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Full-Text Articles in Social Work

Special Issue On People With Disabilities And Social Welfare: Introduction, Barbara Barton Dec 2009

Special Issue On People With Disabilities And Social Welfare: Introduction, Barbara Barton

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

No abstract provided.


Dreams Deferred: Disability Definitions, Data, Models, And Perspectives, Barbara Barton Dec 2009

Dreams Deferred: Disability Definitions, Data, Models, And Perspectives, Barbara Barton

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

When Ed Roberts, who had polio, forged new ground for people with disabilities by developing the first Center for Independent Living in 1972, the stage was set for people with disabilities and advocates to join together in a new civil rights movement. 'Invisible' no more, the disability community started what was expected to be a stratospheric leap into community inclusion. There was substantial hope held in the anticipated impact of the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in 1990 (P.L. 101-336, 104 statute 327). For millions of Americans, it appeared that the ADA would provide avenues for increased …


When Personal Dreams Derail, Rural Cameroonian Women Aspire For Their Children, Akuri John, Susan Weinger, Barbara Barton Nov 2009

When Personal Dreams Derail, Rural Cameroonian Women Aspire For Their Children, Akuri John, Susan Weinger, Barbara Barton

Social Work Faculty Publications

Data gathered from a convenience sample of 36 women who reside in rural villages lying on the outskirts of Buea, Cameroon is not consistent with the "culture of poverty" proposition which states that personal characteristics of the poor tie them to a life of poverty. These findings run counter to an assumed "culture of poverty" in which persons do not hold career aspirations and socialize their children with attitudes that assure the generational transmission of poverty. Respondents, as a case vignette illustrates, conveyed that besides marriage they had wanted a career in order to achieve a living wage. After their …


Children On The Margins: A Case Study Of I Care's Hope Centre For Street Children In Durban, South Africa, Morgan Sullivan Oct 2009

Children On The Margins: A Case Study Of I Care's Hope Centre For Street Children In Durban, South Africa, Morgan Sullivan

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Seeing street children was a new concept to me, but all too familiar to Durban, South Africa. It is something that had struck me and bothered me from my arrival here in South Africa and an issue that will trouble me for a lifetime. Working with I Care at the Hope Centre allowed me to get an inside look at the lives of some of these street children while building positive relationships with both the staff and the children alike. I began to see the children as children and saw past their rugged, stone-faced exteriors deep down to their desperate, …


The Limits Of Paternalism: A Case Study Of Welfare Reform In Wisconsin, Thomas S. Moore, Swarnjit S. Arora Sep 2009

The Limits Of Paternalism: A Case Study Of Welfare Reform In Wisconsin, Thomas S. Moore, Swarnjit S. Arora

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This paper uses a pooled sample constructed from the Food Stamp Quality Control data for the fiscal years 1993 to 2006 to assess the effects of welfare reform upon the employment, earnings, income, and poverty trends among poor, single-mother families, both in Wisconsin and nationwide. It finds that the employment and earnings gains of the Wisconsin families exceed those of comparable families nationwide. However, there has been no significant change in the average income of the Wisconsin families, and the number of extremely poor families has increased more rapidly in Wisconsin than in the country as a whole. These findings …


Colorado Training Needs Assessment, Helen Ward Jd, Michelle Lamm Msw, Kimberly Pukstas-Bernard Phd Sep 2009

Colorado Training Needs Assessment, Helen Ward Jd, Michelle Lamm Msw, Kimberly Pukstas-Bernard Phd

Children, Youth, & Families

The Colorado Department of Human Services (CO DHS) has contracted with the Cutler Institute for Health and Social Policy to assess the professional development needs of child welfare caseworkers, case aides, and supervisors. This needs assessment will help guide the development of the new Child Welfare Training Academy established by Governor Bill Ritter in May 2009. The Academy will provide child welfare professionals across the state with the training, skills and knowledge to better protect the state's most vulnerable children from abuse and neglect.


Focal Point, Volume 23 Number 02, Portland State University. Regional Research Institute Jul 2009

Focal Point, Volume 23 Number 02, Portland State University. Regional Research Institute

Research and Training Center - Focal Point

This issue of Focal Point highlights a number of successful and innovative efforts to promote youth voice and youth empowerment. Many of the articles are authored by or include contributions from youth who are directly involved in the featured programs.


Giving Circles, Roger A. Lohmann Feb 2009

Giving Circles, Roger A. Lohmann

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

A giving circle is a group of members pool their funds and information in collective or joint donations to organizations, causes or individuals. The article reviews some of the research on giving circles in the first decade of the 21st century.


