Social Work Commons^™

Graduate Bulletin, 2000-2002 (2000), Minnesota State University Moorhead

Graduate Bulletins (Catalogs)

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Review Of Forming Nation: Framing Welfare. Gail Lewis (Ed.). Reviewed By Leslie Leighninger, Louisiana State University, Leslie Leighninger

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Book review of Gail Lewis (Ed.) Forming Nation: Framing Welfare. New York: Routledge, 1998. $75.00 hardcover, $22.99 papercover.

Review Of Shifting The Color Line: Race And The American Welfare State. Robert C. Lieberman. Reviewed By Jill Quadagno, Florida State University, Jill Quadagno

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Book review of Shifting the Color Line: Race and the American Welfare State. Robert C. Lieberman. Reviewed by Jill Quadagno, Florida State University

Focal Point, Volume 13 Number 01, Portland State University. Regional Research Institute

Research and Training Center - Focal Point

This issue of Focal Point examines the ways in which families with employed caregivers and children with emotional and behavioral disorders manage to meet the demands of employment and family responsibilities. Finding a fit between the demands of work and family life is a struggle for every employed mother and father. For parents whose children have emotional, behavioral, or mental disorders, meeting this challenge can prove extremely stressful, particularly since supportive services are notably lacking. Although Fernandez has estimated that 10% of all employed parents have at least one child with a disability living in their homes, there has been …

A Path Analysis Of The Effect Of Welfare On Infant Mortality, Michael A. Lewis

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Social epidemiologists have found a relationship between poverty and infant mortality. Welfare policy experts have found that welfare benefits affect work effort, family structure, migration, and the rate of intergenerational transmission of welfare receipt. Social epidemiologists have paid little attention to the effects of poverty policies on infant mortality. Welfare policy experts have paid little attention to the effect of welfare on infant mortality. This paper merges the concerns of social epidemiologists and welfare policy experts by examining the relationship between welfare and infant mortality. The key finding is that welfare directly and indirectly affects infant mortality rates. States with …

America's Changing Attitudes Toward Welfare And Welfare Recipients, 1938-1995, Laurie Macleod, Darrel Montero, Alan Speer

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This paper examines American national public opinion on welfare, welfare recipients, and the government's role in welfare programs. The data were gathered from published public opinion polls of national samples of adults taken between 1938 and 1995. The findings indicate that public opinion has remained relatively stable over this 57-year period, with the majority of Americans believing that the government has a responsibility to help those in need. At the same time, the majority of those polled believed that the government spends too much on welfare. The findings also show that the public is in favor of reducing income differences …

Social Security And The Incremental Privatization Of Retirement Income, Neung-Hoo Park, Neil Gilbert

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This study examines the process of "incremental privatization" of retirement income--a slow decline in the proportion of retirement income from Social Security relative to retirement income derived from employerprovided pensions (private and government) and IRA-type Accounts. The findings reveal that since the mid 1970s the elderly in the bottom 40% of the income distribution experienced a minimal increase in retirement income from pensions other than Social Security, while those in the upper ranges showed steady gains in income from private sources. This trend is accompanied by increasing inequality in the ratio of retirement income of those in the lower quintiles …

Social Work And Downsizing: Theoretical Implications And Strategic Responses, Samuel J. Rosenberg

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The economic, political and social changes of the past 25 years have undermined most working American's assumptions about job security. Large segments of the population now find their jobs threatened by "downsizing" -which results from the reduction of staff by employers, usually for economic reasons. Downsized individuals typically experience personal and familial crises of major magnitude, and have increasingly been turning to social workers for assistance. Social workers, however-who have had relatively little experience delivering services to this clientele--are themselves being threatened by downsizing. Given this situation, the present study assesses-through interviews and participant observation-(a) how social workers are conceptualizing …

Historical Trends In State-Level Adc/Afdc Benefits: Living On Less And Less, Sandra Wexler, Rafael J. Engel

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This paper, using government statistics, describes state-level variation in ADC/AFDC benefits from 1940-1995. The findings illustrate that the "race to the bottom" began in 1975, especially among higher paying states. The concomitant declines in benefit value relative to the poverty line places TANF-dependent recipients in serious jeopardy. Implications for education and advocacy are discussed.

A Socio-Economic Analysis Of The Three Paths To Social Security Reform, Rebecca A. Van Voorhis

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

As this century ends, old-age pension systems worldwide are experiencing tremendous strain and undergoing rigorous examination. At issue is the ability of current schemes to survive demographic changes which threaten to bankrupt most OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) members' old age pension systems by the early part of the twenty-first century (Peterson, 1996; Steuerle & Bakija, 1994; World Bank, 1994). A variety of proposals have been advanced in response to this concern, which reflect different underlying values and priorities. Varying significantly in their recommendations for the appropriate balance between public and private efforts, these proposals form a continuum …

