Social Work Commons^™

Barriers In Educating Homeless Children And Youth, Gloria Elaine White Adams

Dissertations

Across America, homeless students face a myriad of barriers that impede education and school access and success of homeless children. The purpose of this study was to determine the barriers to enrollment and school success for homeless students. The ultimate goal was to provide information to parents, teachers, administrators, and school districts that could serve as a vital resource tool in educating homeless students while removing barriers.

The participants consisted of 215 certified teachers, school administrators, and homeless liaisons in 23 school districts representing the populations that provide afterschool instruction to homeless students. The study was conducted in the spring …

Rethinking Social Work's Role In Public Assistance, Julie Cooper Altman, Gertrude Schaffner Goldberg

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This article presents an argument for revisiting social work's relationship to public assistance in the wake of 10 years of welfare reform. Three case studies drawn from a mixed-method study of the quality of life of former TANF recipients illustrate the range, depth and complexity of the needs of persons while they are on the welfare rolls, transitioning off and living without cash relief. The article briefly traces the history of social work's commitment to and provision of social services for this population and argues that it may be time to revisit the profession's role in public assistance. In light …

Review Of Why Welfare States Persist: The Importance Of Public Opinion In Democracies. Clem Brooks And Jeff Manza. Reviewed By Allan Brawley., Allan Brawley

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Book review of Clem Brooks and Jeff Manza, Why Welfare States Persist: The Importance of Public Opinion in Democracies. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2007. $45.00 hardcover, $18.00 papercover.

Review Of The Lost Promise Of Civil Rights. Risa L. Goluboff. Reviewed By Wilma Peebles-Wilkins., Wilma Peebles-Wilkins

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Book review of Risa L. Goluboff, The Lost Promise of Civil Rights. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2007. $35.00 hardcover.

The Untold Story Of Welfare Fraud, Richelle S. Swan, Linda L. Shaw, Sharon Cullity, Joni Halpern, Juliana Humphrey, Wendy M. Limbert, Mary Roche

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The experiences of women who have been charged with welfare fraud in the years following the passage of the 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act cast a shadow over the claim that welfare reform has been an unequivocal success. This article addresses this under-explored issue by considering the face of welfare fraud in San Diego, California after the change to federal welfare law. After a brief discussion of the socio-historical context of welfare fraud prosecution and a summary of the scholarly findings related to welfare fraud post-PRWORA, the aiticle details a new "poverty knowledge" about welfare fraud drawn …

Long-Term Tanf Participants And Barriers To Employment: A Qualitative Study In Maine, Sandra S. Butler, Janine Corbett, Crystal Bond, Chris Hastedt

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Although welfare rolls have declined dramatically since the passage of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) in 1996, many of those parents still receiving Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) face multiple barriers to employment. In response to a proposed state bill increasing work requirements and imposing stricter time limits, the authors conducted focus groups and interviews in order to learn about the experiences of long-term recipients of TANF in Maine. Domestic violence, children's disabilities, and health issues for the mother emerged as key obstacles to meeting TANF work requirements for the 28 women participating in the …

Welfare And Family Economic Security: Toward A Place-Based Poverty Knowledge, Deborah A. Harris, Domenico Parisi

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) of 1996 is viewed by many as a resounding success. Its success, however, is predicated primarily on caseload reduction rather than improvement of family well-being. In addition, provisions in the act ignore the importance of place in shaping one's life chances. Using Alice O'Connor's influential book, Poverty Knowledge, as a framework, we discuss findings from a qualitative study that examines how low-income families plan for a life without welfare in places with different opportunities and structural constraints. We find that returns to TANF are common among welfare leavers and that place …

Dropped From The Rolls: Mexican Immigrants, Race, And Rights In The Era Of Welfare Reform, Alejandra Marchevsky, Jeanne Theoharis

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Welfare reform transferred considerable discretion over eligibility standards and benefits to individual caseworkers, contributing to a highly diffuse, yet system-wide, practice of discrimination against nonwhite and foreign-born families within the new TANF program. Based on a two-year ethnographic study of welfare reform's impact on Mexican immigrants in Los Angeles County, this article documents a pattern of heightened anti-immigrant sentiment and disentitlement within L.A. County's welfare system following the passage of PRWORA. The vast majority of eligible immigrant families in our study lost some or all of their cash and food stamp benefits, and were systematically denied access to the work …

