Digital Commons Network^™

Children: America's Greatest Natural Resource, Don P. Diffine Ph.D.

Belden Center Books

This book deals with two profound questions: First, "what can we do, in the name of Godly charity and true religion, to keep on providing help, assistance, support, love, care and nurturing for birthmothers? And second, "what can we also do to keep finding ways, in these complex legal times, that such children can continue to fill the aching voids in the hearts of other childless couples?"

Review Of The Civil Rights Of Homeless People: Law, Social Policy And Social Work Practice. Madeleine R. Stoner. Reviewed By Larry W. Kreuger, University Of Missouri-Columbia., Larry W. Kreuger

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Madeline R. Stoner, The Civil Rights of Homeless People: Law, Social Policy, and Social Work Practice. New York: Aldine DrGruyter, 1995. $38.95 hardcover, $19.95 papercover.

Review Of Young Men In The Street: Help Seeking Behaviour Of Young Male Prostitutes. Cudore L. Snell. Reviewed By Ronald J. Mancoske, Southern University At New Orleans., Ronald J. Mancoske

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Cudore L. Snell, Young Men in the Street: Help Seeking Behavior of Young Male Prostitutes. Greenwood, CT: Praeger Publishers, 1995. $39.95 hardcover.

Review Of Supportive Interviewing In Human Service Organizations: Fundamental Skills For Gathering Information And Encouraging Productive Change. Kenneth France And Michelle Kish. Reviewed By Nazneen Mayadas, University Of Texas, Arlington., Nazneen Mayadas

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Kenneth France and Michelle Kish, Supportive Interviewing in Human Service Organizations: Fundamental Skills for Gathering Information and Encouraging Productive Change. Springfield, IL: Charles Thomas Publisher, 1995. $65.95 hardcover, $36.95 papercover.

Residualism And Rural America: A Decade Later, Steve Jacob, Fern K. Willits, Leif Jensen

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Rural residents, more so than their urban counterparts are popularly believed to view the use of social welfare programs as appropriate only as last (residual) means of obtaining help. The extent to which this belief reflected reality was assessed by Camasso and Moore (1985) a decade ago using data from a 1980 survey of Pennsylvania residents. Congruent with the residualist hypotheses they found that rural residents were less supportive than urban people of social welfare programming, even when the effects of various personal sociodemographic characteristics were controlled. This paper replicates the workof Camasso and Moore by reporting findings from a …

Review Of Social Development: The Development Perspective In Social Welfare. James Midgley. Reviewed By Martin B. Tracy, Southern Illinois University At Carbondale, Martin B. Tracy

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

James Midgley, Social Development: The Developmental Perspective in Social Welfare. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 1995. $65.00 hardcover, $21.95 papercover.

Review Of The Handbook Of Children's Rights: Comparative Policy And Practice. Bob Franklin (Ed). Reviewed By Joseph Wronka, Springfield College., Joseph Wronka

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Bob Franklin (Ed.) The Handbook of Children's Rights: Comparative Policy and Practice. New York: Routledge, 1995. $59.95 hardcover; $17.95 papercover.

Determinants Of The Timing Of Social Policy Adoption, Chulsoo Kim

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This study presents a macro-sociological analysis of welfare state development, particularly focusing on the timing of adoption of social legislation, by examining the dynamic relations between the historical constellation of social and political forces and the rationalities of three key social actors in the development of social policy. After a critical analysis of current theories, the variables are tested concerning the effects of different historical sequencing and the accompanying bargaining power of the social actors on the timing of social policy adoption in the western European countries from 1871 to 1976 using event-history analysis. Such variables as the level of …

Reconceptualizing Women's Work: A Focus On The Domestic And Eligibility Work Of Women On Welfare, Alice Abel Kemp, Pam Jenkins, Molly Biehl

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The types of work performed by women receiving public assistance are examined. Research on women's work often neglects the labor of poor women, reinforcing the view that women receiving welfare do not work. This perspective is challenged with focus group and interview data from welfare recipients in New Orleans, Louisiana. We conclude that within the restrictions of public assistance, poor women are engaging in three types of work: domestic work for their families, economic work for cash-both legal and illegal work, and eligibility work. Eligibility work is defined as the labor necessary to obtain and maintain public assistance.

Real Welfare Reform Requires Jobs: Lessons From A Progressive Welfare Agency, Robert J. Sheak, Warren Haydon

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This article discusses evidence from a local progressive welfare agency that has, along with other achievements, created innovate work programs within the framework of Job Opportunities and Basic Skills (JOBS). We discuss the institutional and bureaucratic limits of what such agencies can accomplish and that there has been some room for innovation for agencies that are so inclined. We then focus on two work-related innovations within the local JOBS program that demonstrate that there are many welfare clients ready and able to work in useful jobs. We take the position that government job creation is necessary to fill the employment …

Reasonable Efforts, Unreasonable Effects: A Retrospective Analysis Of The 'Reasonable Efforts' Clause In The Adoption Assistance And Child Welfare Act Of 1980, Wendy Whiting Blome