Bridging The Divide: The Casework Policy Link, Peggy Pittman-Munke

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The professional history of social work in the United States of America is entering its second century. From this vantage point, it is possible to draw on. the past to develop ideas that will work for the future. Contemporary social workers often view the profession as dichotomized between those who deal with individual issues through counseling and private practice and those who are concerned with social change through policy reform. Mary Richmond, pioneer in the professionalization of social casework, offers a tightly integrated model which demonstrates how social casework and social reform can serve to reinforce and support one another …

A Survey Of Teen Pregnancy With The Latino Community, Deborah C. Rodarte-Carrasco

Whittier Scholars Program

The purpose of this paper is to determine, by the use of a survey, if differences in personal, social and family behaviors can be detected within two groups of demographically similar Latina females; one group who became teen mothers and the other who did not, in an attempt to distinguish factors that will help parents and adolescents reduce teen pregnancy. Previous research has mostly focused on the reasons why certain groups have higher rates of teen pregnancy than others have, but only one study (Hanson and Ginsberg, 1989) was done in a similar manner as this study has been designed. …

A Comparative Assessment Of The Status, Structure And Process Utilized By Nevada's Family Support And Preservation Consortia To Achieve Collaboration, Marlys A. Morton

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This paper presents a framework for understanding inter-organizational collaboration and describes and analyzes how collaboration was used as a method to build new service networks, the characteristics of the consortia, and the status of the collaborative processes.

Although the literature on inter-organizational collaboration in the human services is increasing, little is known about how regional consortia view the process of working together towards a common purpose. The results reported in this paper are intended to help fill that gap.

The findings reported in this study are based on a survey process using a standardized questionnaire to study the collaborative status. …

Autonomy And Genetic Predisposition: The Relationship Between Original Organizational Configuration And The Tendency For Autonomy. An Analysis Of Three Drop-In Centres Servicing Street Youth, Heike Mertins

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This thesis is a comparative analysis of three non-profit service providers and the effect of particular development traits on their degree of autonomy. The three non-profit providers examined in this thesis are all drop-in centres for street youth. Recent government cuts have demonstrated the clear relationship between autonomy and organizational survival of non-profit agencies. For years many have argued that the practice of relying on government funding depoliticized these organizations. many of which perform social justice work. Hence, from a political perspective. organizational autonomy has become an increasingly important issue. This thesis addresses the question of why some non-profit service …

Organizational Position: Influences On Perceived Organizational Properties, Moshe Sherer

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

People perceive and interpret their work place in different ways that may be related to their hierarchical position in the organization. Workers' attitudes toward their organization can exert a negative effect on their own and other people's feelings and behavior, and have detrimental consequences for the achievements of the organization. The purpose of this study is to examine the perceptionso f organizationalc haracteristicsm aintainedb y three levels of human service organization employees: Managers, supervisors or instructors, and line workers. Respondents in the present sample (n = 135) indicated their perceptions about seven organizational properties. Results reveal that the higher the …

Social Support's Contribution To Reduced Welfare Dependency: Program Outcomes Of Long Term Welfare Recipients, Frank A. Sansone

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Long term welfare recipients participated in a state job training and welfare reform demonstration which provided education,job training, and supportive services via intensive case management. Social support research has focused on stress and physical and psychological health outcomes not welfarejob training and education outcomes. Job training and welfare to work policies and programs have not emphasized providing social supports but the supportive services of transportation and child care. Program outcomes at follow-up included: education and job training certificates, including GEDs with some still studying; jobs; and a 50% reduction in welfare receipt. Results of hierarchical regression analysis suggest a participant's …

A Few Contributions Of Economic Theory To Social Welfare Policy Analysis, Michael A. Lewis

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The National Association of Social Workers' (NAS W) code of ethics states that social workers have a professional obligation to advocate for social policies that promote the general welfare (NASW, 1996). Presumably, in an effort to provide social workers with the analytical tools that would allow them to do so, schools of social work typically require students to do course work in the area of social welfare policy. Although these courses provide students with valuable information, it is my view that they tend to be limited in one important respect. They usually do not contain a great deal of content …

Focal Point, Volume 12 Number 01, Portland State University. Regional Research Institute

Research and Training Center - Focal Point

Much of the family member involvement that is happening at the state and local level is due, at least in part, to the efforts by the federal government to institutionalize family involvement in policymaking. In 1985 Child and Adolescent Service System (CASSP) staff added a family goal to the program. This goal translated into a requirement that state applications for CASSP funds describe how families would participate in service planning efforts at the child and family, program, and system levels. In 1986 Congress passed the State Mental Health Services Comprehensive Plan (Public Law 99-660), which mandated family member participation in …

Understanding The Debate Over The Privatization Of Social Security, Eric R. Kingson, John B. Williamson

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Serious consideration is being given to the merits of privatizing Social Security. Debate over privatization and the future of Social Security gives expression to two differing value systems: the community-enhancing values of the program's defenders versus libertarian values of its critics. This article examines the implications of the debate. Areas of agreement among advocates and opponents of privatization are discussed. Special attention is paid to conflicting views about privatization and to the distributive implications of proposals to address the program's projected financing problem. In shifting much risk from government onto individuals, privatization would undermine basic Social Security protections. And it …

Acknowledging The Crisis In Social Liberalism: A Call For A New Approach To Teaching Social Policy, Roger A. Lohmann

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

A graduate social policy course at West Virginia University has been redesigned by a senior faculty member and lead instructor to recognize advances in political philosophy and to confront the decline of the social liberal welfare state and the rise of populist radicalism, through civic engagement by citizen-professionals.

