Social Welfare Commons^™

Retention Of Child Welfare Caseworkers: The Wisdom Of Supervisors, Austin G. Griffiths, Patricia Desrosiers, Jay Gabbard, David Royse, Kristine Piescher

Social Work Faculty Publications

Child welfare supervisors have a unique vantage point, leading local service delivery efforts while representing a larger organizational bureaucracy. They also play a key role in workforce stability, as high caseworker turnover remains a real problem that affects clients, communities, and agency budgets. Using a qualitative thematic content analysis to analyze data collected from a sample of public child welfare supervisors in a southern state (n=117), findings from this study provide suggestions for systematically addressing workforce turnover through the unique perspective of the child welfare supervisor. Supervisors made recommendations to improve agency infrastructure, organizational climate, and organizational culture as areas …

Providing Occupational Therapy To Those Who Are Homeless: A Beneficial Support, Francesca Petracco

Petersheim Academic Exposition

No abstract provided.

Poverty's Impact On Education, Lauren Magnus

Petersheim Academic Exposition

No abstract provided.

The Cost Of Caregiving: Financial Implications Of Helping Those With Disabilities And Chronic Illness, Sonia Wasyliszyn

Petersheim Academic Exposition

No abstract provided.

Supplemental Security Income (Ssi): Safety Net Or Path To Poverty?, Jacqueline Sereni

Petersheim Academic Exposition

No abstract provided.

Youth Who Are Homeless: A Closer Look, Jacquilin Barrett

Petersheim Academic Exposition

No abstract provided.

Police Surveillance Of Cell Phone Location Data: Supreme Court Versus Public Opinion, Emma W. Marshall, Jennifer L. Groscup, Eve Brank, Analay Perez, Lori A. Hoetger

Center on Children, Families, and the Law: Faculty Publications

The Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution protects individuals from unreasonable searches and seizures. As technology evolves, courts must examine Fourth Amendment concerns implicated by the introduction of new and enhanced police surveillance techniques. Recent Supreme Court cases have demonstrated a trend towards reconsidering the mechanical application of traditional Fourth Amendment doctrine to define the scope of constitutional protections for modern technological devices and personal data. The current research examined whether public opinion regarding privacy rights in electronic communications is in accordance with these Supreme Court rulings. Results suggest that cell phone location data is perceived as more private …

Prevention Of Violence Against Children: A Systems Readiness Assessment In Côte D’Ivoire, Marie-Kaye Soletchi Seya-Sery

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Violence against children (VAC) is a global problem with significant consequences. Recognizing the need to better understand the problem of VAC in Côte d’Ivoire (CI), the government of CI recently completed a survey on violence against children. The recent data will support an evidence-based national action plan for the prevention of VAC. Research shows that initiatives tackling specific problems will only be as successful as the community’s readiness to take action. This study applied the community readiness model to assess the readiness of the multisectoral task force (MSTF) to implement the national action plan in CI. Eight MSTF participants’ interview …

History Of Housing Policy In The United States, Lauren Elizabeth Morrow Everett, Marta Petteni

Homelessness Research & Action Collaborative Publications and Presentations

Graduate student Lauren Everett created a brief history of housing policy in the United States from 1843 to the present. She looked at major events that helped shape our country’s understanding and policies around property. Events include everything from the donation land claim act, which entitled each white, male settler to 320 acres in the Oregon territory, to the rent control stabilization legislation in 2019.

Safe Parking - Psu, Homelessness Research & Action Collaborative, Portland State University

Homelessness Research & Action Collaborative Publications and Presentations

A national study done to collect data on homelessness rates in universities says that between 11% - 14% of students are experiencing homelessness. A study has not been done on specific data at PSU, however, there are students and staff experiencing homelessness at PSU, and some of those individuals are sleeping in their vehicles. Some of the individuals living in their vehicles purchase quarterly parking passes for the PSU parking garages. These individuals would benefit from a Safe Parking Program. There are existing infrastructures, systems and services that could be made available or utilized immediately. The purpose of this proposal …

Indigenous Housing In Metro-Areas: Leveraging Federal Block Grants For Urban Housing, Homelessness Research & Action Collaborative, Portland State University

Homelessness Research & Action Collaborative Publications and Presentations

The Native American Housing Assistance and Self Determination Act of 1996 (NAHASDA) established a single flexible federal block grant for tribes and Tribally Designated Housing Entity to provide housing assistance to their tribal members. This shift recognized Native rights of tribal self-determination and self-governance, and it reorganized the mechanism by which tribes received compensation for land cessions. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development currently administers the Indian Housing Block Grant (IHBG) annually, with funds typically prioritized to housing on reservation or tribal lands. In Oregon, a majority of funds go to the ongoing operation and maintenance of 1937 …

Collaborative Planning And Equity, Sarah Mercurio

Homelessness Research & Action Collaborative Publications and Presentations

Our research on collaborative planning and equity attempts to understand how collaborative planning and policy decisions are made, and to pinpoint where an equity lens might transform normative procedures into a practice of anti-oppression, agonism, and advocacy.

