Understanding Motives for Migration in Working with Immigrant Families

There are good reasons to expect immigrant families' experiences in the host society to differ vastly. What impact might rationales for relocation have on immigrant families' pre-migration and post-migration characteristics in mainstream America? This article reviews existing research by drawing on various migration theories and explores the potential linkage between forces that propelled the move and immigrant families' adaptation patterns that followed. Three non-mutually exclusive principal motives were proposed to explain the substantial differences that exist among immigrants. Also considered are theoretical explanations that would facilitate effective practice and intervention among social work practitioners and policy planners.     

Parenting Success and Challenges for Families of Children with Disabilities: An Ecological Systems Analysis

This article examines factors that are associated with parenting success for caregivers of children with disabilities using Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems framework. Although numerous studies have investigated risk factors for negative parenting among caregivers of children with disabilities, there are relatively few research findings on parenting success. More specifically, we examine factors for parenting success within the context of micro- (parenting practices, parent-child relations), meso- (caregivers' marital relations, religious social support), and macro-systems (cultural variations, racial and ethnic disparities, health care delivery system), which is then followed by implications for social work practice.     

Understanding the Role of Immigrant Families' Cultural and Structural Mechanisms in Immigrant Children's Experiences beyond High School: Lessons for Social Work Practitioners

The destinies of the contemporary immigrant generation are challenged by the profound reshaping of the U.S. economy and the increasing diversity of new immigrant communities from the Latin American and Asian regions. Family represents a key link between immigrant children's social adjustment beyond high school and relationships with mainstream society. Placing an emphasis on culture and social structure, this article reviews contemporary literature and provides a framework for knowledge that helps social work practitioners and policy planners explore the distinguishing features of immigrant families that confer an advantage within their children's post-secondary education or labor market participation. Also considered is how culture and social structure overlap and interact to exert a significant influence on the future economic prospects of immigrant children.     

Trauma and Bowen Family Systems Theory: Working with Adults Who were Abused as Children

Working with survivors of trauma is mostly challenging, exhausting, long‐term and often ‘messy’, when interventions that ‘should’ work, don't, or the unexpected arises. Nevertheless, explanations that speak to recovery from trauma more and more rely on neurobiological concepts to account for any positive change. Combining the family systems approach of Murray Bowen and recent research on the brain and trauma, post trauma symptoms are viewed as part of the ‘family emotional process’ even when traumatic events have emanated from outside the family system itself. Variations in responses to trauma, including dissociation and self‐harm are discussed in relation to chronic anxiety and ‘differentiation of self’.     

The Burden of Deportation on Children in Mexican Immigrant Families

In 2011, a record number of foreign‐born individuals were detained and removed from the United States. This article looks at the impact enforcement policies have had on Mexican families more broadly and children specifically. Drawing on interviews with 91 parents and 110 children in 80 households, the author suggests that, similar to the injury pyramid used by public health professionals, a deportation pyramid best depicts the burden of deportation on children. At the top of the pyramid are instances that have had the most severe consequences on children's daily lives: families in which a deportation has led to permanent family dissolution. But enforcement policies have had the greatest impact on children at the bottom of the pyramid. Regardless of legal status or their family members' involvement with immigration authorities, children in Mexican immigrant households describe fear about their family stability and confusion over the impact legality has on their lives.     

CHAPTER 10: Professional Helpers and Families with Disabled Children:

No abstract available for this article.     

Separations: A Personal Account of Bowen Family Systems Theory

This paper is a personal account of my own family of origin research. It explores the impact of separations from parents, nuclear family, and extended family through a Bowen family systems theory perspective using concepts pertaining to Bowen theory such as chronic anxiety, differentiation of self, multigenerational family process, and the emotional system. An outline of the process of doing research in ‘vivo’ with my mother as well as conversations with my supervisor are included. Theoretical differences between individual and system models are discussed. A Bowen theoretical approach to the anxiety of separations is investigated. The efficacy of engaging in family of origin work and the effects of thinking systems is examined in light of how it assisted me to view family members, family system disturbances, and clients’ emotional systems more objectively.     