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Hidden in the Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act of 1980 are two words that came to summarize the expectations of the law, typify its vagueness, and predict its controversy-"reasonable efforts." This article explores five factors to clarify the policy implications of the reasonable efforts phrase: " the disproportionately large effects of the requirement for "reasonable efforts;"

• the unanticipated consequences of the clause;
• the shift in the locus of control from social service agencies to court authorities;
• the reduction in discretion for direct and administrative social work personnel; and
• the social, political, and economic realities that framed the reasonable efforts …

Coherency Among Substance Abuse Models, Stephen Kauffman, John Poulin

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Social policy decisions are often made based upon socially constructed models of human behavior. As such, understanding the social constructions in a given policy area is of utmost importance. This study examines three competing models within the substance abuse area: the moral model, the disease model, and the biopsychosocial model. Utilizing survey data from a random sample telephone survey of 1,019 residents of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, the study examines a) the degree to which individual models are internally consistent between beliefs about causes and beliefs about solutions, b) whether the assumptions in competing models are in fact different; and c) …

Incarnating Heaven: Making The Hospice Philosophy Mean Business, Mark A. Mesler, Pamela J. Miller

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Hospice providers in the U.S. are on the horns of a dilemma. Survival of individual programs may require accreditation for third party reimbursement, but this stronger alignment with the business world of medicine may jeopardize their unique philosophy of care for dying persons. Hospice's current business/philosophy dilemma was expressed succinctly by a study participant as attempting to incarnate heaven. Data gathered through an ongoing participant observation study reveals the effects of current third party reimbursement on hospice practice. Further, these effects have implications for current U.S. health care reform efforts which are discussed in conclusion.

Journal Of Sociology & Social Welfare Vol. 23, No. 3 (September 1996)

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• DETERMINANTS OF THE TIMING OF SOCIAL POLICY ADOPTION - Chulsoo Kim
• INCARNATING HEAVEN: MAKING THE HOSPICE PHILOSOPHY MEAN BUSINESS - Mark A. Mesler and Pamela J. Miller
• THE EFFECTS OF RACE AND MARITAL STATUS ON CHILD SUPPORT AND WORK EFFORT - Richard K. Caputo
• SYMPOSIUM ON WELFARE RECONCEPTUALIZING WOMEN'S WORK: A FOCUS ON THE DOMESTIC AND ELIGIBILITY WORK OF WOMEN ON WELFARE - Alice Abel Kemp, Pam Jenkins, and Molly Biehl
• REAL WELFARE REFORM REQUIRES JOBS: LESSONS FROM A PROGRESSIVE WELFARE AGENCY - Robert J. Sheak and Warren Haydon
• WELFARE TO WORK: WHAT ARE THE OBSTACLES? - …

Welfare To Work: What Are The Obstacles?, Maureen O. Marcenko, Jay Fagan

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

U.S. welfare reform initiatives are based on the assumption that the primary barriers to economic independence are individual deficits. However, the policy does not adequately account for situational and personal factors necessary for a successful transition from welfare to work. Without greater attention to these barriers, the policy is likely to fail or be implemented at high personal cost to recipients and their families. This paper uses a personin- environment social systems framework to examine the personal and family resources available to a group of women who were receiving AFDC and participating in an urban Head Start program. Structured interviews …

Review Of The Youth Gang Problem: A Community Approach. Irving A. Spergel. Reviewed By James Callicut, University Of Texas, Arlington., James W. Callicutt

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Irving A. Spergel, The Youth Gang Problem: A Community Approach. New York: Oxford University Press, 1995. $24.00 papercover.

Review Of Native American Postcolonial Psychology. Eduardo Duran And Bonnie Duran. Reviewed By Dana Wilson Klar, Washington University., Dana Wilson Klar

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Eduardo Duran and Bonnie Duran, Native American Postcolonial Psychology. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1995. $16.95 hardcover.

Review Of Aids In Post-Communist Russia And Its Successor States. Christopher Williams. Reviewed By Ronald J. Mancoske, Southern University At New Orleans., Ronald J. Mancoske

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Christopher Williams, AIDS in Post-Communist Russia and its Successor States. Brookfield, VT: Ashgate Publishing Co., 1995, hardcover.

The Legal Environment Of Social Work. Leila O. Schroeder.

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Leila O. Schroeder, The Legal Environment of Social Work, Washington, DC: NASW Press, 1995. $34.95.

British Social Welfare: Past Present And Future. David Gladstone (Ed.).

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

David Gladstone (Ed.), British Social Welfare: Past Present and Future. Bristol, PA: Taylor and Francis, 1995. $24.95 papercover.

Understanding Disability: From Theory To Practice. Michael Oliver.

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Michael Oliver, Understanding Disability: From Theory to Practice. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1996. $39.95 hardcover, $18.95 papercover.

