration for Children and Families (ACF), in partnership with the Administration on Aging (AoA) in Region IV, has demonstrated its commitment to supporting vulnerable families by undertaking a leadership role to establish a network of services for grandparents raising grandchildren. Beginning in 2002, the southeastern offices of ACF and AoA collaborated with federal, state and local public welfare, academic, and community service agencies in Georgia to form a provider consortium to identify the needs of grandparent-headed families, and to develop and execute a service delivery plan to address their needs. As a result, the focus of this paper describes …

Civic Responsibility And Patterns Of Voluntary Participation Around The World, Mary Alice Haddad

Mary Alice Haddad

This article seeks to explain why different types of volunteer organizations are prevalent in different countries. It hypothesizes that patterns of volunteer participation are a function of citizen attitudes toward governmental and individual responsibility for caring for society. Those countries (e.g., Japan)—where citizens think that governments should be responsible for dealing with social problems—will tend to have higher participation in embedded volunteer organizations, such as parent-teacher associations. Those countries (e.g., the United States)—where citizens think that individuals should take responsibility for dealing with social problems—will tend to have more participation in nonembedded, organizations, such as Greenpeace. These hypotheses are tested …

Community Determinants Of Volunteer Participation: The Case Of Japan, Mary Alice Haddad

Mary Alice Haddad

Why are some communities more civically engaged than others? Why do some communities provide services with volunteer labor whereas others rely primarily on government provision? When communities provide both volunteer and paid labor for the same service, how do they motivate and organize those volunteers? This article addresses these questions through quantitative tests of prevailing explanations for levels of civic engagement (e.g., education, TV viewing, urbanization) and qualitative analyses of case studies of three medium-sized cities in Japan, focusing particularly on the service areas of firefighting and elder care. The statistical analyses demonstrate that current explanations that rely on individual …