Children,adolescents and social work: A statement from the editor

Current social policy affects clinical social work with children, adolescents, and their families. As a result of inadequate funding, many resources that are needed for prevention and therapeutic work are not adequate for the needs of the client group. Gaps in resources affect the welfare of children and their families and often contribute to the causes of mental health problems. Other issues related to service systems and professional arrangements affect the identity and status of clinical social workers and interfere with optimal professional activities.     

The Role of Father’s Occupation on Intergenerational Educational and Occupational Mobility: The Case of Second‐Generation Chinese Americans in New York1

A considerable body of research has found a positive relationship between parents’ socioeconomic status and children’s educational achievement and attainment. The predictive role of parents’ socioeconomic status generally applies for most racial and ethnic groups, but that association does not always hold for groups that exhibit high levels of education, such as Asian Americans. This article considers the role of parents’ education and occupation on children’s educational and occupational attainment for Chinese Americans aged 18–32. The results corroborate the positive link between parents’ socioeconomic status and children’s educational and occupational attainments. Children of professionals command an educational and occupational advantage over children of entrepreneurs and children of manual workers. Yet, the children of entrepreneurs attend selective colleges and obtain professional occupations in proportions closely following those of the children of professionals. Although the educational attainments between the fathers who worked as entrepreneurs and those fathers engaged in manual work were comparable, it was the children of entrepreneurs who surpassed the children of manual workers with respect to educational and occupational achievement and attainment. This suggests that immigrant entrepreneurship contributes in the upward educational and occupational mobility of the children of entrepreneurs.     

Responses of the social work profession to unaccompanied children seeking asylum in the Republic of Ireland

The Republic of Ireland is rapidly developing immigration legislation and policies to respond to its relatively new status as a destination for asylum seekers and refugees within the European Union. New political definitions of asylum seekers and refugees are being constructed in a country with its own history of mass emigration. At the same time, the economic growth that is making Ireland a more attractive destination for asylum seekers and refugees has also fuelled an unprecedented expansion in the employment of social workers. Specialized services are now being developed for unaccompanied children who are seeking asylum. This expansion in the number of social workers and growth in service provision has led to little professional debate about the role of social workers with asylum seekers and refugees. This paper examines the questions raised by the provision of social work services to these children and considers the wider implications for the development of the social work profession and social work practices in Ireland.     

The Impact of Family of Origin on Social Workers from Alcoholic Families

This study draws on the experience of six social workers who are adult children of alcoholics, to demonstrate that childhood learned responsibility and the capacity for attachment are translated into later professional acuity. The place of resilience in developing an understanding of the linkages between the experiences of adult children of alcoholics and social workers is examined and the consequences for social work practice and the education of social workers is outlined. Undeniably, prior life experience impacts on practice. Less well understood is the positive impact of negative experience. In the case of social workers who are adult children of alcoholics we argue that being part of an alcoholic family may significantly contribute to, rather than detract from, later practice competence.     

Peripherization of immigrant professionals: Korean physicians in the United States

Using data on the characteristics of 1043 physicians who graduated from a medical school in Korea, the authors analyze the effects of immigrant status, gender, and year of graduation on their choice of medical practice specialty. The specialty areas are categorized into 2 groups, "core" and "periphery," on the basis of the reported median income of practitioners in each specialty. The results of log-linear model analyses indicate that female physicians are more likely to immigrate to the United States than male physicians, although the general trend of immigration does not notably change over time. In the main equation, immigration status shows a significant peripheral effect as immigrant physicians are much more likely to practice in peripheral areas than their home-staying counterparts. Gender status is also found to have a significant peripheral effect. When these Korean immigrant physicians are compared with the US-educated physicians in regard to their areas of practice, the same pattern of peripherization is observed among the immigrants. The findings suggest that, despite their secular image of "success," immigrant professionals in the United States carry on the same kind of marginal economic activities within the professional labor market as unskilled immigrant workers do within the nonprofessional labor market.     

The Influence of the Psychoanalytic Community of Emigrès (1930–1950) on Clinical Social Work with Children

This study examines the influence of emigrè psychoanalysts on clinical social work with children in America. It is anticipated that this study will be useful in understanding the transformation of some social workers into more psychoanalytically-oriented clinicians regarding the treatment of children during the period 1900–1950. Using literature review and primary source material, the study examines the evolution of clinical social work with children from a child welfare model to a child guidance model incorporating psychoanalytic thinking. The study examines how psychoanalytic theory influenced social workers in their conceptualization and treatment of children, and describes the difficulties confronted by the emigrè psychoanalytic community as it tried to enter professional practice in America.     

