Divorcing Abused Latina Immigrant Women's Experiences With Domestic Violence Support Groups

The purpose of this study was to explore and describe the experiences of Latina immigrants who are divorcing and in domestic violence support groups (DVSGs). To gain an understanding of the client perspective, an ex-post facto research design was utilized with the data collection taking place after the members had terminated with the DVSG services. The convenience sample consisted of 15 Latina women. A questionnaire was used to determine the women's satisfaction with the group services. Results indicated that overall the group experience was positive, with 80% of the women reporting an overall “excellent” experience and 20% reporting an overall “good” experience.     

The Family Safety Model: A Comprehensive Strategy For Working With Domestic Violence

There has been continuous debate about the viability, efficacy and appropriateness of providing services to perpetrators and couples where domestic violence is the presenting problem in therapy. This paper argues that within a comprehensive and integrated model of service provision that encompasses all family members, it can be appropriate and effective to incorporate these service options if screening, monitoring and service models are carefully selected and provided in a context of agency safety and support.     

从女总统到“联合国妇女”掌门人

Michelle Bachelet, former President of Chile （2006-2010）, on September 14, was named Under- Secretary-General for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women （UN Women） of the United Nations. UN Women, a newly created United Nations office to promote gender equality and the empowerment of women, was established on July 2 by the UN＇s General Assembly, which merged four gender entities into one. UN Women will promote the interests of women and girls across the globe. ＂Ms Bachelet brings to this critical position a history of dynamic global leadership, highly honed political skills and uncommon ability to create consensus and focus among UN agencies and many partners, in both the public and private sector,＂ UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said when he announced the appointment. ＂     

Domestic Violence and Aging

Women of all ages experience domestic violence, and the population of middle-aged and older women is growing rapidly. This article discusses how women’s issues, domestic violence, aging, and elder abuse all relate to social work education and then suggests how they can be integrated together into the social work curriculum through teaching about elder domestic violence.     

Broadening the Array of Services: Integrating Legal and Social Work Services for Youth and Families

ABSTRACT

The Community Justice and Legal Assistance Clinic (CJLA) is a unique community-based legal clinic developed through a partnership between a law school and a child and family service agency embedded within a low-income community. This article describes the development of this clinic through a community assessment process; its unique multidisciplinary features; the services provided to clients in three of the agency's service areas; the benefits of the partnership for clients, the social service agency, the participating law students, and the law school; and lessons learned for replication of this type of clinic in other communities.     

Sense of Need for Financial Support and Respite Services among Informal Caregivers of Older Americans

ABSTRACT

Financial support and respite services are two of the most frequently reported types of help that caregivers of older adults need. Using an expanded health behavioral model, this study examined the effects of predisposing, enabling, and needs factors on caregivers' sense of need for these two types help. Data were drawn from the 1999 National Long-Term Care Survey and included 1,058 caregiving dyads in the community. The results indicated that caregiver-related factors more than care recipient–related factors affected caregivers' sense of need to seek both types of help. The findings direct to two important implications for long-term care policy for and practice with older adults: improvement of service for caregivers and service delivery systems.     

The Co-Occurrence of Child Abuse and Domestic Violence: An Issue of Service Delivery for Social Service Professionals

In order to add to the growing literature on intergenerational rates of family violence, data were collected from a community-based child abuse agency. The study's purpose was to compare the co-occurrence of child abuse/neglect (CAN) and domestic violence (DV), and the prevalence of CAN and parent's childhood history of abuse. Data were collected from 537 families through intake and subsequent interviews in an attempt to determine the relationship among CAN and DV, and CAN and parent's childhood history of abuse. A chi-square analysis indicated significant relationships among these variables. Of the participants in this sample, 48.9% had experienced both CAN and DV. These results also indicated that 66.3% of participants had a childhood history of CAN and were currently experiencing issues of CAN with their own children. Logistic regression was utilized to examine whether families involved with Child Protective Services (CPS) were at higher risk for DV and/or parental childhood history of CAN. The results indicate that CPS-involved families were approximately three times as likely to have a parent reporting a childhood history of CAN but were not at significantly higher odds for DV. Implications for service delivery are discussed.     