Justice, Citizenship, Social Cohesion And The Commons, Roger A. Lohmann

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

There is great ferment in political and social theory today due to a number of major changes are taking place in the larger social world and our understandings of it including the crisis of the welfare state; the emergence of more open societies in Russia, Central Europe, Latin America and many of the countries of the Pacific Rim; general movement away from class/stratification and toward group membership as central themes for national politics in many countries; a major crisis of the modernization paradigm; the emergence of a truly-global economy; and the emergence of the internet as a global communications medium. …

What We Know About Effects Of Asset Holding: Implications For Research On Asset-Based Anti-Poverty Initiatives, Deborah Page-Adams, Michael Sherraden

Center for Social Development Research

Asset accumulation programs have emerged at local and state levels to help poor people save for purposes such as education, homeowership, and microenterprise development. These anti-poverty programs are built in part on the suggestion that assets have a wide range of positive effects on well-being, and they frequently use a system of Individual Development Accounts (IDAs) to structure asset accumulation. In addition, federal legislation for an IDA demonstration has increasing support. The emergence of asset accumulation programs at local and state levels, along with growing bipartisan support for a national IDA demonstration, makes applied research both possible and necessary. Studies …

Education, Assets, And Intergenerational Well-Being: The Case Of Female Headed Families, Li-Chen Cheng, Deborah Page-Adams

Center for Social Development Research

This paper reports findings from an analysis of economic well-being among female headed households. Previous theoretical and empirical work in this area suggests that poverty among female headed families is to some extent an intergenerational process, a vicious cycle. One common explanation for this pattern is that low socioeconomic status in a woman’s family of origin results in low educational attainment and, ultimately, in low earning capacity. However, an exclusive focus on education may overlook the long term dynamics of the household as an institution that can accumulate assets to enhance economic well-being across generations. Using data from the National …

Three Discourses On Practice: A Postmodern Re-Appraisal, Peter Leonard

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The current debate about the knowledge claims of modernity has profound implications for theories and practices of social welfare, though postmodern critiques of its foundational beliefs should be approached cautiously. This paper suggests that a postmodern critique of three historically significant discourses -American casework, British social administration and Marxist social work - illustrates what might be learned from a deconstruction of their modernist assumptions as a stage in a reconstruction of social welfare ideas appropriate to postmodern conditions.

Speak Of The Devil: Rhetoric In Claims-Making About The Satanic Ritual Abuse Problem, Mary Deyoung

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This paper uses Toulmin's (1958) scheme to conduct a rhetorical analysis of claims being made in the construction of the satanic ritual abuse of children problem. The analysis reveals that the persistence of these claims over the last fifteen years is the product not of their compelling facts or their effective conclusions, but of their persuasive warrants. These implicit, "self-evident truths" resonate well with recent cultural concerns about the vulnerability of children to abuse, and the satanic menace.

Journal Of Sociology & Social Welfare Vol. 23, No. 2 (June 1996)

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• ERRATA
• THREE DISCOURSES ON PRACTICE: A POSTMODERN RE-APPRAISAL - Peter Leonard
• POVERTY, FAMILY SUPPORT, AND WELL-BEING OF INFANTS: MEXICAN IMMIGRANT WOMEN AND CHILDBEARING - Margaret Sherrard Sherraden and Rossana E. Barrera
• SPEAK OF THE DEVIL: RHETORIC IN CLAIMS-MAKING ABOUT THE SATANIC RITUAL ABUSE PROBLEM - Mary deYoung
• FACTORS IN LENGTH OF FOSTER CARE: WORKER ACTIVITIES AND PARENT-CHILD VISITATION - MaryEllen White, Eric Albers, and Christine Bitonti
• MOTHERS WITH CHILDREN AND MOTHERS ALONE: A COMPARISON OF HOMELESS FAMILIES - Jennifer E. Glick
• MANAGED COMPUTER SYSTEM CONCEPTUALIZATION: KNOWING WHEN TO SAY NO - Menachem Monnickendam
• PURCHASE OF SERVICE CONTRACTING …

Managed Computer System Conceptualization: Knowing When To Say No, Menachmen Monnickendam

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Computer systems in human services are often abandoned after significant investments have already been made. A case study of preventing the utilization of a wrong computer system for a child development center illustrates how managed system conceptualization minimized damage. Critical consciousness and adherence to specific computer implementation technology created an environment which supported recurrent system efficacy evaluation. When the system, as initially conceptualized, could not meet practitioners' needs, early project abandonment was achieved. Some considerations for successful system development in human service are presented.

Ecological Approach In Practice: A Case Study Of The Ounce Of Prevention Fund, Marilyn Fernandez, Laura Nichols

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

In an attempt to suggest ecologically sensitive program models which are developmentally responsive to the needs of adolescent parents and their children, this paper reviews existing research to identify the critical ecologies in their lives, evaluates existing program models for their ecological sensitivity, and presents a case study of the ecological approach in practice. Drawing from Bronfenbrenner's ecological perspective and typology of systems, the paper identifies family, partner, school, work, health care, neighborhood, poverty, and ethnicity as critical ecological systems in the lives of the adolescent and her child. Many existing program models do not systematically address all of these …

Review Of The Bell Curve Wars: Race, Intelligence And The Future Of America. Steven Fraser (Ed.) Reviewed By David Stoesz, Virginia Commonwealth University., David Stoesz

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Steven Fraser, ed., The Bell Curve Wars: Race, Intelligence and the Future of America (New York: Basic Books, 1995).