An ecological perspective on family policy: A conceptual and philosophical framework

This article develops a conceptual framework that places family policy within an ecological perspective. The ecological perspective is particularly useful in providing a means both to understand why diversity exists among families and to analyze how human-created rules disparately affect the environments faced by families within and across different societies. Examples are provided of how family policy is conceptualized by organizations and groups that are concerned with family issues, and these examples are critiqued from the ecological perspective. Finally, the article suggests that the values on which an ecological perspective of family policy are grounded can serve as a beginning point to develop a philosophical basis for the development of family policy. Her research interests include family policy and research at the national and international levels. She received her Ph.D. in Social Work and Economics from the University of Michigan.     

Questioning the Suitability of Traditional Self-Report Family Functioning Measures for Single-Parent Families with Young Children

Family functioning is a common interest of social science and health researchers. Most often, well-established self-report instruments are used to measure family functioning. Although these instruments have been used with families of diverse compositions, our experiences using one of the commonly used instruments, the McMaster Family Assessment Device (FAD), suggest that it is not appropriate for single-parent families with young children. In addition to describing the difficulties we encountered with the FAD, we discuss our experiences in relation to current research findings about the processes and effectiveness of family functioning in single-parent families. As well, we examine other frequently used self-report family functioning instruments, the results of which lead us to question the suitability of any of the commonly used self-report family functioning instruments for single-parent families with young children. We conclude by arguing for the development of family functioning instruments that are appropriate for diverse family structures and compositions.     

Preparing,Working, Recovering: Gendered Experiences of Night Work among Women and their Families

The negative physiological consequences of night work are well evidenced, but there has been limited research on the gendered consequences of night work for partnered women with children. This paper examines women's experiences of night work by drawing on qualitative interview and audio sleep diary data with 20 UK female nurses working non‐regular rotating shifts, together with interview and diary data from their male partners and children. The analysis shows how the lived experience of women's night work is characterized by three phases, which we discuss within a timescape perspective. Alongside changes to paid work and sleep during the period of night shifts, the ‘preparation’ and ‘recovery’ phases of women's night work involve intense periods of considerable additional unpaid and unrecognized work and anxiety. Gendered expectations for household management and family wellbeing mean that women night workers undertake considerable responsibility for complex planning before night shifts begin, and re‐enter established domestic routines within hours after night shifts end. Women maintain continuity for their families by actively managing the impacts of night work. This enables the fulfilment and ‘display’ of successful and normative gendered patterns of domestic responsibility, which appears to be central to women's own coping with night shifts.     

Whole Family Theraplay: Integrating Family Systems Theory and Theraplay to Treat Adoptive Families

This article regarding the effectiveness of Theraplay for the clinical treatment of adoptive families both outlines a model for integrating family systems theory with Theraplay to create a new approach entitled Whole Family Theraplay (WFT), as well as provides a preliminary report of a pilot study demonstrating the efficacy of that model. WFT integrates Theraplay with family systems approaches (Structural and Experiential Family Therapies) to treat parents and all the siblings within adoptive families. The findings indicate that WFT treatment may lead to statistically significant benefits in regard to family communication, adults’ interpersonal relationships, and children's overall behavioral functioning.     

Coparenting in Families of Mexican Descent: Exploring Stability,Antecedents, and Typologies

In this prospective study, we examined coparenting in families of Mexican descent with children in Head Start programs. A sample of 57 two-parent families participated in in-home interviews 12 months apart. Evaluations of parental agreement on child-rearing practices, perceptions of partner's involvement, and joint decision making were moderately stable over 1 year. Marital quality assessed 12 months earlier significantly predicted maternal reports of coparenting, but fewer antecedents were revealed for fathers. Few associations emerged between children with difficult temperaments and coparenting. Cluster analysis identified three types of coparenting dyads: both parents reported average to above average coparenting, mothers reported below average and fathers were average or above, and fathers were below and mothers were average or above. The “equal” cluster was associated with more positive reports of martial quality and family emotional expressivity. Clusters in which one parent reported less coparenting were associated with lower marital quality.     