Professional identity and continuing education: A study of social workers in hospital settings

In a Master of Social Work study, looking at Continuing Professional Education (CPE) for social workers, it was found that the profession's status and image are linked to the status of continuing professional education. Other major findings were that the schools of social work have not inculcated the concept of CPE into undergraduates as a norm, and that until the recent establishment of the National Continuing Professional Education and Practice Standards Project, the profession itself had not accorded CPE a high status. Such long-term neglect has impacted on the position of social work in organisations and on the professional identity of workers. The study was undertaken from a qualitative perspective, with the data arising from the field. Interviews were held in focus groups which consisted of social workers in teaching hospitals at various levels: new graduates of less than two years experience, experienced workers of more than five years experience and co-ordinators of CPE programs. The interviews were guided by an inquiry instrument, and conducted at six metropolitan hospitals in Melbourne with fifty social workers participating.     

A Study of Work Participation by Graduate Female Social Workers: Some Implications for Professional Social Work Training

Work participation of graduate women social workers, 40 to 60 years old was studied. The average extent of work for the total group was 61 percent of the time since graduation. Extent of work was related to marital status and to the sequence of marriage and social work training. Teenage committment to work had no effect on the extent of work later in life. Higher work rates were associated with more advanced age, fewer children, and more work experience in the pregraduate period Remedial activities at the community, school, agency, and student levels that begin at the time of professional education and could help increase the extent of work activity are discussed in this paper.     

Strengths and Pathological Perspectives in Community Social Work

ABSTRACT

Current social work theory distinguishes between the traditional pathology-oriented perspective and the strengths perspective. This paper posits that the working model of community social workers is grounded in a strengths perspective, which, in relation to community work, is compatible with and supplementary to empowerment models, providing a methodological base for the values and practice of the macro method of social work. The current study aimed to assess the prevalence of each of these two perspectives towards community activity, and to examine the differences between them regarding the sense of empowerment and professional skills acknowledged by community social workers in Israel. The findings revealed that while the majority of community social workers adopt a strengths perspective in their work, they experience a greater sense of empowerment and of professional skills when adopting a pathology-oriented perspective.     

Multi-faceted psychiatric rehabilitation teams and their relation to social workers’ competencies and self-experience

Psychiatric rehabilitation social workers’ professional activity takes place within a multi-faceted rehabilitation team that includes other professionals, community agents and clients’ family members and its structure changes according to the clients’ clinical status and recovery needs. Participating effectively in such a complex team work requires social workers’ competencies of adapting, communicating, negotiating and collaborating with other professionals and non-professionals. This paper discusses the influence of the constantly changing rehabilitation environment on the social workers’ professional self-experience and suggests a few implications of this phenomenon and conclusions which may contribute to professional development of social workers.     

Working in Complexity: Ethics and Boundaries in Community Work and Mental Health

While codes of ethical conduct are important, they do not always fit neatly in the organic community settings in which some workers engage. Professional standards from accrediting bodies are easy to sign up to, yet much more difficult to put into practice. Drawing upon community connection practice in recovery-oriented mental health work, this article names the professional boundary tensions peculiar to less structured fields of engagement. We suggest that for workers in these fields, there has been a disconnection between the theory, the experience, and the public discourse of professional boundaries. We argue that such disconnection can create uncertainty, anxiety, and secrecy, creating exactly those cultures we wish to avoid. Ultimately this leads to greater harm for vulnerable individuals, as well as the workers and organisations that serve them. The alternative is to engage in what we name a “risky conversation,” to expose this disconnect and engender a new type of professionalism.     

Gender,Mothering And Relational Work

Relationships are fundamental to the work of teachers, nurses and social workers. Women by and large staff these occupations which are also called ‘relationship work’. In this article we compare the feminine ideal (often implicitly derived from a maternal ideal) with the ideal held by female relation workers. We suggest that taken for granted ideals of perfectionism in mothering are carried into relation work by the female relation workers themselves and the society at large. As a consequence, female relationship workers have a constrained portrait of themselves, leaving little opportunity and permission to explore the difficult emotional and situational complexities that they experience in their professional practice. Psychoanalytic and feminist perspectives allow challenging of these constraining implicit ideals. We argue the need for an expanded ideal that allows for negative feelings, creativity and uncertainty in professional relationships.     

‘My work is exciting’ – social workers in Estonia compared to Norway

The article discusses the relationship between social policy and social work, focussing on how municipal social workers in Estonia and Norway describe their work situation as implementers of social policy. It is based on a series of individual and group interviews. Estonia is the main case, and Norway is included for comparative reasons. The relationship between aims and reality, external conditions and development of the profession are important subjects. Social workers represent a link between users and the various social policy institutions. Estonian and Norwegian social workers experience a gap between needs and resources. Representatives from both countries referred to the growing workload and complained about low status. At the same time they describe a positive development. A common feeling of having limited resources when confronted with the needs of the users is combined with a feeling that social work is challenging and exciting. In both countries networks and cooperation across professional borders are important. The authors conclude that social workers are important actors in implementing changes at the local level, but they seem to be more concerned about the daily encounter with the individual user than with the policy framework.     