Child Custody and Domestic Violence

Abstract

Child Custody & Domestic Violence(Jaffe, Lemon, & Poisson, 2002) tries unsuccessfully to address both professional and lay audiences. It is a work of advocacy focusing on the plight of battered women and their children, rather than an authoritative text on the assessment and management of cases involving domestic violence allegations in family courts.     

Women, Poverty, and Domestic Violence: Perceptions of Court and Legal Aid Effectiveness

This study bridges a gap between research on access to justice for the poor, women's victimization, and procedural justice by examining factors that shape poor women's perception of the court's effectiveness in dealing with domestic violence. Drawing on both survey and interview data gathered from clients of a federally funded clinic run by the Legal Aid Society, analyses reveal that clients are generally satisfied with and confident in the ability of the court, Legal Aid, and other institutions. Furthermore, it is revealed that mental/verbal abuse, a belief in the importance of the court in solving marital problems, and faith in procedural justice predict the perception that the court is effective in dealing with domestic violence, and that the effectiveness of other institutions is mitigated by several combinations of these and other factors. Moreover, clients are satisfied that the court's treatment of women in particular is even-handed, but not satisfied by its treatment of poor people (regardless of gender). Combined, these findings suggest that the relationships between gender, class, and assessments of procedural justice are nuanced, with class playing a more pronounced role.     

Domestic Violence and Children with Disabilities: Working Towards Enhancing Social Work Practice

Abstract

Globally, domestic violence, where a family member, partner or ex-partner attempts to physically, sexually or psychologically dominate or harm the other, is now recognised as one of the most entrenched and pervasive forms of violence in society. Nevertheless, internationally and in Australia, the occurrence of domestic and other forms of violence in families affecting children with a disability is poorly understood. The present article examines the information available on domestic violence and children with a disability. Through the use of case studies drawn from a large disability organisation in New South Wales, Australia, practice issues with families where domestic violence affects a child with a disability are drawn out for social workers to consider. These considerations are designed to enhance practice in this field.     

Cultural Values and Domestic Violence

ABSTRACT

The value system for defining family violence is frequently based on the cultural beliefs imbedded in mainstream Euro-American values. This paper examines domestic violence from a cross-cultural perspective and evaluates how cultural beliefs and societal rules impact the incidence of family violence as well as the relative acceptability of this form of oppression. In this analysis, Asian, Latino, and African American cultures are examined in light of varying cultural perspectives on family violence.     

Restoring Hope for Syrian Refugees: Social Support Students Need to Excel at School

This qualitative, phenomenological case study was designed to elicit Syrian refugee students’ perceptions regarding the individuals who provide them with the social support needed for academic success. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 male Syrian eighth graders at a public middle school in Lebanon. House's social support framework guided this study and served as the theoretical lens through which data were collected and analysed. Findings from this study revealed teachers, supervisors, and administrators as expected major providers of the social supports that Syrian refugee students need to excel in their studies. However, when students do not find support where they might expect it to be, they adopt coping strategies such as independence, perseverance, self-efficacy, and peer-teaching. These findings are of primary importance to school administrators, humanitarian aid agencies, and policymakers. The article concludes with recommendations for practice and future research.     

Investigating the Readiness of Hospital Social Workers to Respond to Domestic and Family Violence

ABSTRACT

Domestic and family violence (DFV) is recognised as a health care priority. Women experiencing DFV use health services at a higher rate than the general population. Hospital social workers are an important component of a public hospital response to domestic and family violence but how prepared are they for this role? This research study explored the readiness of social workers in a Melbourne metropolitan hospital setting to respond to DFV. Results indicated that although the social workers had a knowledge base highly relevant for responding to DFV, many lacked specific knowledge of risk assessment, safety planning, legislative responsibilities, and referral pathways for support, including legal support. As a result, it was likely that they were not adequately responding, either by not recognising when they needed to, or with knowledge and confidence when they did. They also identified a range of organisational enablers, including policy, time, and safe conversation spaces.