The Social Construction Of Client Participation: The Evolution And Transformation Of The Role Of Service Recipients In Child Welfare And Mental Disabilities, Terry Mizrahi, Mayra Humphreys-Lopez, Denise Torres Jan 2009

The Social Construction Of Client Participation: The Evolution And Transformation Of The Role Of Service Recipients In Child Welfare And Mental Disabilities, Terry Mizrahi, Mayra Humphreys-Lopez, Denise Torres

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This article presents a comparative analysis of client participation (CP) in child welfare and mental health and mental retardation systems. It identifies three rationales for client participation (philosophical, pragmatic, and political), along with the limitations surrounding each rationale. It uses social construction theory to examine the historical and ideological underpinnings of organized, institutionally-sanctioned client involvement inside and outside government. In order to enhance the capacity of clients to influence service and benefit systems, their role must evolve through the mutual efforts of government-strengthening client participation policies and independent organizing from the bottom up through community development and advocacy programs.


Focal Point, Volume 23 Number 01, Portland State University. Regional Research Institute Jan 2009

Focal Point, Volume 23 Number 01, Portland State University. Regional Research Institute

Research and Training Center - Focal Point

Stigmatization can result in exclusion of and discrimination against the stigmatized individual. This issue of Focal Point provides state-of-the-art information about stigmatization, its causes and consequences, and strategies and programs for alleviating it.


Commons, Roger A. Lohmann Jan 2009

Commons, Roger A. Lohmann

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

The commons is a theoretical formalism that is useful in understanding many diverse problems of civil society. A common (or commons) is an economic, political, social, and legal institution that enables joint, shared, mutual or collective natural or social action by agents using a “pool” of shared or jointly held or mutually controlled resources. A substantial body of work exists detailing natural common resource pools acted upon by physical or biological agents. Another large body of work on humanly-directed natural resource pools study the human-natural environment interface, interspecies conflict and population density. Studies of social commons have also looked at …


Making Aid Work, Siew Huey Ko Jan 2009

Making Aid Work, Siew Huey Ko

Social Space

What is needed is a different take on aid to poor countries. Through a case study of a project in Vietnam titled ‘Spring of Life’, Ko Siew Huey describes how a non-governmental organisation is attempting to create real choices by offering aid via solutions that are sustainable, suitable and scalable.


Introduction To The Early Childhood Issue, Leslie A. Forstadt, Sheryl Peavey Jan 2009

Introduction To The Early Childhood Issue, Leslie A. Forstadt, Sheryl Peavey

Maine Policy Review

Guest editors Leslie Forstadt and Sheryl Peavey introduce the articles in this special issue of Maine Policy Review on early childhood by highlighting the myriad of programs and policies affecting Maine’s young children and their families. To illus­trate the challenges faced by parents, they present the fictional account of a young woman facing an unexpected pregnancy. The story illustrates the sometimes confusing array of services, programs, and funding for young children and their parents. The authors argue “it is time to make every door into the system of early childhood services the right door for every parent.”


Child Care And Work Challenges For Maine’S Parents Of Children With Special Needs, Helen D. Ward, Julie A. Atkins, Erin E. Oldham Jan 2009

Child Care And Work Challenges For Maine’S Parents Of Children With Special Needs, Helen D. Ward, Julie A. Atkins, Erin E. Oldham

Maine Policy Review

Research by the authors with parents, child care providers, and other service providers found that parents of children with special needs face particular challenges trying to maintain stable employment while balancing work and family. These parents have more difficulty finding and keeping child care for children with special needs, and there is a lack of coordination of therapy with child care programs. Since the study was completed, Maine has taken several steps to begin to address these issues


Parent Education:“Prepare The Child For The Path, Not The Path For The Child”, Candace J. Eaton Jan 2009

Parent Education:“Prepare The Child For The Path, Not The Path For The Child”, Candace J. Eaton

Maine Policy Review

Candace J. Eaton describes why parent education is important and discusses a number of parent-educa­tion approaches and programs that currently exist in Maine. She argues that we need to increase access to research-supported programs, parent-education classes, and support groups to all geographic areas of the state and all populations. In this era of reduced funding, Eaton recommends continuous evaluation of program outcomes and the limitation of funding to programs and approaches that show positive improvements.


Lack Of A Will Or Of A Way? Taking A Capability Approach For Analysing Disability Policy Shortcomings And Ensuring Programme Impact In Afghanistan, Jean-Francois Trani, Parul Bakhshi, Ayan A. Noor, Ashraf Mashkoor Jan 2009

Lack Of A Will Or Of A Way? Taking A Capability Approach For Analysing Disability Policy Shortcomings And Ensuring Programme Impact In Afghanistan, Jean-Francois Trani, Parul Bakhshi, Ayan A. Noor, Ashraf Mashkoor

Brown School Faculty Publications

The present paper attempts to analyse some of the shortcomings that have impeded efforts in the field of disability in Afghanistan. After an overview of recent disability initiatives, this article presents elements that have contributed to the limited impact. The context of a Conflict Affected Fragile State (CAFS) makes particularly intricate the development of state-capacity as well as the delivery of basic services for the population. To overcome identified gaps, it is argued that Amartya Sen’s Capability Approach (CA) constitutes a relevant framework for designing disability policy and implementation. While the definition of human development has evolved considerably over the …