The Safety Costs of Contingent Work: Evidence from Minnesota*

We find that workers' compensation costs for leased/staff agency workers are about three times higher than for regular full-time workers. This differential grows even wider when controlling for worker characteristics. Authors give a number of reasons for this result, including claims-reporting moral hazard on the part of contingent workers. We also present results on claim denials by work status, which seems to support the cost model.     

Work and Health: A Study of the Occupational and Domestic Roles of Women Registered Nurses and Registered Practical Nurses in Ontario,Canada

Links between work and health are explored in this study of a proportional random sample of 1190 women Registered Nurses (RNs) and 643 women Registered Practical Nurses (RPNs) in the province of Ontario, Canada. First, features of the paid and unpaid work of the RNs and RPNs are outlined. The professional status of RNs is reflected in their greater control, responsibility, accountability and tensions embedded in their relationships with physicians. In contrast, RPNs are frontline workers with fewer career opportunities, less control in their work and lower pay. There are also common elements in their nursing work: heavy workloads, exposure to hazards, and the stress of dealing with death and dying and with violent patients. The main difference with respect to the domestic sphere is the substantially higher mean household income of RNs. Multivariate analysis is then used to explore the combined effects of paid and unpaid work on nurses' health. Exposure to hazards in nursing, time pressures with respect to home responsibilities and overall stress in life were associated with increased health problems. There is also evidence that workload issues are linked with poorer health. Social support in the form of a confiding relationship with a friend is associated with better health. One of the main differences between RNs and RPNs in the variables associated with health is in relation to children; contrary to our expectations, having one to four children is linked with better health for RNs. It is suggested that the higher household incomes of RNs may alter the nature of their home responsibilities and the interaction between the two spheres of work may differ. In conclusion, the findings are set in the context of restructuring in the healthcare sector.     

The Early Professional Experience of a New Social Worker in China

Social work is emerging as a rapidly developing profession in mainland China, a unique context that affects how these new social workers view themselves, their professional identity, and their work. Few studies explore the lived experiences of these new social workers as they enter agencies and begin working with clients while interacting with larger systems that influence clients and social workers alike. This case study highlights the experience of one of the first professionally educated social workers in Shanghai and describes the challenges and achievements of her first 5 years of professional practice. This case highlights the professional experiences and feelings of many social workers in China. We give recommendations for social work education and training.     

Negotiating personal engagement and professional accountability: professional wisdom and ethics work

This article examines the relationship between personal engagement and professional accountability in social work—considering whether the increasing focus on professional accountability in the context of the new public management, public austerity and market-based systems of welfare is incompatible with the personal engagement of social workers with service users and with their work. After undertaking a conceptual analysis of the terms, it is argued that both personal engagement and professional accountability are essential features of social work. Indeed, it is this negotiation of the creative tension between them that constitutes the subject matter and work of professional ethics. This requires a capacity and disposition for good judgement based in professional wisdom and a process of practical reasoning or ‘ethics work’ to find the right balance between closeness and distance, passion and rationality, empathic relationships and measurable social outcomes. It also requires a space for the exercise of professional wisdom.     

Child welfare workers and social justice: Mending the disconnect

While professional social workers are clearly obligated to pursue social justice, controversies abound surrounding what that means in theory and practice. Perhaps nowhere are the paradoxes inherent in practice for social justice seen in sharper contrast than in the field of child welfare. Intended to protect the rights of children, child welfare systems themselves have been characterized as instruments of oppression. This article hopes to enrich that discourse through an examination of how these issues are conceptualized and acted upon by front-line child welfare social workers. Through in-depth interviews with 25 child welfare workers, and 3 focus groups, in two Canadian provinces, and employing grounded theory strategies for data collection and analysis, we have explored understandings of the social justice mandate and how it is expressed in practice. Participants in this study conceptualized social justice in terms of both wider societal goals of fairness and equality, and of the quality of interactions and relationships between social workers and those with whom they work; conceptual emphasis on one or the other of these we found to be associated with differences in practice. We reflect on the implications of each of these emphases for effectiveness in advancing social justice aims in the child welfare context, and make recommendations regarding a grounding for educators and practitioners in theoretical orientations that includes attention to the linkages between macro and micro opportunities to advance social justice.     

A New Breed of Social Actionist Comes to Social Work: The Community Organization Student

Professionals in all fields are pressing for more autonomy in their work. Social work has never achieved full professional status because of its reluctance to grant autonomy to practitioners. The hierarchical bureaucratic structure of social agencies, which enforces prolonged individual supervision of workers, has achieved uniformity of practice at the expense of creativity and innovation. The author proposes Georg Simmel's model of superordination—subordination as a framework for considering new forms of supervision. Peer group supervision, consultation, and in-service training are potentially more democratic training methods than individual supervision, and could encourage self-confidence and creativity.