Adolescent fathers involved with child protection: social workers speak

This study examined adolescent paternity through structured interviews with their social workers. It adds to the literature by exploring if there were young men involved with the child protection services (CPS) system who are fathers, identifying their unique needs, and beginning discussions on working with these young men. CPS social workers from six area offices and one juvenile detention facility completed surveys for each father on their caseload. A 3.5% rate of adolescent paternity was observed across these offices. Information about the nature of the young men's involvement with CPS, their involvement with their children, and their unique needs as fathers are provided. This paper also identifies some practice and policy implications for adolescent fathers and CPS charged with their care.     

The Perspectives of Young Men and Their Teenage Partners on Maternity and Health Services During Pregnancy and Early Parenthood

This study discusses young couples’ interactions with maternity and health services paying particular attention to men’s perspectives. Findings are based on research conducted in Scotland with men (aged 16–25) and their teenage partners (aged 16–19). Most young men were very involved in their child’s life and provided support and care to their partner during pregnancy and in early parenthood. Men often felt excluded or judged when accessing services, although positive experiences were reported too. The study discusses ways in which maternity and health services can be better attuned to meet the needs of young couples and be inclusive of men.     

Primary care for young African American men

Young African American men in the inner city have higher rates of mortality and morbidity from potentially preventable causes than other American men of the same age. They suffer disproportionately high rates of preventable illness from violence, sexually transmitted diseases, and HIV infection. These young men present with problems related to sexual concerns, mental health issues, substance abuse, and violence. They also report substantial risk-taking behaviors, including unprotected sex, substance use, and weapon carrying, as well as exposure to violence. Access to and use of preventive primary care services has been limited for these patients in the past because of financial barriers and competing social issues. Racism and historical oppression have created barriers of mistrust for young men of color. Factors that contribute to their adverse health status, as well as ways to address these problems, are discussed.     

Locating “youth voice:” Considering the contexts of speaking in foster care

Within social services, an increasingly significant movement supports giving “voice” to children and youth, enabling them to express their views and to have those views taken into account in matters that affect them. In this article, the author draws from narratives of young people who grew up in foster care, examining stories of their efforts to impact the course of their own lives. The article explores the ways that very specific contexts and relationships of power shaped the utterances of young people in the foster care system and distorted, muted, or amplified their abilities to express their need and interests. This is a beginning attempt to identify ways that contexts of speaking in foster care can be understood and altered in order to strengthen the capacity of young people to voice their concerns and aspirations.     

Young people's views of children's rights and advocacy services: a case for ‘caring’ advocacy?

This paper looks at some preliminary findings from research with young people in foster and residential care in the UK who have received advocacy services from a range of local authority and voluntary agencies. The study also includes the views of professionals, from both children's rights and social services. The initial findings highlight the importance to young people of their relationship with rights professionals. They speak about the value to them of care and respect, aspects not always seen as fundamental to rights work. Caring, in its various guises is seen by young people as a vital component of their relationship with children's rights workers. They also see this as important within advocacy work itself since caring about the outcome is often key. A pure individual rights focus with an emphasis on challenge and ‘being heard’ may not take account of the complexity of their situation and may pose difficult dilemmas for young people, especially in dealings with their carers. This ‘caring’ advocacy is not the paternalistic approach of a professional who ‘knows what's best for you’ but is a model based on a strong awareness of ways that young people are excluded and oppressed. It is also about placing a positive value on their contribution as citizens and links to a view of society that gives importance to an ethic of inter‐relationship and care as well as an ethic of individual rights. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The use of mental health care,psychotropic drugs and social services by divorced people: does informal support matter?