Women "Reading The World:" Challenging Welfare Reform In Wisconsin, Kristine B. Miranne, Alma H. Young

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The latest iteration of welfare reform, the 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA), endorses work requirements and time limits on benefits, while giving greater discretion to individual states in developing welfare programs. Linking personal responsibility with work indicates that policy makers believe that it only takes properg uidancea nd minimal trainingfo r welfare recipients( predominately women) to make the transition from welfare to work. We suggest, however, that focusing on incentive, sanction, or compulsion ignores the structural features of poverty, especially as they impact the multiplicities of poor women's lives. In order for the welfare system to …

Mental Health Policy And Practice Today. Ted R. Watkins And James W. Calicutt (Eds.).

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Ted R. Watkins and James W. Calicutt (Eds.), Mental Health Policy and Practice Today. Thousand Oaks, Sage Publications, 1997. $ 58.00 hardcover, $ 27.95 papercover.

Exposing And Reframing Welfare Dependency, Elizabeth Bartle

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Defining the phrase welfare dependency from a feminist perspective offers a way to understand how the rhetoric around the use of this phrase continues to legitimize current changes in Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) while simultaneously diverting the public's attention from the real issues of poverty of and discrimination against women. This article includes a detailed definition of welfare dependency, a brief history of its usage, and a reconceptualization of women's use of AFDC on a long-term basis. This reconceptualization expands on international dependency theory and reframes dependency as interdependency that builds on women's strengths, women's rights, and …

Attitudinal Predictors Of Preferred Policy Options: Contrasting Afdc With Work Programs, Jill Littrell, Sahna Diwan

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Two studies were conducted in order to determine the attitudinal predictors of support for AFDC, work programs, and the option of the government playing no role in protecting the welfare of poor children whose families have no income. The first study evaluated this question in 362 students of Criminal Justice, Business, Urban Studies, and Public Administration at an urban university in Georgia. The second study evaluated the question in a telephone poll sample of 822 randomly sampled Georgians throughout the state. Majorities in both samples preferred work programs. In the student sample, all three choice groups were distinguishable on the …

Attempting Preventing Reinventing The Wheel: Establishing Chicano/A-Latino/A Studies At A Midwest Urban University, Joseph A. Valades, Theresa Barron-Mckeagney, Michael Carroll, Lourdes Gouveia, Lucy Garza

Social Work Faculty Proceedings & Presentations

“This session will focus on the personal observations of three faculty who sought to establish a minor in Chicano/a-Latino/a Studies . . . Follow our graphic accounts as we wrestle with the decision of actually embarking on such a quest amidst our thencurrent demands of doctoral coursework, research, teaching and tenure.” In the fall semester of 1995, Chicano/a Studies was formally recognized as a "minor" at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. Two years previously, three faculty members from the College of Public Affairs and Community Service at UNO diligently worked to gather student and faculty support and put the …

Teen Mothers And The Revolving Welfare Door. Kathleen Mullan Harris

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Kathleen Mullan Harris, Teen Mothers and the Revolving Welfare Door. Philadelphia, Temple University Press, 1997. $ 39.95 hardcover.

Interfacing African American Churches With Agencies And Institutions: An Expanding Continuum Of Care With Partial Answers To Welfare Reform, Barbara W. Rogers, Douglas Ronsheim

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

It is unrealistic to presume that churches and other private charities can fill the void resulting from welfare reform (Sider,1995; Conniff, 1997); yet there are ways to structure an effective church- and community-based continuum of care that will help to do so. In this article African-American churches are viewed as major players. An explanation of the systems theory of isomorphic replication provides a key to understanding the success of this collaborative model, which addresses issues facing communities while building on their strengths and assets and reckoning with the challenges of working collaboratively. Recurring issues of race, culture, trust, and control …

Review Of Modern Housing For America: Policy Struggles In The New Deal Era. Gail Radford. Reviewed By Robert Leighninger, Louisiana State University., Robert Leighninger

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Gail Radford, Modern Housing for America: Policy Struggles in the New Deal Era. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996. $ 45.00 hardcover, $ 17.95 papercover

Social Policy In Britain: Themes And Issues. Pete Alcock.

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Pete Alock, Social Policy in Britain: Themes and Issues. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1997. $ 49.95 hardcover.

Review Of Social Welfare In Global Context. James Midgley. Reviewed By Cryl Abrahams, University Of Calgary., Cryl Abrahams

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

James Midgley, Social Welfare in Global Context. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. 1997, $ 52.00 hardcover, $ 24.95 papercover.