Tracking The Transition From Welfare To Work, Cynthia Needles Fletcher, Mary Winter, An-Ti Shih

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

One of the primary goals of the 1996 federal welfare reform legislation was to reduce dependency on cash transfers and to promote self-sufficiency through employment in the paid labor force. This paper draws upon a qualitative study of 18 Iowa welfare recipients and tracks changes that occur over a three-year, post-reform period. Thick descriptions highlight the internal family dynamics of the choices made over time. The purposes of the study are twofold:first, to document changes in family composition, employment, housing, and program participation, and second, to report how recipients experience such changes. Findings reveal that the 11 families who left …

Lost In Appalachia: The Unexpected Impact Of Welfare Reform On Older Women In Rural Communities, Debra A. Henderson, Ann R. Tickamyer

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

A primary goal of welfare reform was to overcome welfare dependency through the promotion of work and the setting of lifetime limits. While atf irst blush thisg oal may have appearedr easonablef or young recipients, it does not address the needs of older recipients, particularly women. Based on in-depth interviews with welfare recipients in four impoverished rural Appalachian counties over a four year time span (1999-2001; 2004), this paper evaluates the experiences of older women as they confront the changes brought on by welfare reform legislation. Findings suggest that impoverished older women in isolated rural communities experience multiple crises as …

"It's All One Big Circle": Welfare Discourse And The Everyday Lives Of Urban Adolescents, Staci T. Lowe

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Welfare reform succeeded, in part, because of discourse that characterized the poverty problem as one of long-term dependency and personal irresponsibility. Adolescent pregnancy was targeted as both cause and manifestation of a welfare crisis. This study examined how welfare reform was perceived and experienced by lowincome, urban adolescents. Findings from interviews revealed that adolescents agreed with many of the basic tenets of welfare reform, largely because they had appropriated much of the discourse prevalent in wider society. However, their complex life stories contained a powerful subtext concerning structural determinants of poverty that ran counter to prevailing notions of "personal responsibility."

Focal Point, Volume 22 Number 02, Portland State University. Regional Research Institute

Research and Training Center - Focal Point

This issue of Focal Point—through a consideration of personal, lived experience as well as practice and research—examines the mutual impact of caregiver and child mental health, and highlights practical strategies to promote positive outcomes for children and caregivers who experience mental health difficulties.

The Growth Of Nonprofit Accounting And It's Impact On Human Services, Roger A. Lohmann

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Changes in nonprofit accounting standards and practices have spearheaded a quiet revolution in financial management practice in social agencies and the delivery of human services during the past three decades. These changes have gone hand-in-glove with other changes in the political arena to dramatically transform the ways in which human services are organized and delivered. At the core of this transition has been the movement from fund to enterprise accounting, together with such larger political developments as the expansion of grant-based relations with government into the performance management environment of purchase of service contracting.

Transforming Caregiving: African American Custodial Grandmothers And The Child Welfare System, S. Yvette Murphy, Andrea G. Hunter, Deborah J. Johnson

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Growing numbers of African American grandmothers are raising grandchildren under the auspices of the child welfare system; however, little is known about the manner in which child welfare policies and practices impact custodial grandparenting. Based on focus groups with African American grandmothers who are raising grandchildren as formal kinship caregivers, this study explored the ways in which the new formalized relationship between the child welfare system and African American custodial grandmothers is transforming the meanings and practices related to intergenerational caregiving in African American families. Drawing on cultural and historical traditions, grandmothers forge a transformative partnership with child welfare that …

Documentary Photography In American Social Welfare History: 1897-1943, Peter Szto

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This is a study of documentary photography in American social welfare history. The study examines the emergence of photography as a tool of social policy, and in particular, key practitioners who shaped the perception of American social welfare. Within the social welfare literature, this topic is largely unexamined yet invaluable to an understanding of American social welfare. Photography performed a highly instrumental role by providing visual evidence as an innovative way of seeing and analyzing social problems. This image-based approach to social welfare analysis influenced how society viewed itself and the social environment. The goal of this study is to …

Accessing Substance Abuse Treatment: Issues For Parents Involved With Child Welfare Services, Anna Rockhill, Beth L. Green, Linda Newton-Curtis