Collaborative planning is a dominant theory in planning in which multiple stakeholders come together to deliberate on common concerns and apply consensus building and public participation methods to make policy decisions. The approach seeks to balance power among participants and increase public engagement.

Kenton Women’S Village Update And Survey, Marta Petteni, Emily Leickly

Homelessness Research & Action Collaborative Publications and Presentations

Homeless shelters can be chaotic and sometimes not much better than living on the streets. Sleeping pod villages, such as Kenton Women’s Village, provide opportunities for community development while still allowing privacy and security. The village model provides a more incremental transition into permanent housing from the streets rather than a sudden transition. This report provides an update on the village and results of a survey that explored physical health, mental health, demographic information, and level of satisfaction with village living.

Urban Care Stations, Homelessness Research & Action Collaborative, Portland State University

Homelessness Research & Action Collaborative Publications and Presentations

Hygiene, waste and sanitation in the Portland metropolitan region is a broad and complex topic that relates to homelessness as a primary field, but stretches to other scenarios. The need for improving and increasing access to restrooms, showers and laundry facilities in Portland has been documented and proven through interviews and research. Due to its complex nature, multiple potential solutions to address accessibility have been explored (and some are already in place). These solutions lay at different scales (from neighborhood level to region level), include different hygiene services (from toilets to storage), and involve different stakeholders for their creation and …

Youth Homelessness, Katricia Stewart

Homelessness Research & Action Collaborative Publications and Presentations

Youth experiencing homelessness face numerous challenges to maintaining their health while homeless and as they exit homelessness. This includes their physical health, mental health, and well-being. Further, research on the efficacy of various interventions that aim to positively impact the health of homeless youth is limited. The following paper summarizes what is currently understood about the health and well-being of youth experiencing homelessness and concludes with recommendations for interventions, prevention programs, and future research.

Useful Waste, Rebecca Taylor

Homelessness Research & Action Collaborative Publications and Presentations

The Useful Waste Initiative is an alternative and more sustainable way of thinking about construction waste. It encourages material diversion and aims to reframe views on waste management during the design and construction process. It guides the process to repurpose and utilize an overlooked material resource- envelope construction mock-ups. It also provides the opportunity to contribute to and support efforts to address pressing social needs with local communities, including shelter for the homeless.

Familial Homelessness & Trauma, Holly Brott

Homelessness Research & Action Collaborative Publications and Presentations

This review provides an overview of the relationship between familial homelessness and the following sources of trauma: domestic violence, substance use, adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), mental health, and poverty. Following this review, stressors often experienced by homeless families (stigma, parenting while homeless, and child-specific) will be discussed.

Focal Point, Special Compilation Issue 2007–2019, Portland State University. Regional Research Institute

Research and Training Center - Focal Point

For this special compilation, we have included a variety of contributions by youth and young adults that originally appeared in Focal Point issues from 2007 to 2019. These first-hand narratives of recovery personalize what might otherwise be seen only in clinical terms, or represented by a mere statistic. By sharing their stories, these young people also offer hope to other young people experiencing similar problems, and their families. This collection portrays the wide range of individual experiences of youth and young adults and highlights common themes.

Three Essays On Welfare Policies In American States: Explaining American Welfare States In The Post-Welfare Reform Era, Hyokyung Kwak

Theses and Dissertations--Public Policy and Administration

This dissertation consists of three empirical studies that address questions regarding state welfare policy making in the post-welfare reform era. The first empirical study pays close attention to the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) as a federal block grant program, which is a big departure from most previous TANF studies, to ask why American states differ in their decisions to allocate federal block grants across specific programs. Drawing on research on fiscal federalism and state and cross-national welfare politics, the study uses cross-sectional time-series data covering 50 states over the fiscal years 2004-2016 to examine factors that have an …

Focal Point, Volume 33, Portland State University. Regional Research Institute

Research and Training Center - Focal Point

This issue of Focal Point explores the findings from the local evaluations conducted by Healthy Transitions grantees over the past 5 years as well as present evaluation findings from two other innovative programs for transition-aged youth and young adults. Taken together, the articles in this issue supply service providers and planners across the nation with an indication of the successful outcomes generated by a variety of program approaches.