Background: The current literature has established that prejudice in child protection cases with parents with intellectual disabilities continues to persist. However, complexities of these cases are not well-understood from the perspective of child protection workers. This study aimed to identify the needs of child protection workers and their…

Social workers are constantly predicting the future. In England and Wales there is a legal duty on them to do so, as the 1989 Children Act requires workers to assess not only whether children "have" suffered significant harm, but also whether they are "likely" to do so. Similarly, in Northern Ireland social workers are required…

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to explore perceptions of Family-Centered Practice (FCP) among child welfare workers who are expected to use FCP principles in their work with children and families. Method: Nine focus groups were conducted among child welfare workers across seven different regions within one state to assess caseworker's…

Chronic shortages of health, social service, and mental health professionals in rural areas necessitate creative partnerships in support of families. Cooperative extension professionals in Family and Consumer Sciences and community health nurses, who can bring critical skills to human services teams, are introduced as trusted professionals in…

This brief report serves as a call for creative and artistic works relative to family social work. Recognizing the "art" of family social work, Mazza's (2003) multidimensional poetry therapy practice model is used as a framework for addressing all arts-based approaches to practice and research.

Family members provide the majority of care for individuals with disabilities in the United States. There is growing recognition that family caregiving deserves and may require societal support, and evidence-based practices have been established for reducing stress associated with caregiving. A substantial research literature on family support has…

Providing and coordinating cost-effective, comprehensive care for older adults who want to remain in the community but need long-term assistance are serious challenges for families and professionals. Addressing these issues will require a redesign of the care delivery system. This article describes two successful models for working with older…

As a new extension of individual quality-of-life (QOL) framework that has been widely embraced in the field of disability to affect policy making, guide service delivery, and enhance outcomes of individuals with disabilities, family quality of life (FQoL) has been increasingly recognized as an important concept in the area of family supports for…

Although many in the social work profession have written about empowerment, few have offered a description of the empowerment process from the perspective of clients and workers in high-risk communities. This qualitative study presents a model of empowerment practice from the perspective of frontline workers, the challenges they faced, and the…

Supplements and extends an earlier article by these authors. Suggests that a strengths approach, with guiding principles of family preservation, be used to empower child protective service (CPS) caseworkers and to enhance their cultural competence. Defines ethnic sensitivity and identifies the components of a strengths approach to CPS training.…

Describes a continuum of services to families in their homes to prevent the necessity of child placement. Presents four categories of services--general case management, the comprehensive social worker, the in-house team, and the intraagency team--to aid families who demonstrate psychological difficulty and resource deficits. (Author/JAC)

This 60-item annotated bibliography focuses on case management as it relates to welfare, Medicaid, and/or the Family Support Act of 1988. While specific definitions, types of practice, and goals of case management vary greatly, the term here refers to a strategy of coordinating or integrating services for a client or group of clients in the social…

This book examines the history of supportive social services to examine ways in which those services have been helpful, and sometimes unhelpful, to poor families; the factors that have constrained service provision and reform; and what would make the service enterprise viable in the coming years. Discussed are formative influences on the…

Educators and service providers often have little opportunity to work cooperatively with families to enhance outcomes for children. This document is the first in a four-part training module that was developed by Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory's Child, Family, and Community Program. The modules are based on an ecological, family-centered…

Educators and social-service providers find it highly challenging to form partnerships with families that are based on mutual respect and reciprocity. This document is the second in a four-part training module that was developed by Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory's Child, Family, and Community Program. The module is based on an…