This study compares the mental health care, psychotropic drugs and social service use of divorced people (re-partnered or single) with that of married people. This paper questions whether the availability of informal support facilitates or substitutes for formal care seeking. Data from the Divorce in Flanders survey of 2009–2010 are used. Logistic regression analyses are performed separately for women (N = 3450) and men (N = 3020). Greater use of mental health care, psychotropic drugs and social services by single divorced men is explained by their higher need for care, while divorced women (especially single divorced) more frequently contact a general practitioner (GP), a psychiatrist, or a psychologist, regardless of their mental health, socio-economic background and informal support. Women who have support from non-family members are more inclined to use social services and to contact a GP, while support from family members is only positively related to GP consultations. With regard to men, informal support from non-family members positively influences each type of formal care seeking. Our results suggest that non-family members (and only among women, family members as well) can provide help and advice about seeking professional mental health care and social services, but they do not have an influence on psychotropic drug use.     

Alternative Practicum in Health Education

Abstract

Young African American men in the inner city have higher rates of mortality and morbidity from potentially preventable causes than other American men of the same age. They suffer disproportionately high rates of preventable illness from violence, sexually transmitted diseases, and HIV infection. These young men present with problems related to sexual concerns, mental health issues, substance abuse, and violence. They also report substantial risk-taking behaviors, including unprotected sex, substance use, and weapon carrying, as well as exposure to violence. Access to and use of preventive primary care services has been limited for these patients in the past because of financial barriers and competing social issues. Racism and historical oppression have created barriers of mistrust for young men of color. Factors that contribute to their adverse health status, as well as ways to address these problems, are discussed.     

‘Our young people are worse’: family backgrounds,educational progression and placement options in public care systems

Introducing continental European approaches to UK child welfare practice raises a problem of comparison: to what extent are the problems and issues similar to or different from one country compared to another. Social pedagogues trained in continental Europe and working in English residential care services often encountered the phrase ‘our young people are worse’ from their English colleagues, with the implication that the social pedagogic approach was not suitable for the client group. This paper examines two propositions: (1) that in the context of introducing the continental European approach of social pedagogy into children's residential care services in England, young people are ‘different’ in England compared to other European countries and (2) that the placement options and practices for young people living away from their birth parents in continental European countries differ from those in England. Using data from a five nation study of young people from public care backgrounds, the paper argues that while family backgrounds are remarkably similar there are marked differences in the child welfare systems that might account for the perception that young people in care are ‘worse’ in England.     

The role of the father in the family: Toward a gender-neutral family policy

A review of the literature suggests that: (a) Women are not the exclusive potential contributors to quality child care; (b) men can provide care equally well; (c) a growing number of men want to increase their involvement in child care. A number of obstacles impede, however, increased paternal involvement in child care; these include the existing societal value system, the present structure of the labor market, and the nature of many existing social services. Therefore, various aspects of social and family policy are examined and a variety of options are proposed.     

Rural communities and well‐being: a good place to grow up?

This study looks at young people's accounts of life in communities in rural northern Scotland, and considers in what ways affective and social aspects of community are bound up with well‐being, over and above young people's concerns for the future, rural youth transitions, and out‐migration. Interviews were held with 15–18 year‐olds in four study areas (16 groups, N=60+) and a parallel survey of 11–16 year‐olds was conducted in eight study areas (N=2400+). Themes to emerge from the interviews included: opportunities locally, the future and staying on, as well as local amenities and services; but older teenagers also spoke at length about their social lives, family and social networks, and their community, both as close‐knit and caring and as intrusive and controlling. Rural communities were seen as good places in childhood, but not necessarily for young people. In parallel with that, the survey data paints a picture where feelings of support, control, autonomy, and attachment were all associated with emotional well‐being. Importantly, links between emotional well‐being and practical, material concerns were outweighed by positive identifications of community as close‐knit and caring; and equally, by negative identifications as intrusive and constraining, where the latter was felt more strongly by young women. Certainly, beliefs about future employment and educational opportunities were also linked to well‐being, but that was over and above, and independently of, affective and social aspects of community life. Additionally, migration intentions were also bound up with sense of self and well‐being, and with feelings about community life; and links between thoughts about leaving and community life as controlling and constraining were, yet again, felt more strongly by young women. Thus, gender was a key dimension affecting young people's feelings about their communities with significant implications for well‐being, and out‐migration. The study illustrates the importance of understanding the experiences young people have of growing up in rural areas, and how they evaluate those experiences: particularly, how life in rural communities matters for young people's well‐being; and especially, for young women.     