Working Models of Marriage: An Application of Attachment Theory

Working models of marriage (WMM) is a unique application of attachment theory because it applies to beliefs about being a spouse and about another's ability to be one's spouse. It varies from generic working models of the self and other by its reflection of one's assumptions about marriage as a unique relationship form. Unmarried, young adults (n = 1,490) completed a survey that focused on family-of-origin, attachment, marital beliefs, and marital intentions constructs. Results indicated that two WMM dimensions were significantly predicted by the variables and that individuals grouped into four WMM classifications based on the two dimensions were likewise different among the variables. Implications for relationship confidence and for conceptual refinement are discussed.     

Migration Decisions of Dual-earner Families: An Application of Multilevel Modeling

A comprehensive framework for guiding analyses of internal migration is lacking. This study contributes to the family migration literature in three important ways. We develop a multilevel theoretical framework emphasizing an integration of individual-, family-, and neighborhood-level effects; introduce multilevel statistical modeling; and explicitly assess how effects of economic-based explanatory variables vary by gender. Our data are from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID). We find that the likelihood of a family migrating is affected by economic and non-economic factors, some of which vary by gender. We add to the dual-earner migration literature by finding that wives are not likely to be tied-movers, but husbands are likely to be tied-stayers. Neighborhood factors also are important to the decision to migrate.

Integrating a Family-Centered Approach into Social Work Practice with Families of Children and Adolescents with Disabilities

Abstract

This article identifies a family-centered practice construct for working with children and adolescents with disabilities and their families. The experiences of these families have shifted considerably over the past 30 years. A legislative and historical context provides the basis for an understanding of present policies and practices that influence current approaches to service delivery. Though family-centered practice is emphasized in various practice settings, there is still a need to integrate this philosophy into social work practice with children and adolescents with disabilities and their families. In order to enhance the ability of the social worker to integrate this construct into practice, a framework for exploring the experiences of children, adolescents and families is provided. This framework provides an overview of factors related to the individual child, the family and siblings for the social worker to consider when working with these families. The social worker's role as collaborator, advocate, team member and family resource is highlighted.     

Therapists Working in New and Old Ways: An Integrative Ecological Framework for Non‐Familial Intergenerational Relationships

Non‐familial intergenerational (NFIG) relationships can complement conventional therapeutic interventions. We discuss the intergenerational gap and structural changes families have experienced over the last several decades. We advocate for an integrative framework combining non‐familial intergenerational opportunities with conventional therapeutic interventions. Finally, we address logistical and ethical dimensions of the integrative framework and participants' fitness, motivation, potential, and needs within non‐familial intergenerational programs/partnerships.     

Family Structure and Parent–Child Contact: A Comparison of Native and Migrant Families

This article is an investigation of the frequency of contact between parents and adult children in Germany. It compares Turkish immigrants and native Germans and includes both biological and step‐relations. After the United States and Russia, Germany reports the third highest proportion of immigrants internationally, but the extent to which results regarding natives are applicable to immigrant families remains unknown. Data are from the first wave of the German Generations and Gender Surveys (2005) and the supplemental survey of Turkish citizens living in Germany (2006). A total of 7,035 parent–child relations are analyzed. The frequency of parent–adult child contact is significantly higher for biological parents living with the child's other biological parent than for parents without a partner, parents with a new partner, or stepparents. Contact is more frequent for all Turkish families, but the pattern of variation by family structure is similar for both Germans and Turks.     

Spanning Borders,Cultures, and Generations: A Decade of Research on Immigrant Families

The authors review research conducted during the past decade on immigrant families, focusing primarily on the United States and the sending countries with close connections to the United States. They note several major advances. First, researchers have focused extensively on immigrant families that are physically separated but socially and economically linked across origin and destination communities and explored what these family arrangements mean for family structure and functions. Second, family scholars have explored how contexts of reception shape families and family relationships. Of special note is research that documented the experiences and risks associated with undocumented legal status for parents and children. Third, family researchers have explored how the acculturation and enculturation process operates as families settle in the destination setting and raise the next generation. Looking forward, they identify several possible directions for future research to better understand how immigrant families have responded to a changing world in which nations and economies are increasingly interconnected and diverse, populations are aging, and family roles are in flux and where these changes are often met with fear and resistance in immigrant-receiving destinations.