IMPLICATIONS

• Hospital social workers have a central role to play in responding to domestic and family violence.

• Hospital social workers need to be better prepared for domestic and family violence responses.

• Social workers require ongoing training and organisational support including practice protocols and guidelines, and the provision of time and private, safe spaces for sensitive conversations to occur.

• Universities should ensure that the role of hospital social workers is considered within curriculum addressing the area of domestic and family violence (DFV).

     

澳门特区残疾人就业支持和社会服务考察报告

为了落实党的十九届四中全会关于“健全残疾人帮扶制度”“完善重点群体就业支持体系”等要求,在澳门特区回归20周年之际,2019年11月20日至23日,中国残联研究室、维权部、教就部、港澳台办和信息中心、残疾人事业发展研究中心共同组团赴澳门特区就残疾人就业支持和社会福利服务进行考察和交流,先后拜访了中央人民政府驻澳门特别行政区办公室、澳门特别行政区政府社会工作局,与澳门街坊总会、澳门扶康会、澳门弱智人士服务协会及所属服务机构进行了交流。代表团分外感受到澳门地区各界爱国爱澳的浓厚氛围和社会服务的显著成效。现将有关情况报告如下。     

Social Theory and Feminist Theory: The Need for Dialogue

Two developments in social theory, one somewhat older than the other, are raising a similar set of concerns. One, the older, is the critique of positivism as a model for social understanding, and in its most exemplary form provides the underpinnings for the trenchant criticism that has come out of the Frankfurt School. The second, the mole recent, comes out of Women's Studies and, like the critical theory of Jurgen Habermas and his predecessors, speaks to the need to understand human beings based on methods other than empiricism.
I should like to propose the joining in dialogue of the two, for while I see them as having much in common, I recognize a carefully considered set of arguments coming out of the Frankfurt School, arguments which could enhance the very understanding of the world of women that feminist scholarship has as its objective.
After explicating some key arguments out of Alfred Schutz, the paper indicates where the Frankfurt School parts ways with the phenomenological tradition. Of particular import is Habermas' "emancipatory interest." Certain recent writings in feminist theory are looked at for the kind of attack they make on scientism and for the rationale behind their call for a turn to the phenomenological or hermeneutic method. The paper then raises concerns about (1) the importance of understanding the historical debates on positivism; (2) the danger of conflating intuition and hermeneutics; and (3) the suggestions that women may occupy a privileged standpoint from which to interpret the social world.     

The Public Face of a Private Domestic Violence

This article looks at violence against women in Indian society and gives an example of a best-practice response to domestic violence. It is divided into two parts. The first part of the paper examines the general characteristics of violence against women within India as a whole and the state of Andhra Pradesh in particular. The second part gives an example of the anti-arrack movement in Andhra Pradesh, a state in India, as an example of women's mobilization against government policy on liquor as a response to domestic violence. The paper aims to reconstruct this movement at the micro level using the experiences of women who were its chief participants.     

Perceived Need for Home- and Community-Based Services: Experiences of Urban Chinese Older Adults With Functional Impairments

Guided by Cantor’s social care model, this study identified individual, family, and social support factors that influence urban older adults’ need for home- and community-based services, including medical and rehabilitation, instrumental care and support, and psychosocial services. The data were extracted from the Sample Survey on Aged Population in Urban/Rural China conducted by the China Research Center on Aging in 2006. Results from multiple logistic regression show that older adults’ need for medical and rehabilitation services is significantly related to instrumental activities of daily living, depression, not having filial children, friend support networks, and having a confidant. Older adults’ need for instrumental care and support is related to their educational attainment, financial strain, instrumental activities of daily living, not living with children, and friend support networks. Finally, older adults’ need for psychosocial services is significantly related to educational attainment, depression, not being married, friend support networks, and having a confidant. Implications for social service development are discussed.