“When the money's low”: Economic participation among disadvantaged young Australians

As a generational group, children and young people are rarely independent financial actors but are nonetheless active consumers of goods and services related to their social identities and enduring orientations to learning, work and community. Many young Australians, however, do not have adequate access to the financial resources that permit their engagement with youth cultures constructed around commodity consumption nor with services and activities that support their future workforce and civic participation. Furthermore, they negotiate this lack of provision in an overarching political climate that individualises responsibility for disadvantage and its outcomes. This paper draws on stories from over 70 young Australians (11-17) to illustrate how they experience and manage the economic demands of family, schooling and peer cultures. Their accounts add to the growing literature that demonstrates how young people mobilise material and discursive resources but also points to the need for social policy that addresses the multiple material, social, discursive and institutional barriers to their full social inclusion.     

The state and future of social service enterprises—a Finnish case

There has been a rapid increase in private social services in Finland, where the tradition of social care services has placed the main emphasis on public services. The aim of this article is to compare the situation of Finnish social service enterprises in 2001 and 2005/2006, in the light of two national surveys, in order to increase knowledge about the state and the future of such enterprises as providers of social care. Particular attention is paid to the profiles of men and women as entrepreneurs, as these differed somewhat. The composition of private care enterprises and their management remained fairly similar between 2001 and 2005/2006. Most of the enterprises were owned by middle-aged women with an extensive experience of social and health care. The owners of the older enterprises were more pessimistic about the future than the owners of the more recently-established firms. Social workers have not been active in setting up firms, but the public–private processes should be steered and evaluated from the social work perspective, too, because they are actors who have a relevant part to play in the long-term co-operation and development work of public and private social services.     

Men's reproductive and sexual health.

A broad definition of men's reproductive and sexual health (MRSH) includes medical (pathophysiological) matters such as sexually transmitted infections (STIs), developmental anomalies, malignancy, trauma, and infertility. It also includes psychosocial concerns: sexuality, contraception, disease prophylaxis, developmental and lifecycle issues, tobacco and drug use, sexual identity and orientation, and partnership issues. College men, of whom a large majority are sexually active, have a range of MRSH needs, including some that are particular to their age and social environment. To reach men effectively requires approaches that are somewhat different from those used with women. Clinicians in college health services are in an excellent position to help young men recognize the importance of reproductive health and sexual responsibility. College health services therefore should offer men screening; clinical diagnosis and treatment for MRSH conditions; and information, education, and counseling services, in a manner designed to meet their unique needs.     

(Not) talking about sex: youth, identity and sexuality

Young people remain inhibited in their exploration of sexuality not only by heterosexual morality and gendered power relations but also by their transitional status, yet the age dimension of youth and sexuality has been relatively neglected in recent research. This paper examines a number of social constraints on young people's opportunities for talk and discussion about sex, with reference to their experiences of sex education and services in sexual health. Based on interviews with 147 young women and young men and a separate survey of 400 clinic users, it emphasises the limited social acceptance of teenage sexuality and the forms of its regulation, which are both normative and relational. Attention to social relations with adults also shows how questions of sexual citizenship are closely connected to wider issues of social equality.     

Young people with complex needs meet complex organizations: an interview study with Swedish professionals about sustainable work practices

ABSTRACT

This paper concerns preconditions for the well-being of young people with mental ill-health combined with social vulnerabilities, also referred to as youth with complex needs. Research questions are: What barriers to sustainable work practices for young people labelled as having complex needs do professionals encounter? What do professionals identify as possible ways to overcome these barriers? Sustainable work practices are reflected in three themes: empowerment, relationships and collaboration. The findings are based on semi-structured interviews with 24 professionals, 3 men and 21 women, working in psychiatric care and the social services in two Swedish municipalities in 2016 and 2017. Major barriers are lack of continuity and co-ordination in staff and support, and fragmentation of work practices. As a consequence of the increased specialization of human service organizations, young people have to interact with many different professionals which could cause disparate interventions. Possible ways mentioned to overcome these barriers are supported through good interactional skills, using keyworkers as well therapeutic alliances, wrap-around services and case management. Complexity is linked to organizations and work practices rather than to young people. An often dysfunctional service delivery system in organizations with rigid boundaries may also affect professionals’ aim for sustainable support.     