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

The complex issues associated with barriers to treatment entry for parents who are involved with child welfare has not been well explored. Accessing timely treatment is now critical for these parents since the introduction of the Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997, limiting the time until a permanency decision is made. Using a longitudinal, qualitative approach, substance-abusing parents from 15 families, their relevant family members, and service providers were interviewed approximately every 3 months over an 18-month period. The experiences of these parents add to our knowledge of the unique barriers this population faces, and expands our understanding of …

The Illusion Of Change, The Politics Of Illusion: Evolution Of The Family Support Act Of 1988, Luisa S. Deprez

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The enactment of the Family Support Act was the outcome of a six-year legislative and administrative review of, and debate about, welfare policy and programs. Heralded as the opportunity of the century, it did little, however, to alter existing policy. This article examines the evolution of the Family Support Act within the United States Congress, spotlighting two important time periods leading up to its enactment: 1981 to 1985 and 1986 to 1988. Original documentsfroin the files of the late Senator Moynihan, legislative sponsor of the Family Support Act, as well as a comprehensive investigation of Congressional records of hearings and …

Social Security Privatization: An Ideologically Structured Movement, Judie Svihula, Carroll L. Estes

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

We document the cumulative change in expressions of support for Social Security's social insurance ideals to privatization,from the late 1970s through 2007. Social Security's basic structure and principles generally were supported by the United States government and in amendments to the original Act of 1935. However, in the 1980s market arguments began to proliferate in government alongside pension privatization projects by international governmental organizations and conservative think tanks. Although in 1983 Commission members concluded "the Social Security system is sound in principle.. and... structure," four members wrote a supplemental statement that emphasized market rationalism. By 1994 dissension in Congress was …

Does Belief Matter? Social Psychological Characteristics And The Likelihood Of Welfare Use And Exit, Michele Lee Kozimor-King

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Numerous studies have reemerged examining social psychological variables as predictors of individual differences in the human experience. Still, current research focusing on the effects of self-beliefs on welfare use and exit is limited. This study examines the effects of social psychological variables on the likelihood of welfare use and five-year outcomes of wonen using data from the 1979 through 2000 waves of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY). Binary logistic regression estimates suggest that social psychological characteristics are initially related to welfare use, but do not remain oce control variables are introduced. While social psychological predictors do not appear …

Challenges For Assessing Disability Prevalence: The Case Of Afghanistan = Les Défis De La Mesure De La Prévalence Du Handicap : Le Cas De L’Afghanistan, Jean-Francois Trani, Parul Bakhshi

Brown School Faculty Publications

This article attempts to examine the methodological intricacies of measuring prevalence rate of disability through a population based survey using the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health of the WHO and the Capability framework, developed by Amartya Sen and others. After a rapid overview of the Afghan context and the process leading to the research programme, it presents the example of the methodology used in the NDSA and the survey protocol. The authors argue that prevalence rates can be measured using different instruments in terms of impairments, activity limitations or in terms of well-being. Thus, the disability experience is …

The Giving Landscape In Singapore, Halimah Chew

Social Space

Halimah Chew provides a summary of the giving landscape in Singapore.

Focal Point, Volume 22 Number 01, Portland State University. Regional Research Institute

Research and Training Center - Focal Point

This issue of Focal Point explores how the increasing emphasis on using evidence–based practices and a "system of care" approach is driving changes in jobs and roles related to children's mental health. Articles in the issue describe how agencies and providers of services and supports have responded to these changes by creating new types of positions or by redefining existing roles. The articles also focus on training and other workforce development activities that are required to support these kinds of changes in the workforce.

The Role Of Interagency Collaboration For Substance- Abusing Families Involved With Child Welfare, Beth L. Green, Anna Rockhill, Scott Burns

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Meeting the needs of families involved with the child welfare system because of a substance abuse issue remains a challenge for child welfare practitioners. In order to improve services to these families, there has been an increasing focus on improving collaboration between child welfare, treatment providers, and the court systems. This paper presents the results from qualitative interviews with 104 representatives of these three systems that explore how the collaborative process works to benefit families, as well as the barriers and supports for building successful collaborations. Results indicate that collaboration has at least three major functions: building shared value systems, …