Men's Reproductive and Sexual Health

Abstract

A broad definition of men's reproductive and sexual health (MRSH) includes medical (pathophysiological) matters such as sexually transmitted infections (STIs), developmental anomalies, malignancy, trauma, and infertility. It also includes psychosocial concerns: sexuality, contraception, disease prophylaxis, developmental and lifecycle issues, tobacco and drug use, sexual identity and orientation, and partnership issues. College men, of whom a large majority are sexually active, have a range of MRSH needs, including some that are particular to their age and social environment. To reach men effectively requires approaches that are somewhat different from those used with women. Clinicians in college health services are in an excellent position to help young men recognize the importance of reproductive health and sexual responsibility. College health services therefore should offer men screening; clinical diagnosis and treatment for MRSH conditions; and information, education, and counseling services, in a manner designed to meet their unique needs.     

Gender Preference toward Providers of Genital Examinations and Frequency of Genital Self-Examination among College Students

Abstract

Both male and female students who utilize Brandeis University Health Services for primary care were assessed regarding their preference as to the gender of providers of genital examinations, together with the frequency with which each sex and academic class performs genital self-examinations, during a two-month period of the 1981 Spring Semester, using a brief self-administered questionnaire.

Among 234 undergraduate and graduate student men and women who returned questionnaires, women and men preferred to be examinated by same-sex examiners; less than half of the women and nearly none of the men would want a chaperone present during the examination, even when the examiner is not the same gender. An increasing percentage of these young women perform breast examinations as they get older, but there is no comparable rise in testicular self-examinations with increasing age among the men. It is important for physicians who care for adolescents and young adults in university health services to provide access to same-gender health care providers when genital exams are done. It is also important to educate men about testicular examinations, just as women are educated about breast examinations.     

Meeting the Needs of Vulnerable Young Men: A Study of Service Provider Views

This article uses a qualitative approach to elicit the views of 31 professionals who provide services to vulnerable young men. The findings reveal six key themes following focus group interviews: (i) the importance of masculinity in explaining problematic behaviour; (ii) the misuse of alcohol and drugs; (iii) alienation and social isolation; (iv) concerns about suicide and self‐harm; (v) the quality of existing services; and (vi) recommendations for changes to services. Service providers generally acknowledged the social context in explaining these behaviours and argued for enhanced services and a more developed skills base in working with vulnerable young men.     

Establishing a mental health service for young children in out-of-home care: The Gumnut Clinic for 0 to 5 year olds in Western Sydney

Objective

Children aged 0 to 5 years in out-of-home care represent a vulnerable population at high risk of social, emotional and developmental problems, yet there are few services specifically addressing their psychological needs. This paper is the first of two concerning the establishment of The Gumnut Clinic, a specialist mental health assessment clinic in Western Sydney for this population. The current paper provides the rationale for the development of the clinic and detail of the referral and assessment processes.

Method

The paper describes the establishment of The Gumnut Clinic at Redbank House in Sydney, Australia, the approach to assessment of these young children and their carers, and the challenges encountered.

Conclusions

Young children are overrepresented in child protection and out-of-home care services. Their social, emotional and developmental needs are under-recognized. Development of a specialist mental health service is a step towards improving health outcomes for these children.     

Old Dreams,New Means: an Exploration of Visions and Situated Knowledge in Information Technology

The aim of this article is to explore the tensions and ambivalences of new and old technology and political visions of keeping viable, quality care and services for elderly citizens through the use of new information technologies. The visions of politicians and social service managers of keeping alive the welfare state and retaining its ability to offer quality care and services for elderly citizens are compared with the experiences of female care assistants and their expectations of technology. A feminist figure — the cyborg — will be used in this exploration. We consider how care assistants are integrated in networks of socio‐technical relations between humans and non‐humans, and the extent to which gender or asymmetrical power relations between women and men intervene in their stories.